To have refused to do this? (supermarket related)

[LittleRedHenGirl]

Just been to do a huge shop at a local supermarket. Big trolley stacked full.

Got to the till, unpacked it all onto the conveyor belt and the woman at the till asked if I'd like bags. "Yes please" I said, so she handed me one carrier bag. For nearly £200 worth of shopping.

I said "Could I have some more bags please?" and she said that she could only give them out one at a time and that I had to fill one bag before she could give me another. I said that no, this wouldn't work for me as I like to pack frozen stuff together, cold stuff together, tins together etc. She said it still had to be one bag at a time. I said fine, I'd leave it all there then and not buy it, and she reluctantly gave me a load of carriers, whilst saying that in years of working on tills everyone had always filled up their bags one at a time, and it was very unusual for someone to want to pack things in groups.

I don't know about anyone else but I don't want raw chicken shoved in with the bread, and bleach with the bananas!!

Oh, and before anyone says I should have my own bags, I do normally have my own but they are in my car boot, and DH and I have swapped cars for today, hence the need for carriers.

WIBU to want to pack as I did?

I pack the same as you. I would have reacted the same as you.

Yanbu.

YANBU to pack like that but why don't you group it on the conveyor as you want to

FFS stupid phone.

Why don't you group it on the conveyor the way you want to pack it?

YAB a bit U to not take your own bags - much easier to pack than crappy supermarket bags (that we will have to pay for soon)

I was just going to ask that.. just put it on the belt in order then it won't be an issue.

YANBU.

I pack the same as you but I used to unpack the trolley onto the conveyor belt in the order I wanted to pack it at the other end. One bag at a time would have been fine for me.

Yep, I always group my shopping. Yanbu.

I pack like that too. Surely it just makes sense. Who wants their grapes or eggs squashed by tins. Though I put my shopping on the conveyor in groups as to how I'm going to bag it up. I need to get out more

I pack like you, but also try to group on the conveyor belt so could probably be ok with a 'fill one first' policy. Bit annoying tho!

Yanbu. Most people I know do what you do. But then also it helps to unload onto the conveyer so all the frozen is together etc. Maybe your odd cashier was used to that behaviour and hadn't noticed the packing precision.

It was mostly on the conveyor in order but there were still some things 'out' of order as I'd popped them on at the end from the bottom of the trolley.

ItsAllGoing, I do normally take my own bags, as per my original post :)

YAB a bit U to not take your own bags

lol. Didn't you read this bit of the OP Oh, and before anyone says I should have my own bags, I do normally have my own but they are in my car boot, and DH and I have swapped cars for today, hence the need for carriers.

YANBU

I've never seen anyone shove it all in one bag unless they've only got a few items. Everyone sorts their shopping a bit, unless they are idiots.

I pack like this too, drives me nuts when DP comes with me and just shoves things in anywhere (story of my life.. )

Yanbu and I've never had anyone at checkout giving one bag at a time, normally they just pass a bundle of bags.

Yanbu, that's annoying.

I feel sorry for the cashiers though, there's no clear rule on carrier bags at the moment. I wonder if the 5p law will make things better or worse for them.

I pack the same as you and even if you do group appropriately on the belt the cashier sometimes will pick things up in a slightly different order.
Presumably it is the shops policy not the cashier so perhaps worth a word with the store manager if you can be bothered.

Yanbu, I hate it when they get all dictorial over carrier bags.

Yes I should have my reusable ones, yes the environment blah blah - but right here and now I have a trolley load of shopping and I need to get it home. Charge me, that's fine, heck I might even buy a couple of bags for life to add to the gazillion I already have, just let me have access to something I bloody need.

I've left baskets of shopping at the self service till of a particular branch of asda because they'd refused to give me a carrier bag. In my defence it was a case of popping in for a few bits when I was on the bus. One carrier was all I needed, not a bag for life just a sodding carrier bag.

It won't train me not to forget to have a bag in my (already over full) handbag, it'll make me not use your shop.

I remember sainsburys leaving their boxes down by the tills years ago, it's a shame they don't do that anymore, I presume because the shrink wrap they use on the delivery trollies are so much more Eco friendly

YANBU and she is insane.

I either: group thing on the conveyor (usually), or start packing one type of food in one bag - .e.g bananas and apples and pears come out first, put them in that bag, then start another for frozen things, then put any remaining fruit in the first bag. I suspect if you did that she would have just handed you more bags, but didn't want to give them when they were all empty. I don't really understand how the different food could be all mixed up given they're usually sold in the same section, and I have seen people but one item per bag so I understand why they wouldn't just like to handover 20 so you don't use them just because they're there.

On another note, if that had happened in Ireland where they charge for bags, if you'd forgotten your bags you probably would have paid for a bag for life and 2 carefully rationed carrier bags and put all the big items in your trolley and transferred direct to the boot. Its fascinating: there's a really low charge per bag, like 10p, and people who spend a couple of hundred quid on their shopping will still be really careful to not forget bags for life or put items directly into their car, its been really successful at cutting down waste. I hope its introduced here soon because I get a bit depressed by plastic bags floating around (not that you would have done so, just that I think its interesting how the general attitude to using plastic bags has shifted in a few years and wonder if the same would happen here)

Oh and when you have a trolley load like that why would she even want you asking every five minutes for another bag?