To expect my bag to be packed for me?

[Susanjeffery1984]

Not after a big shop but if you go to a stand up till with a few items and ask for a bag, would you expect your bag to be packed for you or at least asked if you would like to have it packed?
Before paying for bags came in I’m sure my bag was always packed for me.
A few times I’ve asked for a bag and one is been added to the pile of shopping without me even noticing, which leads to me shoving the items in so as not to hold up the queue.
Having worked in supermarkets, I would never have dreamed of just adding the bag to the shopping without packing the items. It’s not as though it adds anymore to the task.
Maybe etiquette has changed though.

No I don't expect it at all, and when I worked retail I tried not to offer help to people unless they were taking forever/had an obvious reason to be struggling because so many customers are pains in the ass over it.

It takes longer to pack when someone else is barking orders about how and where every item must go. Obviously raw meat separate, chilled/frozen separate if poss with the bags available, bleach etc separate. But getting bitched at for putting kitchen roll in a bag with bread? Fuck off.

A bag or two's worth of shopping? Unless your arm's in a sling or somethimg get over yourself and bloody do it.

It takes longer to pack when someone else is barking orders about how and where every item must go. Obviously raw meat separate, chilled/frozen separate if poss with the bags available, bleach etc separate. But getting bitched at for putting kitchen roll in a bag with bread? Fuck off

Do people really expect that?!

I thought we we're talking about Supermarkets? Yes people do still pack bags in small independents and clothes shops (even big chains like Primark - which as it uses paper bags doesn't have to charge).

Bekabeech - not US, I'm in Australia. There is a plastic bag ban starting in October in my state, but we already use our own bags, too - the cashiers just pack them as they would their own shop plastic bags.

Blurryface - I would never bark orders. Tbh, I shove everything in the bag and worry about it when I get home. That goes for big food shops (where incidentally I don’t expect and haven’t had my bag packed) although I try and separate frozen and non as that seems sensible.

I’m really not being lazy, nor do I think that packing my shopping is below me. I can’t imagine that anyone would think that they are “too good” to pack a shopping bag of food.

Clothes however I do expect to be folded in packed into the bag, if bought from a clothes shop. If I was using my own bag, I would still expect the item to be folded and passed to me. This is part of the service that I do expect and I have always received such service. On occasions I will say “oh don’t worry about that, I’ll sort it when I get home”- if I see the assistant struggling to fold for example or I am in a rush...Does expecting this make me lazy or do you expect this too?

I don't understand the difference between bringing your own bag and buying a bag there? Why would that make any difference to whether it was rude / expected / not policy for the cashier to pack the customer's shopping for them?

Where I am the usual etiquette is that shopping gets put on the conveyor, the cashier scans it and slides it down to the packing area, where a young lad packs it, puts it into the trolley and takes it to the car. They load the bags into the car and take your trolley back to the shop, after you have tipped them (and quid or so).

At basket only checkouts the cashier will pack instead and you carry your own shopping (though I expect if you asked for assistance you could get it, I just never have)

Sometimes I have no change on me, and say that I'll pack my own stuff to avoid the embarrassment of not being able to tip, but that's because I'm English (other nationality friends here don't seem to worry about it so much)

I am very careful about how I unload my shopping onto the conveyor belt, so that there's the maximum chance that the stuff will be packed properly - so frozen and cold stuff first to go in the freezer bag, then cans and bottles, then working up to fragile stuff like eggs and light stuff like crisps. I've only come across one packer who can pack the bags as well as I can, though

OlennasWimple - I suppose for me, that’s when I noticed the change in service.
I also think if the cashier is already handling the bag they are charging you for it makes sense to open and fill (although others disagree!)
I think if I were to pass them my own bag to pack I would have to agree with posters that are calling me lazy.

Silly just to think someone will do it for you!! You causing enough damage to environment just for buying one. Grow up, and teach your children some values in life

Blimey! In Aldi the other day the assistant practically threw my last 5 items in my trolley as I couldn't keep up with the furious pace of passing items along on the conveyor belt, telling me there was no time for me to pack and I needed to leave. I get that Aldi is cheaper because of cost cutting measures like quick cashiers but this really felt like taking the biscuit (pun intended)

Bag packing for the supermarket customer in Saudi Arabia - one or two items (at most) per bag.....

Is this real? First world problems!

YA-absofuckinglutely-BU. I’m a bit stunned people think this way TBH.

I also think if the cashier is already handling the bag they are charging you for it makes sense to open and fill (although others disagree!)

OP, WTAF are you on about?

Supermarkets don't even keep the plastic bag money, it goes to charity. So they don't have to provide you with extra services like bag packing because you're paying them the princely sum of 5p.

We've paid for bags for ages in Scotland, we always take our own. I generally get asked if I want my shopping packed but I prefer to do it myself. Only time I let someone pack is at the quick tills in Markies due to lack of room and they are pretty ace at packing properly.

How is this thread actually still going on...

In Denmark where I live they scan everything as quickly as possible, expect you to pay immediately and then shove all the items to the side behind a barrier while they start scanning the next person’s food. I used to do a big shop when we first moved here but it was so stressful trying to pack everything before your food got squashed, that I mostly shop online these days and only get a few bits and bobs at the supermarket. No one would dream of packing for you.
However when buying a gift (not from the supermarket), the shop will wrap it beautifully with no regard for the queue forming behind you.

How is this thread actually still going on...

Because it’s so fecking ridiculous an AIBU they put it in the daily digest......

Are you honestly still not taking your own bags when shopping. Plastic bags - plastic almost anything - the work of the devil. As for expecting anyone else to pack for you, get a grip, are you incapacitated in some way ? I am an old mum but would never expect someone to do for me something i can do myself.

Totally get you! Think a lot of people have misunderstood. I’m assuming you’re talking about the local, smaller supermarkets, where if you were to pack your own bag would actually be very inconvenient for the cashier. They scan an item and it goes straight in the bag. There is not enough space for you to pack and for them to scan and place items. My local always packs mine, except the teenagers, which I honestly don’t mind but it does take longer when i pack and causes a bit of confusion.
You’re packing at the same pace they are scanning, if I were to pack my own then they would scan and place in my hand and I pack. Makes little sense. A lot easier all around if they pack for you.

local, smaller supermarkets

Bit of an oxymoron, no?

Aldi is great and the trick is very simple. Load the conveyor belt heavy items first. Then they go on the bottom of your trolley. Pay up (have a card ready, it should not be a surprise that shopping isn't free) then get out of the way and pack at your leisure.

no jabber, no dicking about with loyalty cards, boring job done quickly. Love it.

The small open all hours Sains always packs my bag for me. Aldi you have to work at breakneck speed to put it back in the trolley for packing. Some places do pack a bag for me and I am always grateful and say thankyou. What I absolutely HATE is having a queue waiting to pay for their shopping, and you are still packing away your shopping, and the assistant is sitting there watching you, or swinging on her chair, in this situation I will offer her/him one of my bags and say I'd be quicker if you gave me a hand. They are so eager to take your money but don't help you clear the check out. Because of this, I pay only when all my shopping is in the trolley, Surely, if they are in a rush to get on to the next customer, then it's quicker to give you a hand packing. I have never had any reluctance to help me do this if I ask. And if fact, the staff always ask me if I want any help packing, my response is usually thanks, I can manage if you don't go too fast through the till. I just get very embarrassed if I am still packing and they are hanging around waiting, that is when I pass them a bag and say help please!

I think I'm faster than most supermarket people anyway and I would hate them to pack for me (we had it on one oliday last year abroad and it was dreadful and then we had all the concerns over tipping the 3 people who seemed to be packing bits of our stuff and not knowing whetehr it would all end up in our bags -) Thank goodness we pack our own here.

Silly just to think someone will do it for you!! You causing enough damage to environment just for buying one. Grow up, and teach your children some values in life

There are some hilarious pearls on this thread but this is the best! Comedy gold