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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Made to pay for a bag in the supermarket

698 replies

christmasfoodshop · 07/12/2023 12:43

Just picked up a few bits for Xmas food shop.

Had baby with me and she was tired so getting a bit irritable.

Scanned all my shopping at self checkout, ended up with a quite a lot more than I needed (as you do).

Baby crying. Paid for my shopping.

Realised I needed a bag at this point so got one and put all my stuff in there.

Go to walk out.

The shop assistant said I needed to pay for a bag. Fair enough.

She said I had to rescan it.

Baby now screaming and wriggling out my arms. Heavy bag of shopping in the other hand.

She made me wait there until she'd scanned a bag, pressed 'check-out' , selected 'pay by card' and then I had to scan. All for bloody 30p.

In hindsight, I do understand I had to pay for the bag but I was so bloody frustrated and just wanted to get out of there that I paid 30p for the bag and stormed off. Left my giant trolley in the middle of self checkout. I was at my wits end. I felt like I was at school being held back by the teacher.

It's 30 bloody pence. Let me go!!

She acted like she was earning money out of making people pay for bags.

YABU - everyone ALWAYS must pay for bags no matter what

YANBU - in the circumstance, she should have just let me go all for the sake of 30p plastic bag.

OP posts:
Simonjt · 07/12/2023 13:58

christmasfoodshop · 07/12/2023 13:01

For those who keep saying I shoplifted, I paid for the bag

Only because the member of staff made you pay for it, your intention from your OP shows you fully intended to steal from the shop.

Peacheroo · 07/12/2023 13:58

AmyDudley · 07/12/2023 13:43

Lol at the idea they're doing this to heal the planet for all the little children. Have you seen how much plastic Tesco gets through every day?

It isn't the shop that made the rule, obviously we as a nation and a planet need to do far more to cut down on plastic, most shops including Tesco use far too much plastic packaging, so we need legislation on that as well. But just because there is still much to be done, doesn't mean we should abandon or moan about a measure in the right direction.

LOL at the idea that someone is so petty and dense that they are irritated by the minor inconvenience of buying a bag (when they could bring their own) that they can't see the bigger picture.

It is literally the shop that decided the cost of their bags away from the government charge. @Unbego is spot on.

OneTC · 07/12/2023 13:58

waaah

ButterCupPie · 07/12/2023 13:58

catsnhats11 · 07/12/2023 13:33

If you had a "giant trolley" you surely knew it would be too much to carry without a bag!!?

Edited

This is what I have been wondering about.

Peablockfeathers · 07/12/2023 13:59

Katypp · 07/12/2023 13:54

I am constantly banging on on here about the entitlement of some mothers that is encouraged by posters on MN. This is a perfect example of it in the wild.
When new parents are put on a gilded pedestal where no-one can upset them, contradict them or call them out for ridiculous behaviour, they kind of assume they are always in the right and having a baby trumps just about everything.
You reap what you sow

And yet the replies to this thread are the precise opposite in the main.

Redebs · 07/12/2023 14:00

Hope OP didn't leave the trolley behind with £1 coin in it...
😳

ButterCupPie · 07/12/2023 14:00

Gagagardener · 07/12/2023 13:54

I'm with @Grimmz on this. In a parallel universe where the tasks of bearing and caring for children were appreciated, the shop assistant would have said 'Let me carry your shopping to the car for you. Pop 30p in a charity box some time. We're here to help!'

Dream on.

Supermarkets are there to make money by squeezing suppliers, reducing the number of staff they employ and making the customer do a lot of the work.

Dream on? Jog on!

PieAndLattes · 07/12/2023 14:00

Blimey, this is a wind up surely. Nobody is that entitled.

ButterCupPie · 07/12/2023 14:00

Redebs · 07/12/2023 14:00

Hope OP didn't leave the trolley behind with £1 coin in it...
😳

Or, if you're savvy, 2 x 20p pieces, or a suitably sized button

Peacheroo · 07/12/2023 14:01

@mn29 thanks for that tip. I will donate them to the food bank. Re charging more... the bigger bags that will last a life time are 60p in Aldi so I always end up buying them anyway. They are an absolute bargain but completely agree with you. I think they should stop selling bags full stop. You should use boxes or something

I go to poindland for one thing and walk out with the store. They never have the 30p bag because they want to sell the £1/2 ones but they won't let me walk the plastic trolley to my car.

ButterCupPie · 07/12/2023 14:01

PieAndLattes · 07/12/2023 14:00

Blimey, this is a wind up surely. Nobody is that entitled.

Baby-mummies often are.

DottieMoon · 07/12/2023 14:01

christmasfoodshop · 07/12/2023 13:01

For those who keep saying I shoplifted, I paid for the bag

You tried to shop lift.

You only paid as you were caught. Hardly better.

Nochocolateuntilchristmas · 07/12/2023 14:01

Yes the situation was annoying but learn from it, be more prepared next time. Baby in a carrier or pram so you have arms free. Take a bag with you.

Katypp · 07/12/2023 14:02

Peablockfeathers · 07/12/2023 13:59

And yet the replies to this thread are the precise opposite in the main.

Show quote history

Oh yes I agree, common sense is definitely prevailing here.
I am talking about the threads where young mums are encouraged to go 'no contact' with relatives because they don't agree with them, or where they are told 'you've just given birth so you are the most important one here' type of stuff.
The original poster is the end result of this

LjSebs · 07/12/2023 14:03

Wow - I am cringing on your behalf. Awful behaviour from you there.

LiquoriceAllsorts2 · 07/12/2023 14:05

its unfortunate that you didn’t have space in your bag and didn’t realise until after you had paid but of course you can’t take a chargeable bag without paying. I get you were stressed by a crying baby but that is not an excuse.
you were rude to someone who was just doing there job and you should have returned your trolley as that is normal supermarket etiquette (as is paying for the items you are taking)

WimbyAce · 07/12/2023 14:06

She was doing her job but I feel your pain and think people are being a bit OTT laying into you. Is a nightmare at times with little ones and all you want to do is get out the shop.

Humbugg · 07/12/2023 14:08

YABU - taking it without paying is stealing

JANEY205 · 07/12/2023 14:08

I think the pile on is quite a lot. I live in the US and they bag all your shopping for you and take it out to the car for you 😂 Until governments actually care about climate change and climate abuser celebrities are held to account I find it hard to get upset about plastic bag use or straw use.

AnotherForumUser · 07/12/2023 14:08

YABVU. Entitled and stroppy customers like you make me so glad I no longer work in retail.

NutellaRose · 07/12/2023 14:09

YABVU. You had (in your own words) a 'giant trolley' so presumably more than a few items of shopping, and only realised after you'd paid for it all that you needed a bag?

You have a baby - I'd have thought that awareness of the damage we are doing to the planet and our future generations by persisting with SUP would be fairly high on your agenda. If every shopper insisted on a plastic bag and even worse, thinks they should be exempt from paying for it, our efforts to reduce plastic waste would be trundling at an even slower place.

I'm the world's worst for forgetting my bags, but even I manage to keep a foldable, reusable bag in my handbag for those unplanned grocery top-up visits.

And the store assistant was doing their job at the end of the day. As bags are now a chargeable commodity in supermarkets, to take and use one intentionally without paying for it is no different to shoplifting, I guess.....

Redebs · 07/12/2023 14:10

ButterCupPie · 07/12/2023 14:00

Or, if you're savvy, 2 x 20p pieces, or a suitably sized button

Show quote history

I have a key thingy on my car key that releases the trolley and then pulls out.

Just wondering if the flounce cost OP a quid

Butchyrestingface · 07/12/2023 14:10

YABU.

Too inane an issue to say more.

Kittylala · 07/12/2023 14:10

Omg what is happening to England! I remember 20p chomp bars and those choc frogs....

Floralnomad · 07/12/2023 14:11

YABU , having a crying irritable baby doesn’t make you exempt from paying for a bag and I can’t imagine why you think it should .