To be irritated with supermarket staff that guard the carrier bags like rottweilers

[orangesandlemonssaythebellsofstclements]

Before I start - this is not a debate about whether or not we should be paying for carrier bags, or who's fault it is that we have to pay. I don't care. I will happily pay 30p for a carrier bag.

My issue is this - every time I go into my local Tesco, if I want a bag, I can't just take one from the end of the till or next to the self serve like you used to, I have to flag down a member of staff, ask them guiltily for a bag, which they will either take out of a closely guarded box or unclip from their belts and hand to me. But they won't just hand it to me, they'll hand it to me and say "there's the barcode" and the stand over me making sure I scan it. On a few occasions I've even had them push in front of me at the self-serve and scan it for me.

Why do they treat me, a customer who has been shopping there for over 20 years, and who has spend probably hundreds of thousands of pounds there, like I am going to steal from them? It's insulting and rude.

I've even had them snap "you must have loads of them at home by now" when I ask for one. Like it's any of their business what I buy and what I do with my purchases.

Why do they make us feel this way just for wanting to buy something they have for sale?

Oh god I just knew some people would chime in with “ It’s so easy to take a bag” . It is easy yes. Lots of things in life are easy but that doesn’t mean they always happen.

They can do both. It's not one or the other

And it is also completely beside the point.

Quite. Some people may have hundreds of them stashed in a cupboard. I don’t. I have four or five of the big sturdy Aldi bags for life, and no actual carrier bags. Sometimes I need to buy a carrier bag if I don’t have the big bags with me.

For example, if I’ve bought a dripping chicken I don’t want to put it in a reusable bag. Or if I have to nip into a shop unexpectedly while I’m out and haven’t got a magical bag that folds down to the size of a 20p piece secreted up my arsehole at that particular second. It only happens on rare occasions but I’m not a bloody serial killer because I want to buy a carrier bag once a year.

It’s not irrelevant- it’s something that bothers you intensely but it’s easily solved by taking your own bags.
Try diverting your energy from feeling annoyed to remembering a bag. The only person you should feel annoyed at is yourself.

What's a dripping chicken? Sounds like that's more concerning than the lack of a carrier bag

I was thinking the same thing.

It’s a chicken that has a small hole in the plastic where the blood drips out. Usually the ones that sit in a plastic tray and covered with cling film type stuff, rather than the ones in the sealed plastic bags.

Why don't you just take your own bags?

That doesn't sound very hygienic to buy (I don't buy much meat).

The little Sainsburys by my office has started putting security plastic caps on the cans of red bull in the meal deal area. Not the monster drinks, or the innocent smoothies, mind. Just the red bulls. How very dare they not know I go to that shop regularly and want to buy red bull and there they are guarding them with security caps I have to ask staff to remove! Outrageous.

"you must have loads of them at home by now"
The rudeness makes it a power trip in my opinion - uncalled for.

It IS irrelevant because the point is, they have something for sale, and I want to buy it. The reason I want to buy it is absolutely none of their business.

You could say that about anything - why don't you grow your own food, why don't you stop smoking, why don't you manufacture your own soap, why don't you buy a cow and milk it instead of coming in here and bothering us by buying our milk?

I never said I don't reuse bags (and have pointed out that there is more than one way to reuse a carrier bag - it doesn't have to involve taking it back to the shop) but if you wish to make a point about the morality or the practicality of not bringing in your own carrier bags to shops please feel free to make a separate post about that. This one is about shop workers needlessly guarding products they are selling and making it unnecessarily awkward to buy them.

"Can I have a bag please l?"
"Yes...there you go"
(sales assistant either hands it to you or scans it first and then hands it to you)
How is that "unnecessarily" awkward?

You're taking this way to personally, it's a bag

This used to happen in Tesco when the bags were free. Certain staff would guard them like they owned the store. Even if you only asked for one, God forbid should you ask for another one.

Because there is often only one member of staff manning the self scan or scan as you shop (sometimes one staff member spread across both) so you have to flag someone down for a bag, which can take time.
Because they often make comments or have an attitude, or both
Because they will shove in front of them and scan them for you as though you are incapable or unwilling.
Because they guard them and don't let you help yourself like you can every other non-age-restricted product in the store.

I thought I made this quite clear in my OP.

@orangesandlemonssaythebellsofstclements well personally I have never had a comment other than "here you go" and probably never had to wait more than 2 minutes if that.
Maybe it's you? Maybe you give off a vibe 🤔

This is one of my pet hates! I go to the self service area for speed, but then have to spend 3 hours trying to find a bloody bag! Just put the bags by each checkout, it a few get nicked Tesco can afford it. They r fucking bags worth about 2p in the real world (despite the massive markup in price the customer pays).

Maybe I do 😄

”worth 2p” - people are really missing the point. The whole reason for charging for bags is to try and incentivise people to bring their own bags and reduce plastic production/consumption. I can almost guarantee that if bags were £10 each you’d remember to bring your own.

Again, beside the point.

If bags were £10 each, I would still be entitled to buy one and I still wouldn't appreciate being made to feel bad about it or the staff acting like I've come there to nick their bags.

Doesn't happen in sainsbury's. You could easily pinch one, or one of the limited edition expensive ones.

That's probably because Sainsburys don't have scan as you shop.

Loads of Sainsbury's have scan and shop.
They've had it for years.