Incidentally, I did go to the supermarket this time

[conuly]

Specifically to get Salsa Verde Doritoes, which are unfindable in NYC for some reason.

Got some bread, as per my mother's request. Arnold's bread, but it's Oroweat here. It's always strange to me when brands have different names in different parts of the country. My mother laughs at the Hellman's slogan - "Bring out the Hellman's and bring out the best!" because, apparently, it used to be Best mayonaisse down South.

The girls woke up late, so I thought a late lunch, but shopping always takes longer than you think, so we bought sandwiches there. I had to bribe Ana with chips to eat her five bites, but I figured that once in a blue moon, if I get the bribe in before the tantrum, it's okay. A very nice woman ran off to get the chips for us - and paid for them before I could! I thanked her profusely for that :)

The cashiers bagged my groceries and were quite shocked to hear that at home, baggers don't do that for you if you bring your own bag. (They just kinda stare at you as though to hurry you along. Really annoying.) And they both commented that I "don't have a New York accent" (as did a woman at the pool yesterday).

Very interesting - I'd thought my oddness of accent was more noticeable in the city than out of it, but three people (two cashiers) in two days is a bit much! (Especially nowadays. I wonder if people are more polite now, or more polite *to me* now, or if my accent is more normal now. No way to know, I think.)

Comments

[peebs1701.livejournal.com]

The different brand names in different parts of the country confuses me too. I was very surprised the first time I saw a Hardee's ad with Carl's Jr. trademarks. I don't get why it has to be Edy's ice cream in one part of the country and Dreyer's in another or any of that other stuff. Holdovers from companies merging I guess.

[sparkofcreation.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you, thank you. You have just explained two major mysteries to me.

Apparently I'm a bit slow to catch on, but I had indeed wondered why we had these brands in NM that I'd never heard of in NJ.

[peebs1701.livejournal.com]

So, what's the second major mystery?

[sparkofcreation.livejournal.com]

The two major mysteries were Dreyer's and Carl's Jr.

[wodhaund.livejournal.com]

Wow. I should ask my mum if she remembers it being Best mayonnaise. It's been Hellman's down here ever since I can remember, but I am young yet.

[conuly]

Ooops, sorry, it's an East/West distinction. Was I mislead, or do I misremember?

[wodhaund.livejournal.com]

Possibly either? Your mum might have misremembered and unintentionally misled you.

Either way, it's interesting!

[aquamizuko.livejournal.com]

As a cashier at a small safeway, I have to bag groceries. D: However, at bigger stores I notice they usually have customers do it themselves. So I dunno if it's regional or not, might be volume/size dependent.

[conuly]

Oh, they bag groceries for you if you use their icky bags. But if you use your own, they won't do it. It's like all of a sudden they lose their bagging skillz.

[aquamizuko.livejournal.com]

Ah.. To be honest, I cringe a little inwardly if someone brings their own bags, but only because they're kind of awkward (and laziness). I'm waiting for them to come out with a bag holder that holds cloth bags and such and not just our crappy ultra thin plastic bags.

[conuly]

You posted before I finished my edit, hold on:

Edit: As the cashiers here said, "You think they'd be happy that you're going more green!", which may be theoretically true, but it's not true in the specific. I've had people try to tell me I couldn't use my own bag (and be totally flabbergasted when I say that I'll literally leave them to put all that stuff away rather than buying it), and even in stores where they *do* want you to use your bags rather than theirs, they aren't overly enthused when you do so. The best I've seen is a separate area for you to do your own bagging.

Now, as for that - the bags *I* have are designed to fit on plastic bag holders, theoretically. I've never had a chance to try that one out :(

What I have heard from (bag friendly) cashiers is that they perceive people who bring their own bags as being particular about how things are bagged, and therefore don't want to risk being yelled at if they do it "wrong".

[aquamizuko.livejournal.com]

Green is definitely good. It just sucks that my managers give me the evil eye sometimes if I'm not going fast enough and non-plastic slows me down unless someone holds the bag open for me. XD That's odd with the people that didn't want to let you use them.

Amusingly, even the Safeway reusable cloth bags don't fit our bag holders. Makes me wonder who designed them.

Some people are particular, but usually not too bad. Usually just over how full they want the bag (usually as full as it can get though) or whether the meat goes into separate plastic or not.

[conuly]

As far as I'm concerned, meat is separate. I try to remember to re-bring existing plastic bags rather than using new ones, though.

[aquamizuko.livejournal.com]

Oh, just a note: I do still bag if the customer brings their own bags, that seems kind of rude of them to not bag just because you have your own. D:

[conuly]

And some of them are perfectly polite - they just don't bag in that situation. Weird-ass.

[wodhaund.livejournal.com]

A lot of the smaller stores in this area have people bag their own goods, largely because it's cheaper for the store, as well as being more efficient. Some of them (like Aldi--which as far as I know uses the same practice nationwide) have a counter just past the registers specifically for you to use for bagging your groceries. I guess the faster you get out of the way to do it yourself, the faster they can move on to the next guy.

[conuly]

That's cool with me. It's only when they normally *do* bag, and specifically don't when you bring your own that it bugs me.

[wodhaund.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that would bug me, too. You'd think they'd like that, considering it costs them more to use their own.

[peebs1701.livejournal.com]

The different brand names in different parts of the country confuses me too. I was very surprised the first time I saw a Hardee's ad with Carl's Jr. trademarks. I don't get why it has to be Edy's ice cream in one part of the country and Dreyer's in another or any of that other stuff. Holdovers from companies merging I guess.

[sparkofcreation.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you, thank you. You have just explained two major mysteries to me.

Apparently I'm a bit slow to catch on, but I had indeed wondered why we had these brands in NM that I'd never heard of in NJ.

[peebs1701.livejournal.com]

So, what's the second major mystery?

[sparkofcreation.livejournal.com]

The two major mysteries were Dreyer's and Carl's Jr.

[wodhaund.livejournal.com]

Wow. I should ask my mum if she remembers it being Best mayonnaise. It's been Hellman's down here ever since I can remember, but I am young yet.

[conuly]

Ooops, sorry, it's an East/West distinction. Was I mislead, or do I misremember?

[wodhaund.livejournal.com]

Possibly either? Your mum might have misremembered and unintentionally misled you.

Either way, it's interesting!

[aquamizuko.livejournal.com]

As a cashier at a small safeway, I have to bag groceries. D: However, at bigger stores I notice they usually have customers do it themselves. So I dunno if it's regional or not, might be volume/size dependent.

[conuly]

Oh, they bag groceries for you if you use their icky bags. But if you use your own, they won't do it. It's like all of a sudden they lose their bagging skillz.

[aquamizuko.livejournal.com]

Ah.. To be honest, I cringe a little inwardly if someone brings their own bags, but only because they're kind of awkward (and laziness). I'm waiting for them to come out with a bag holder that holds cloth bags and such and not just our crappy ultra thin plastic bags.

[conuly]

You posted before I finished my edit, hold on:

Edit: As the cashiers here said, "You think they'd be happy that you're going more green!", which may be theoretically true, but it's not true in the specific. I've had people try to tell me I couldn't use my own bag (and be totally flabbergasted when I say that I'll literally leave them to put all that stuff away rather than buying it), and even in stores where they *do* want you to use your bags rather than theirs, they aren't overly enthused when you do so. The best I've seen is a separate area for you to do your own bagging.

Now, as for that - the bags *I* have are designed to fit on plastic bag holders, theoretically. I've never had a chance to try that one out :(

What I have heard from (bag friendly) cashiers is that they perceive people who bring their own bags as being particular about how things are bagged, and therefore don't want to risk being yelled at if they do it "wrong".

[aquamizuko.livejournal.com]

Green is definitely good. It just sucks that my managers give me the evil eye sometimes if I'm not going fast enough and non-plastic slows me down unless someone holds the bag open for me. XD That's odd with the people that didn't want to let you use them.

Amusingly, even the Safeway reusable cloth bags don't fit our bag holders. Makes me wonder who designed them.

Some people are particular, but usually not too bad. Usually just over how full they want the bag (usually as full as it can get though) or whether the meat goes into separate plastic or not.

[conuly]

As far as I'm concerned, meat is separate. I try to remember to re-bring existing plastic bags rather than using new ones, though.

[aquamizuko.livejournal.com]

Oh, just a note: I do still bag if the customer brings their own bags, that seems kind of rude of them to not bag just because you have your own. D:

[conuly]

And some of them are perfectly polite - they just don't bag in that situation. Weird-ass.

[wodhaund.livejournal.com]

A lot of the smaller stores in this area have people bag their own goods, largely because it's cheaper for the store, as well as being more efficient. Some of them (like Aldi--which as far as I know uses the same practice nationwide) have a counter just past the registers specifically for you to use for bagging your groceries. I guess the faster you get out of the way to do it yourself, the faster they can move on to the next guy.

[conuly]

That's cool with me. It's only when they normally *do* bag, and specifically don't when you bring your own that it bugs me.

[wodhaund.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that would bug me, too. You'd think they'd like that, considering it costs them more to use their own.