I'm a victim.....

OK.....so maybe I'm being a little bit dramatic with the title. But I have to say I really felt bullied at the grocery store yesterday.

I have made the New Year's resolution to REALLY limit, if not cut out, my plastic bag use. I purchased some really groovy canvas bags at my local grocery store. Much to my surprise I really LOVE these bags. I think I have like 5 of them. They hold alot and have long handles so I can hoist them onto my shoulders like you would a purse. Really cool & super handy.
It's also really nice to not having to tote in 3,000 plastic bags with only like 3 things in each one. I know the stores here are not the only ones guilty of doing this. It really gets on my nerves!

So anywho, yesterday I went to the grocery story to get what I needed to make supper. Only a handful of things and also a few staple items like milk and eggs. I took with me 3 canvas bags thinking that should be plenty.

I get everything I needed.....and a few things I didn't (hehe) like a small cake and some cookies from the bakery, etc.

I'm in the check out lane and I take my bags out first and place them on the belt. Then I start placing my items on the belt in my usual anal way (heavy things first and light and/or smooshable things last). I try to make it as easy as I can for the cashier since 9 times out of 10 she is the one bagging the groceries as well. But today she had help. So the other lady starts bagging my purchases. I'm watching her and in my usual anal way I am thinking I could SO pack those bags better, so they would hold more things. This is probably why I use the self check out regularly at Walmart......annnnywho......she has my cake and cookies to the side along with a nice fresh french baguette I got for our meal. The woman uses 2 of the bags and is opening the 3rd one. She fumbles with it in attempting to put the cake on the bottom......she takes it out and puts in some other things......attempts to put it back in and then turns to me to say, "Do you want me to just put this cake in a plastic bag so it doesn't get smooshed?"....I tell her no that's OK. So she goes back to fumbling and putting things in and out of the bags. Geez lady, it's not rocket science! She turns to me again, "I can just put the cake in this bag," gesturing to the plastic bags AGAIN. "No ma'am that's OK, I don't want to use a plastic bag." She is back to fumbling. At this point I want to shove my basket out of my way and just pack up my own damn groceries.......she once again looks at me and says, "Well I can't put this cake in without smooshing it, let me put it in a bag for you." I then hold out my hands and tell her that I'll just carry the damn thing. I'm NOT using a blasted plastic bag! I then proceed to set the cake nicely on top of my eggs in one of the bags....there was PLENTY of room and I'm not sure why she thought a small cinnamon coffee cake was going to damage anything underneath it.....good grief!

I never in a million years thought I would have to have this much gumption to stick with a New Year's resolution as simple as this. I mean c'mon?! Who has to argue with a grocery bagger over use of plastic bags. I really felt like I was fighting for my right to refuse using those bags LOL

Now I'm not totally anti-plastic bags ladies and gentlemen. I do use them on occasion and when I have more than I can store I take them to my local grocery store to be recycled. At this point in time I have my quota of plastic bags tucked in my lovely plastic bag holder hanging in my laundry room. But it was getting to the point where I felt like I was being over run with plastic bags. I could have SWORN they were breeding at night in there........And I started feeling guilty that I had so many! Then to top it off I saw that show about the giant garbage island floating in the ocean......good grief. If you missed that post here is the link. Talk about crazy.......

The Environmental Protection Agency calculated more than 4.45 million tons of plastic bags were generated in the U.S. in 2005.

Wow. That's alot of plastic bags! LOL

So I may not be a die hard environmentalist.......I feel like I'm doing a little bit by bringing my own bags to the store. Not only is it better for the environment, maybe I'm saving the store a few bucks by not using their plastic bags? See, now I can say I'm doing my small part to help during this recession too....heh.