Irritating grocery store clerks as entertainment

Another past post republished from My Life in Green, 2009:

We successfully tackled plastic bags several years ago. It was easy enough to make the switch to reusable bags for groceries by returning a stockpile of them to the car after every trip to the grocery store, but it took a little longer to get in the habit of remembering to bring them in for other shopping excursions.

I now shop at off-times to minimize the annoyance factor (mostly of those around me - I think it is virtually impossible to interact with a grocery store clerk without annoying her). Sadly, one poor gal at our neighborhood store is so sweet, patient and encouraging that she is now stuck with me making a beeline for her every time I check out. I've given her an out by telling her this, and despite my best efforts, she continues to be nice. Sigh.

The other clerks do their best not to glare at me when I bring a basketful of unbagged produce to the checkout line. I just can't rationalize putting this stuff in a plastic bag which I will use for approximately 8 - 10 minutes to transport the veggies home, at which time I would be taking them out of the bags and putting them in the produce drawer. But, I think the annoyance factor comes mostly from having to handle dripping, recently-misted items. Oh well. Baby steps, right?

I guess the point is that doing your shopping consistently - at the same places, with the same people and even going so far as to build a relationship, even a contentious one, with the clerks will in theory make the process a little less painful. In case you're wondering, for the sake of my ongoing relationship with the store clerks, I do bag the grapes. :)