No, we don't shop at the Marina Safeway, because we're not looking to be picked up. We do shop at Safeway by the Church Street station, which is always packed, has check-out lines 3+ full carts deep, and recently has been showing off some quite bare shelves despite a grand re-opening with much fanfare and an otherwise aesthetically pleasing store.
Because Matt and I almost always bring our own bags to the store, I often find it necessary to bag myself. Although BYOB is becoming much more common, many baggers simply can't figure out how to bag in a timely fashion if the bag is not already attached the handy little metal holder thing. (This is especially a problem at Target, where the check-out lanes are just not set up to handle BYOB very well.) So anyway, Matt pays while I bag, me being the one with professional grocery store experience and all.
Last night, the bagger on our lane was stupendously far behind, and nearly the whole end of the lane was still covered in food from the previous customer. Instead of helping to bag, our intrepid cashier began scanning our items, and stacking them carefully next to the scanner, so as not to confuse them with the other person's items. So I quickly whipped out my bags and started tossing in items, of course being careful to put the heavy things in the bottom and spread out, the crushables on top, and the cold items in their own bags. (Baggers just don't bag like they used to.)
The cashier actually told me, albeit somewhat jokingly, that I shouldn't go so fast because I would spoil their routine. Apparently, he thinks customers enjoy standing in endless check-out lanes just so he doesn't have to strain himself, and since no one is usually there to demonstrate how a grocery check-out should actually happen, the customer doesn't know the difference. Meanwhile, when the bagger finally finished with the previous customer, I had about one bag to go. Did he offer to take over? No. He just stood there and watched me, as did the cashier. As we were leaving, the cashier was still going on about how I was making them look bad. No kidding.
(Granted, had the bagger taken over, I would have just complained per usual about how slow he was. Also, note that these people make at least $9.79 per hour (minimum wage in SF), far more than I made as a cashier back in high school.)
2 comments:
I always end up bagging for us at Safeway as well. It seems we always get the 80-year-old grandpa bagger who puts about one item in a bag every 15 seconds and definitely can't figure out the BYOB thing. Although we are still the only people I have ever seen doing this at our Safeway.
Oh my gosh....I remember your Buy Low job!! I think that store still sits empty. That was a long time ago....
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