Pluggers by Rick McKee for October 05, 2014

hope he remembers to put the eggs in the bag last

It’s not for experenience, it is so it will be done correctly. It isaalmost impossible to find a bagger that understands that bread DOES NOT BOUNCE BACK! They may not set stuff on it, but they bend it and fold it and put it on end. You get home and you have to pry the slices apart because they have been mushed. I don’t think they teach how to bag anymore.

The Plugger here likes to do it so he can demonstrate proper technique to the novices. After all, he worked at Piggly Wiggly in the 1950’s!

Plugger’s already have plenty of experience at everything, he or she could say “That’s ok…I got it” but that really is Plugger-talk for “Watch and learn!”.

Yah, one of my first jobs was bagging .. I already knew how ‘cause my mom showed me. She also taught me to cook, sew, wash and iron laundry, replace a broken window pane, hammer a nail …. Goes on and on and on. Oh BTW, I’m a 72 year-old guy.

Yeah, I hate it when I have to spend 15 minutes in the parking lot rebagging.

…or they do it so they won’t have to tip the baggers…

Eggs and bread on the bottom. Water melons and anvils on top.

You don’t. I believe Jo meant PAPER bags.

They bag their own groceries to make sure that canned goods don’t get piled on top of the bread, and the cold and wet stuff doesn’t get put into the same bag as stuff that needs to stay dry, such as aunt Flo’s birthday card.

Pluggers don’t pay for paper bags. They save the dime and bring their recycleable ones. And if you do it yourself, your veggies don’t get smashed.

The scariest part for me is when they cross contaminate your meat. Sorry but you can’t put all the meat together in the same bag or with the veggies and fruit. The other day I got home and found the dish soap in the same bag as my chicken. I get that they don’t give the class anymore, but is a 10 minute tutorial too much to ask for?

Where I go, the cashier bags the groceries. In my area, there aren’t any baggers in the area grocery stores anymore. I put my groceries on the belt in the way I want them bagged so there aren’t any slip ups as to how I want it done. My bread and eggs are at the end of the line so they don’t get squished. I also use the cloth bags which hold more than the plastic bags do. My meats are in plastic bags the store supplys so they can go in one bag that I put in a cooler in the car.

Nice thing about plastic bags. Husband reuses them for work. As in inside his boots to help insulate and protect against moisture.

I’ve found the best way is to put like items together. Pantry, cold, chemicals, breakable/soft. It makes it easier to unload, too. I put it on the conveyor belt that way and start bagging my own while they’re ringing it up. When I get home I can grab the cold stuff to put away first and the rest at my leisure.

AND they are usually old enough to remember eggs don’t go on top of the bread or under the canned peaches.

Jo Clear (aka: Grasshopper): The best instructions on bagging was a one-week arc in the comic strip Second Chances. The title characters still appear (without names) in Tank McNamara on occasion..Yakety Sax: Or the canvas reusable ones.