One tiny grocery item + "Yes I want that bagged" = say what?
Elana Who?
The other day, I bought just a tiny little nail clipper. When I buy
just one little thing, I don't see the sense in bagging it. Just
creates instant, extra garbage. Still the clerk insists on bagging
the thing, which means I take it out and give the bag right back.
Turns out the clerk told me people get downright angry if she assumes
that one tiny item = no bag. They WANT their bag. They insist on
having their little bag. They sometimes get abusive at the clerks if
they don't get their little bag.
OK I don't get it.
What's up with that, I wonder? A bag holding several items, I can
understand. But insisting a bag around one, small innocuous household
item does not make sense. It makes waste, adds bulk, does not make
carrying the little item any easier, but the clerks have to deal with
people getting all insisting on the bag anyway. Anyone have any idea
what's up with these people?? :)
-Elana
Dan Goodman
news:3fb62ee.02082...@posting.google.com:
Makes it easier to find, later.
Lynn allen
> Turns out the clerk told me people get downright angry if she assumes
> that one tiny item = no bag. They WANT their bag. They insist on
> having their little bag. They sometimes get abusive at the clerks if
> they don't get their little bag.
>
> OK I don't get it.
>
> What's up with that, I wonder? A bag holding several items, I can
> understand. But insisting a bag around one, small innocuous household
> item does not make sense. It makes waste, adds bulk, does not make
> carrying the little item any easier, but the clerks have to deal with
> people getting all insisting on the bag anyway. Anyone have any idea
> what's up with these people?? :)
Maybe they're afraid they'll be suspected of shoplifting if they walk
out with their item in their hand. Maybe they need a trash bag out in
the car. Maybe they're just jerks.
This can go to extremes...yesterday I was in a sporting goods store with
my son, buying him a new backpack for school, (and that's all) and I had
to insist we could make it to the car without putting the backpack in a
bag.
Lymaree
A Winged Chimera
Sometimes I have a use in mind for said small bag - but I'd never abuse the
clerk about it.
TBird <----- plans ahead on stuff like car lanes and grocery bags....
~ ~
"Heresy is hard to burn
Because fire is what it's all about."
- Libby Roderick
~ ~
I confess, Mr. Allread & I are friends.
Please P&E anything you'd like me to see!
sixt4...@hotmail.com
Thanks!
Jan
<< It makes waste, adds bulk, does not make carrying the little item any
easier, but the clerks have to deal with people getting all insisting on the
bag anyway. Anyone have any idea what's up with these people?? :)>>
I'd like to know, myself only in the opposite direction maybe. Actually, in my
area, I think there may be a contest between baggers to see how many bags they
can use in a shift?
I bought $53.00 worth (not very much in other words) of groceries the other day
and came out with *15* bags! Apparently they've decided that, besides bagging
only similar items together, now even some of those shouldn't (shudder) touch
each other. In the bag with the lunch meat, I got an individual little paper
bag wrapped lovingly around each package. Not as if these were butcher
packages that might leak, either, just your regular old Oscar Mayer packages.
The only veggie I bought was an onion so it got it's very own bag.
Sigh,
Jan
Jette Goldie
"A Winged Chimera" <awinged...@aol.comnet.com> wrote in message
news:20020829123114...@mb-fx.aol.com...
> >Hey all...
> >
> >The other day, I bought just a tiny little nail clipper. When I buy
> >just one little thing, I don't see the sense in bagging it. Just
> >creates instant, extra garbage. Still the clerk insists on bagging
> >the thing, which means I take it out and give the bag right back.
> >
> >Turns out the clerk told me people get downright angry if she assumes
> >that one tiny item = no bag. They WANT their bag. They insist on
> >having their little bag. They sometimes get abusive at the clerks if
> >they don't get their little bag.
> >
> >OK I don't get it.
> >
> >What's up with that, I wonder? A bag holding several items, I can
> >understand. But insisting a bag around one, small innocuous household
> >item does not make sense. It makes waste, adds bulk, does not make
> >carrying the little item any easier, but the clerks have to deal with
> >people getting all insisting on the bag anyway. Anyone have any idea
> >what's up with these people?? :)
> >
> >-Elana
> >
>
> Sometimes I have a use in mind for said small bag - but I'd never abuse
the
> clerk about it.
>
This is why many shops, such as The Body Shop,
train their staff to ASK "would you like a bag for
that?"
Personally I carry a large handbag (purse) and often
keep a canvas tote bag around for purchases - but
there are days when I've just stuck my money and
keys in my jeans-pocket and (oops!) bought
something that won't quite fit in said pockets. I'd
usually prefer no bag - but there are also stores
where they insist on it as a "proof of purchase"
(you mean my receipt isn't enough?).
--
Jette
(aka Vinyaduriel)
"Work for Peace and remain fiercely loving" - Jim Byrnes
je...@blueyonder.co.uk
http://www.jette.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/
http://bosslady.tripod.com/fanfic.html
Lee S. Billings
falc...@excite.com says...
I wonder if they think that if it's *not* in a bag, they'll be hassled for
"shoplifting"?
OTOH, assumptions aren't good either. Perhaps the clerk should *ask* people who
have one tiny item if they want a bag. I've had clerks ask me that, and
sometimes the answer is yes (say, if my hands are full already, it's easier to
carry a bag because I can hook it over a finger) and sometimes no (I already
have a bag from somewhere else, or I'm just going to stick the item into my
pocket or purse).
Celine
--
"Only the powers of evil claim that doing good is boring."
-- Diane Duane, _Nightfall at Algemron_
Kat & Kent
> <snip>
> What's up with that, I wonder? A bag holding several items, I can
> understand. But insisting a bag around one, small innocuous household
> item does not make sense. It makes waste, adds bulk, does not make
> carrying the little item any easier, but the clerks have to deal with
> people getting all insisting on the bag anyway. Anyone have any idea
> what's up with these people?? :)
Others have posted good reasons... here's another... sometimes you want
the bag to hide the item from someone else's eyes... frex you got a
treat for your child but you don't want them to know about it until
*after* dinner.
Kat
Crossfire
] Hey all...
Good question, but not one I've ever encountered personally. When I
worked retail, we were trained to always put purchases in bags, but we
also had small bags for small purchases, like a single pair of earrings
or a pair of socks or whatever.
I always considered it as protection for the item, and thus a courtesy
to the customer. I also know that in higher-end retail, the bag is a
status symbol ("I just bought something at Tiffany's, check me out!").
While I doubt a Safeway bag is a status symbol, perhaps some customers have
come to regard it as an obligatory courtesey, and get angry when it's not
done? Just a thought.
Alternatively, they could just be bonkers. Lots of people out there are
bonkers, and while it's fun to theorize why they do things, sometimes the
answer is, "they're just bonkers."
(Me, I rarely get a bag for small purchases at the grocery store, because
either I intend to consume or use the purchase right away, or because I
have my backpack with me and I'll put it in there.)
--
Jon "Crossfire" Reid | jon <at> apeiros <dot> com (DeSPAM the Reply-To)
| http://www.apeiros.com/~jon
Miche
falc...@excite.com (Elana Who?) wrote:
They feel entitled to their bag so by ghod they're going to get it?
That's my first thought, anyway.
Miche
--
And you may say to yourself "Well -- how did I get here?"
-- Talking Heads, _Once in a Lifetime_
Miche
"Jette Goldie" <j...@blueyonder.com.uk> wrote:
> Personally I carry a large handbag (purse) and often
> keep a canvas tote bag around for purchases - but
> there are days when I've just stuck my money and
> keys in my jeans-pocket and (oops!) bought
> something that won't quite fit in said pockets. I'd
> usually prefer no bag - but there are also stores
> where they insist on it as a "proof of purchase"
> (you mean my receipt isn't enough?).
A few years back a friend of mine bought a 10-pack of cassette tapes
from a chain. They insisted on giving him a bag even though he didn't
want one, for "security reasons". He said "I've got ten pieces of
plastic in plastic cases, each case wrapped in plastic, the whole thing
wrapped in more plastic, and you want to add another layer of plastic?
I have a receipt and there's a <chain name> price sticker on the item...
what more "security" could you need?" They insisted.
David C Pugh
news:akloc7$160$1...@slb7.atl.mindspring.net...
Me too. I find clerks usually ask me if I want a bag, and if I have my
shoulderbag with me, as I almost always do, and if the object is not
vulnerable, and if it's not raining, I say, "No thanks, I'll just drop it in
this shoulder-bag, (with a smile) I assume you won't have me arrested before
I reach the door". If they don't give me a bag and it's a book and it's
raining, I'll ask for one. I'll often give bags back, often with a remark
about saving paper, plastic, or whatever. In no case can I ever recall
either party getting antsy about it. There's enough antsiness in my life,
but not in this particular department, gee I seem to be missing out ;-)
--
David
"From ghouls and ghosties, and long-leggety beasties, and things that go
bump on the Net, Good Lord, deliver us"
Bruce Klaiss
news:3fb62ee.02082...@posting.google.com:
> What's up with that, I wonder? A bag holding several items, I can
> understand. But insisting a bag around one, small innocuous household
> item does not make sense. It makes waste, adds bulk, does not make
> carrying the little item any easier, but the clerks have to deal with
> people getting all insisting on the bag anyway. Anyone have any idea
> what's up with these people?? :)
"Laziness or stupidity, IMO," Harper Blue says. "I think I'm the only
person in Bibb County, or maybe in Alabama, that doesn't see the sense in
bagging gallon milk/juice jugs with handles attached. The jug fills an
entire bag (unless you have a bunch of little stuff to drop in the sides,
and none of the cashiers/baggers do that anyway), when you could save the
bag and carry the jug by the handle. When asked, the cashiers give the
same answer that you did. It's beyond me, aside from the explanations I
offer above."
--
Bruce Klaiss, MSLS
-----
"Free the Bound Periodicals!!!"
Proprietor of the Beatles' favorite coffeehouse -- Latte' Be
"Espresso -- coffee with hair. Raktajino -- coffee with TEETH!"
"Will you join in our crusade? Who will be strong and stand with me?
Somewhere beyond the barricade, is there a world you long to see?"
-- from the Broadway musical "Les Miserables"
In time of war, guard your freedoms even more closely!
Sydney Ashcraft
When I worked at KMart I got in the habit of asking people "D'you want a bag for
that?" (Or, "I can put the rest of your items in that giant plastic storage
crate you're also buying...") Sometimes they'd say yes, sometimes no, but
nobody ever got upset with me. One customer said that she wanted a bag so that
nobody would think she stole the item. I guess I can understand that, but isn't
that what a receipt is supposed to be for? I shrug generally and noncomittally.
Droewyn
--
--'--,--<@ --'--,--<@ --'--,--<@ _\@/_ @>--,--'-- @>--,--'-- @>--,--'--
Sydney Allison Ashcraft | Wonder and hope will draw the unicorn, faith
Lavender GoodWench and | and love will bind him. This is Innocence.
Unsavory Malcontent | Sexual experience has nothing to do with it.
--'--,--<@ --'--,--<@ --'--,--<@ _\@/_ @>--,--'-- @>--,--'-- @>--,--'--
Jen the Obscure
*boggle* Packages prone to leakage that would make sense, but Oscar Mayer packs?!
I did figure out that individual bagging of veggies is done to prevent said veggie
oozing on/smelling up other items. Insurance against the possibility of it getting
somehow squashed during travel...I think.
> The only veggie I bought was an onion so it got it's very own bag.
Yesterday I had to hike over to the shopping center to get a few little things that
weren't really worth having my mom spend $20 on postage to ship, and a few things
that I just forgot. Now, was that worth an hour round trip on foot...?
$20 worth of groceries. Four bags.
Bottle of detergent=one bag (baffling; it has a handle designed for carrying and
the bag broke not fifty feet from the store due to the weight of the bottle.
Bottle was thankfully unharmed)
Fruit snacks and Cheezits=one bag
Ten packs of Koolaid mix=one bag (not even a little bag; full-size)
Shampoo, sewing needles and lip balm=one bag
So, that's $5 per bag. YOW! I reorganized everything so it would be much easier
to carry and wound up with one bag, one bottle and the smaller things in my
backpack.
I think there's some arcane bagging system "Thou shalt not mix types of products.
Thou shalt get in on the betting pool wherein it is prophesied how far the customer
shall go before collapsing under weight of all bags."
denaldo
Denaldo rejects the too obvious "people with excess and/or emotional
baggage" pun. "I have never met anyone like that, so I don't have a
clue as to the motivation. My baggage pet peeve is taking a gallon
or half gallon of milk, that has a perfectly good handle to carry it
by, and shoving it into a little plastic bag whose handles may or
may not carry the load."
--
Often, when I read a really good book, I stop to thank my old grade
school teacher. At least I used to, before she got an unlisted number.
Send 'pointless' responses to den...@ePoinTv1.net
Leigh Claffey
I have no idea.
I rarely have someone auto-bag single items around here: they almost
invariably ask if I want it bagged and don't seem surprised when I say no.
I cannot fathom someone not realizing that while their own contribution is
small if everyone turned down unnecesary bags it would save on
energy etc in the long run.
I was told once in Washington DC that I 'must' have a bag (for a gallon of milk??)
because it was store policy but that's the only time I can remember.
--Leigh
Leigh Claffey
Well there is that, yeah.
But I agree: all you have to do is ask for one.
It's not like they'll say no or anything.
Some people are just plain rude or stupid.
--Leigh
Leigh Claffey
BWAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA -- SNORK!
Sorry, that's my first reaction.
As an ex-bagger I think any managers I had would have shot
me for the waste.
It's one thing if the customer asks (hey, who'm I to tell you to your face that
your phobia is stupid?), but....individually bagged lunch meat??
Where do they find the time? Why do they have the time?
That'll last only as long as the time management wonk from the home office
doesn't show up. When he/she does the excement will be doing mach 10.
--Leigh
Leigh Claffey
I've found the request to wrap a bag around it and bag the bagged item
framed as a polite request works wonders in these cases.
(Yes I don't consider this a waste of a bag. Invariably either or both bags
will be used for something else at home).
But to just assume on the clerk's part that that's what you want is silly...
--Leigh
Jeanne Harney
>> Elana mused:
>> I'd like to know, myself only in the opposite direction maybe. Actually, in my
>> area, I think there may be a contest between baggers to see how many bags they
>> can use in a shift?
and please don't double bag. I've had baggers argue with me so often
that I typically only go to stores now that let me bag my own stuff.
I see NO sense in having all those silly plastic bags hanging around
either...and I CAN carry 4 2-liters of Pepsi up 2 flights of stairs in
ONE plastic bag, as long as I grab both handles equally, and never
break the plastic. No matter what the baggers say.
I also don't want people carrying my groceries out and putting them in
my (always horribly messy) car. I can do that myself, and I generally
have to refuse 4 or 5 times before they really believe I can push a
cart to the parking lot.
Jeanne
Nebulous
"Jan" wrote
>
> I'd like to know, myself only in the opposite direction maybe. Actually,
in my
> area, I think there may be a contest between baggers to see how many bags
they
> can use in a shift?
>
Part of the problem *has* been the the change from paper bags to mostly
plastic ones. Plastic bags are *very* cheap. I don't remember the exact
ratio, but a paper bag costs as much as *at least* 10 plastic ones. This,
and the fact that platic bags don't hold products together as well as paper
ones, has resulted in more bags being used for a given number of groceries.
> I bought $53.00 worth (not very much in other words) of groceries the
other day
> and came out with *15* bags! Apparently they've decided that, besides
bagging
> only similar items together, now even some of those shouldn't (shudder)
touch
> each other. In the bag with the lunch meat, I got an individual little
paper
> bag wrapped lovingly around each package. Not as if these were butcher
> packages that might leak, either, just your regular old Oscar Mayer
packages.
> The only veggie I bought was an onion so it got it's very own bag.
>
Several comments by customers and rules from management:
"Don't make the bags too heavy."
"Keep the cold items together."
"Separate cleaning supplies from food."
"Separate strong smelling items."
"Don't put <that> in with <those>."
"Put <that> in a second bag."
When enough people ask for light bags, double bags, and highly separated
merchandise, then the baggers tend to anticipate these requests, even when
a customer *doesn't* ask. Instrucions from the management can temporarily
reverse this trend, but people keep asking for the extra bags. :/
Yes, I work in a grocery store. :)
--
Nebulous Rikulau
"... Where shopping is a pleasure."
Jan
<<You didn't mention if they were paper or plastic. ;) >>
Mostly plastic but the individually wrapped lunch meats were wrapped in paper
bags - then put into the plastic sacks.
<<Yes, I work in a grocery store. :) >>
Cool, can I ask another question, then? 'Way back when I worked in a grocery
store, I was taught to spread out the canned goods as evenly as possible
between sacks (pre-plastic, btw) so no one sack would be too heavy. Nowadays
the baggers always seem to put *all* of the canned items in one sack and I have
to remind them that at, the very least, they need to double bag if they do
that. Any clues?
Jan
Who drags her groceries up to the third floor and really thinks twice about how
many cans ore heavy bottles she buys.
John Vinson
is the guy that doesn't want bags, that's right". Difficult! When I
want more than (say) a half-gallon of milk I'll bring one of my many
canvas shopping bags ("Paper or plastic?" "No, thank you!") and once
in a blue moon will let them give me a plastic bag.
But most of my shopping is at Winco, a big-cheap-low-service market
with good produce and all the normal brand name products. They do NOT
provide baggers, and the clerk won't bag your groceries for you (I
think they have baggers available on request for people physically
unable to bag their own). I'll fill two canvas bags and then either
paper or plastic depending on whether we need paper trash bags or
plastic produce bags more urgently in our recycling.
The nice thing is they give a $0.06 discount for every bag you bring
in - reused paper bags *or* my canvas bags. I've had to point this
fact out to a couple of clerks, and have had no end of other customers
express surprise that you could do so...
John the Wysard jvinson *at* WysardOfInfo *dot* com
Basil
wrote:
Basil shakes his head sadly. "Not a freaking clue. But then, when the
clerk asks 'paper or plastic' I answer 'cloth!' and put my knapsack on
the shelf."
"Usually fill it myself, too."
http://www.dryit.com -- the best at-home food dehydrator! And source of _Dry It---You'll Like It!_
To reach me, use buzz <at> hod <dot> aarg <dot> net
--
There is no friend like an old friend
Who has shared our morning days,
No greeting like his welcome,
No homage like his praise. -- Oliver Wendell Holmes
Basil
allen) wrote:
>Elana Who? <falc...@excite.com> wrote:
>
>> Turns out the clerk told me people get downright angry if she assumes
>> that one tiny item = no bag. They WANT their bag. They insist on
>> having their little bag. They sometimes get abusive at the clerks if
>> they don't get their little bag.
>>
>> OK I don't get it.
>>
>> What's up with that, I wonder? A bag holding several items, I can
>> understand. But insisting a bag around one, small innocuous household
>> item does not make sense. It makes waste, adds bulk, does not make
>> carrying the little item any easier, but the clerks have to deal with
>> people getting all insisting on the bag anyway. Anyone have any idea
>> what's up with these people?? :)
>
>Maybe they're afraid they'll be suspected of shoplifting if they walk
>out with their item in their hand.
"That's what the receipt is for."
>Maybe they need a trash bag out in
>the car. Maybe they're just jerks.
"I pick #3."
>This can go to extremes...yesterday I was in a sporting goods store with
>my son, buying him a new backpack for school, (and that's all) and I had
>to insist we could make it to the car without putting the backpack in a
>bag.
Basil gives a snort of derision.
http://www.dryit.com -- the best at-home food dehydrator! And source of _Dry It---You'll Like It!_
To reach me, use buzz <at> hod <dot> aarg <dot> net
--
Every smile makes you a day younger.
Basil
wrote:
"If I were being cynical (it happens now and then), I'd suggest that
store was owned by a petroleum/plastics company." ;)
http://www.dryit.com -- the best at-home food dehydrator! And source of _Dry It---You'll Like It!_
To reach me, use buzz <at> hod <dot> aarg <dot> net
--
Friendship is one mind in two bodies. -- Mencius
Pen
<jvinson@STOP_SPAM.WysardOfInfo.com> wrote:
<snipped>
> The nice thing is they give a $0.06 discount for every bag you bring
> in - reused paper bags *or* my canvas bags. I've had to point this
> fact out to a couple of clerks, and have had no end of other customers
> express surprise that you could do so...
'Tis a good scheme. Sainsburys will give a customer 1p for each
recycled carrier bag the customer uses. This used to go directly to
the charity of the month, but nowadays they give it to the customer
instead - with collection boxes on the wall in case you wish to donate
the pennies. I take several strong carrier bags when I go supermarket
shopping, and always pack my own groceries (by type, or by
destination). Happily, too, Tesco have now got a
plastic-bags-recycling bin, so I can get rid of the flimsy bags which
somehow manage to accumulate.
In other shops, I frequently request no carrier bag - nobody has ever
insisted on supplying one.
Pen
Ellen K. Hursh
> Denaldo rejects the too obvious "people with excess and/or emotional
> baggage" pun. "I have never met anyone like that, so I don't have a
> clue as to the motivation. My baggage pet peeve is taking a gallon
> or half gallon of milk, that has a perfectly good handle to carry it
> by, and shoving it into a little plastic bag whose handles may or
> may not carry the load."
Hm... I've generally found that a double bag is, for me, more than
enough for carrying a jug of milk - it's easier for me to carry a heavy
plastic bag than to carry that milk by the rather awkwardly-placed
handle (it's fine for transportation to and from the fridge, but I
generally do my shopping on foot - at best, it's a couple of blocks to
the bus stop - but not so fine for walking very far with it)
--
Ellen K Hursh
He would have finished Goddam off then and there, but pity stayed
his hand. It's a pity I've run out of bullets, he thought as he
went back up the tunnel, pursued by Goddam's cries of rage.
--Bored of the Ring, Prologue
Jiri Baum
> Several comments by customers and rules from management:
> "Don't make the bags too heavy."
> "Keep the cold items together."
> "Separate cleaning supplies from food."
> "Separate strong smelling items."
> "Don't put <that> in with <those>."
> "Put <that> in a second bag."
"The onion was probably a case of ``Don't put raw meat in with things
that won't be cooked''. And I suspect a fair number of customers will
prefer the meat separated from the dairy on religious principle."
Jiri
--
Jiri Baum <ji...@baum.com.au> http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jirib
MAT LinuxPLC project --- http://mat.sf.net --- Machine Automation Tools
Janet D. Miles
> My baggage pet peeve is taking a gallon
>or half gallon of milk, that has a perfectly good handle to carry it
>by, and shoving it into a little plastic bag whose handles may or
>may not carry the load."
I've seen a couple of people mention this one, and I'd like to offer my
excuse for preferring to put the milk in a bag: I live in an area with
relatively high humidity. By the time I get home (about 10 minutes), the
milk jug will be dripping with condensation. I'd rather said condensation
be contained in a plastic bag, rather than soaking into my car's carpet.
FWIW, I do re-use the plastic bags as trash bags for my car, for packing
small items when I travel, and for storing dirty laundry when I travel.
JanetM
Lee S. Billings
>FWIW, I do re-use the plastic bags as trash bags for my car, for packing
>small items when I travel, and for storing dirty laundry when I travel.
We reuse them for a lot of things -- they're extremely handy! We've completely
stopped buying small- and medium-size trash bags, using grocery bags for the
former and department-store bags for the latter. I keep one hanging on the wall
next to the can-crusher, to collect the dead cans; once I have 4 or 5 bags
full, they go to the recycler. Trash bags for the car, as you point out. Any
time we need a small bag to hold something, as yesterday when I was taking a
batch of jewelry over to a friend's place.
When we get an oversupply, we just haul the extras down to the bag-recycling
bin at the grocery store.
Kat & Kent
>
> A few years back a friend of mine bought a 10-pack of cassette tapes
> from a chain. They insisted on giving him a bag even though he didn't
> want one, for "security reasons". He said "I've got ten pieces of
> plastic in plastic cases, each case wrapped in plastic, the whole
> thing wrapped in more plastic, and you want to add another layer of
> plastic? I have a receipt and there's a <chain name> price sticker on
> the item... what more "security" could you need?" They insisted.
I would be soooooo tempted to point out that they were giving me
something to put five finger items in should my mind work that way.
Kat
Kat & Kent
>
> Cool, can I ask another question, then? 'Way back when I worked in a
> grocery store, I was taught to spread out the canned goods as evenly
> as possible between sacks (pre-plastic, btw) so no one sack would be
> too heavy. Nowadays the baggers always seem to put *all* of the
> canned items in one sack and I have to remind them that at, the very
> least, they need to double bag if they do that. Any clues?
It's one of the mysteries of life. You should try bringing your own
canvas & net bags... that *really* throws them... otoh they're easier to
sling over your shoulder when you climb stairs.
Kat
Kat & Kent
>
> 'Tis a good scheme. Sainsburys will give a customer 1p for each
> recycled carrier bag the customer uses. This used to go directly to
> the charity of the month, but nowadays they give it to the customer
> instead - with collection boxes on the wall in case you wish to donate
> the pennies. I take several strong carrier bags when I go supermarket
> shopping, and always pack my own groceries (by type, or by
> destination). Happily, too, Tesco have now got a
> plastic-bags-recycling bin, so I can get rid of the flimsy bags which
> somehow manage to accumulate.
The health food store I frequent allows you to choose to take a 5 cent
per bag off your total OR a wooden nickel for each bag. There are three
clear plastic bins where one can choose to donate one's wooden nickel to
any of three different charities. The charities vary from time to time
so you have the opportunity to give to a larger number of worthy causes.
Kat
Matthew Russotto
Elana Who? <falc...@excite.com> wrote:
>
>Turns out the clerk told me people get downright angry if she assumes
>that one tiny item = no bag. They WANT their bag. They insist on
>having their little bag. They sometimes get abusive at the clerks if
>they don't get their little bag.
I once had a clerk give me a dirty look for asking for a bag for a
single item. Service with a snarl, evidentally. She didn't give it to
me either, so I reached over and took it.
The item was a pint of ice cream, and I needed to walk a few blocks
carrying it.
--
Matthew T. Russotto mrus...@speakeasy.net
=====
Every time you buy a CD, a programmer is kicked in the teeth.
Every time you buy or rent a DVD, a programmer is kicked where it counts.
Every time they kick a programmer, 1000 users are kicked too, and harder.
A proposed US law called the CBDTPA would ban the PC as we know it.
This is not a joke, not an exaggeration. This is real.
http://www.cryptome.org/broadbandits.htm
Miche
Heh heh...
BOYC?
Miche
--
And you may say to yourself "Well -- how did I get here?"
-- Talking Heads, _Once in a Lifetime_
Miche
stard...@mindspring.com (Lee S. Billings) wrote:
> In article <3d6f699c$1...@news.utk.edu>, jdm...@larry.cas.utk.edu says...
>
> >FWIW, I do re-use the plastic bags as trash bags for my car, for packing
> >small items when I travel, and for storing dirty laundry when I travel.
>
> We reuse them for a lot of things -- they're extremely handy! We've
> completely
> stopped buying small- and medium-size trash bags, using grocery bags for the
> former and department-store bags for the latter. I keep one hanging on the
> wall
> next to the can-crusher, to collect the dead cans; once I have 4 or 5 bags
> full, they go to the recycler. Trash bags for the car, as you point out. Any
> time we need a small bag to hold something, as yesterday when I was taking a
> batch of jewelry over to a friend's place.
>
> When we get an oversupply, we just haul the extras down to the bag-recycling
> bin at the grocery store.
We use them for household rubbish bags, and DH uses the smaller ones as
lunch bags, which then become rubbish bags as apple cores etc
accumulate. (We have lunch together as a family.)
Miche
bas...@hod.aarg.net (Basil) wrote:
> >A few years back a friend of mine bought a 10-pack of cassette tapes
> >from a chain. They insisted on giving him a bag even though he didn't
> >want one, for "security reasons". He said "I've got ten pieces of
> >plastic in plastic cases, each case wrapped in plastic, the whole thing
> >wrapped in more plastic, and you want to add another layer of plastic?
> >I have a receipt and there's a <chain name> price sticker on the item...
> >what more "security" could you need?" They insisted.
>
> "If I were being cynical (it happens now and then), I'd suggest that
> store was owned by a petroleum/plastics company." ;)
They're not. But I appreciate your reasoning. :) BOYC?
Marc Lechowicz
"Lynn allen" <ly...@NOT-semiotics.com> wrote in message
news:1fho6g5.ikugfz1mp6rdqN@[192.168.1.101]...
> Elana Who? <falc...@excite.com> wrote:
>
> > Turns out the clerk told me people get downright angry if she assumes
> > that one tiny item = no bag. They WANT their bag. They insist on
> > having their little bag. They sometimes get abusive at the clerks if
> > they don't get their little bag.
> >
> >
> > What's up with that, I wonder? A bag holding several items, I can
> > understand. But insisting a bag around one, small innocuous household
> > item does not make sense. It makes waste, adds bulk, does not make
> > carrying the little item any easier, but the clerks have to deal with
> > people getting all insisting on the bag anyway. Anyone have any idea
> > what's up with these people?? :)
>
> Maybe they're afraid they'll be suspected of shoplifting if they walk
> the car. Maybe they're just jerks.
>
My personal view is that it's 1) and 2), rather than 3). I remember often
my mother asking for a bag for one item, only to later use the bag as a
garbage bag-either for the car (as you suggested) or for small wastebaskets
(it's cheaper than buying the actual bags).
> This can go to extremes...yesterday I was in a sporting goods store with
> my son, buying him a new backpack for school, (and that's all) and I had
> to insist we could make it to the car without putting the backpack in a
> bag.
>
That is a bit extreme. On the other hand, it might be they have a high
volume of shoplifting-by insisting on a bag, customers won't get stopped on
their way out and asked for their receipt.
Marc
-----------== Posted via Newsfeed.Com - Uncensored Usenet News ==----------
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Jette Goldie
"Nebulous" <lum...@ix.netcom.com> wrote
> Part of the problem *has* been the the change from paper bags to mostly
> plastic ones. Plastic bags are *very* cheap. I don't remember the exact
> ratio, but a paper bag costs as much as *at least* 10 plastic ones. This,
> and the fact that platic bags don't hold products together as well as
paper
> ones, has resulted in more bags being used for a given number of
groceries.
EEK! Whereas *here* in the UK, they're doing everything
they can to encourage us NOT to take a plastic bag because
they're expensive and wasteful.
Some chains (Lidl's frex) charge for each plastic bag.
Some give you a discount of a penny if you bring your
own bags or boxes (or grocery crates - see my other
post about these). Sometimes the discount is in the
form of a donation to charity for each bag you're reusing.
Some stores sell "everlasting" bags - stronger plastic
carrier bags with good handles that cost a few pennies
and they promise that so long as you keep reusing it,
they will replace it free when it wears out.
--
Jette
(aka Vinyaduriel)
"Work for Peace and remain fiercely loving" - Jim Byrnes
je...@blueyonder.co.uk
http://www.jette.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/
http://bosslady.tripod.com/fanfic.html
Jette Goldie
"Sydney Ashcraft" <dro...@earthlink.net> wrote
> When I worked at KMart I got in the habit of asking people "D'you want a
bag for
> that?" (Or, "I can put the rest of your items in that giant plastic
storage
> crate you're also buying...") Sometimes they'd say yes, sometimes no, but
> nobody ever got upset with me. One customer said that she wanted a bag so
that
> nobody would think she stole the item. I guess I can understand that, but
isn't
> that what a receipt is supposed to be for? I shrug generally and
noncomittally.
Several of the British supermarket chains have recently
introduced plastic "grocery crates" for your shopping.
You buy the crate (some come with lids) and fill it with
your shopping. Next visit you bring the crate with you
and fill it with your shopping, and the next and the next
and the next. Sainsbury's even introduced special
trolleys that are designed for them - instead of filling
a trolley then having to bag your groceries at the
check out (we bag our own purchases in UK supermarkets)
you place your crates on the flat bed trolley (two levels
- the upper level being at roughly waist level on most
folks) and fill the crates with groceries. In some stores
you can even scan your own groceries and just hand
the print out and cash to the assistant - no need for
her to scan them or take them out of the crates.
(they do a re-scan on a few customers randomly
to ensure the accuracy of the system - and honesty
of the customers <g>).
Marc Lechowicz
Ellen K. Hursh
> I once had a clerk give me a dirty look for asking for a bag for a
> single item. Service with a snarl, evidentally. She didn't give it to
> me either, so I reached over and took it.
>
> The item was a pint of ice cream, and I needed to walk a few blocks
> carrying it.
Eesh! Was she expecting you to devour the entire thing the moment you
left the store, perhaps?
Crossfire
wrote:
] In article <3d6f699c$1...@news.utk.edu>, jdm...@larry.cas.utk.edu says...
]
]>FWIW, I do re-use the plastic bags as trash bags for my car, for packing
]>small items when I travel, and for storing dirty laundry when I travel.
]
] We reuse them for a lot of things -- they're extremely handy!
I do too. Once, when I was still in school, I used them to move...I just
packed everything into them and hauled them around. (I didn't have much
stuff at the time). The handles made it extremely easy to load and
unload the car.
--
Jon "Crossfire" Reid | jon <at> apeiros <dot> com (DeSPAM the Reply-To)
| http://www.apeiros.com/~jon
Ellen K. Hursh
My use for plastic grocery bags (in addition to the already-mentioned
trash bags, general stuff-hauling, etc.) is cleaning out the cat box:
I check grocery bags *very* carefully, and the ones that are
*completely* free of holes and tears of any kind are socked away for
that use, since the sand won't leak out. (The "downside" is that I
get possessive of these bags - pristine bags are sometimes hard to
find - and get a "little" snappy at anyone who tries to dip into my stash.)
Marc Lechowicz
"Jette Goldie" <j...@blueyonder.com.uk> wrote in message
news:xSOb9.3756$8j.23...@news-text.cableinet.net...
>
> "Nebulous" <lum...@ix.netcom.com> wrote
> > Part of the problem *has* been the the change from paper bags to mostly
> > plastic ones. Plastic bags are *very* cheap. I don't remember the
exact
> > ratio, but a paper bag costs as much as *at least* 10 plastic ones.
This,
> > and the fact that platic bags don't hold products together as well as
> paper
> > ones, has resulted in more bags being used for a given number of
> groceries.
>
>
> EEK! Whereas *here* in the UK, they're doing everything
> they can to encourage us NOT to take a plastic bag because
> they're expensive and wasteful.
>
> Some chains (Lidl's frex) charge for each plastic bag.
>
> Some give you a discount of a penny if you bring your
> own bags or boxes (or grocery crates - see my other
> post about these).
Most chains that I've dealt with in the US give 3 cents. I don't know if
that's comparable to your pence (probably is). I did have one clerk tell me
'It's only 3 cents!' To which I replied, 'I collect pennies'.
Marc Lechowicz
"Ellen K. Hursh" <ekh...@bdexx.com> wrote in message
news:3D6FB6DA...@bdexx.com...
> Matthew Russotto wrote:
>
>
> > I once had a clerk give me a dirty look for asking for a bag for a
> > single item. Service with a snarl, evidentally. She didn't give it to
> > me either, so I reached over and took it.
> >
> > The item was a pint of ice cream, and I needed to walk a few blocks
> > carrying it.
>
> Eesh! Was she expecting you to devour the entire thing the moment you
>
> left the store, perhaps?
In her defense (her reasoning, certainly *not* her attitude-I'd have
reported it to her manager)-a pint of ice cream is not all that big. If she
was assuming (as most clerks seem to do-which annoys me to no end) that
Matthew was driving, then she may have felt he didn't need a bag for a such
a small item. Regardless of her reasoning, though, if a customer asks for a
bag, you give it to him/her.
--
Marc
In vino veritas
Marc Lechowicz
"Crossfire" <jonLU...@MEATapeiros.com> wrote in message
news:slrnamvgim.pf...@olethros.apeiros.com...
> On 30 Aug 2002 13:44:41 GMT, Lee S. Billings <stard...@mindspring.com>
> wrote:
>
> ] In article <3d6f699c$1...@news.utk.edu>, jdm...@larry.cas.utk.edu
says...
> ]
> ]>FWIW, I do re-use the plastic bags as trash bags for my car, for packing
> ]>small items when I travel, and for storing dirty laundry when I travel.
> ]
> ] We reuse them for a lot of things -- they're extremely handy!
>
> I do too. Once, when I was still in school, I used them to move...I just
> packed everything into them and hauled them around. (I didn't have much
> stuff at the time). The handles made it extremely easy to load and
> unload the car.
I did that the first two times I moved. Subsequent moves have proven that
not even a single bed can fit in a plastic grocery bag :0)
Pat Kight
> I do too. Once, when I was still in school, I used them to move...I just
> packed everything into them and hauled them around. (I didn't have much
> stuff at the time). The handles made it extremely easy to load and
> unload the car.
"I've found that the sorts of plastic bags Safeway and similar stores
use to bag groceries are about perfect for moving large quantities of
books in bundles manageable enough for me to carry," says the Spinster
down the the Lounge. "This may in part be a consequence of aging and
loss of upper-body strength. I can remember early moves when I'd
scrounge liquor boxes; later, it was paper bags. Then there was the `tie
them up with twine' phase, but that can be hell on your fingers if you
have to move the quantity of books owned by, say, a typical Callahanian.
"Grocery sacks worked great this last move - I had plenty on hand,
filled, I can carry two of them easily, and once emptied, they turned
into trash bags to hold the crumpled newspaper and other detritus of
moving."
--Jezebel
kig...@peak.org
Basil
wrote:
>In article <akn155$1jljld$7...@ID-154378.news.dfncis.de>,
> bas...@hod.aarg.net (Basil) wrote:
>
>> >A few years back a friend of mine bought a 10-pack of cassette tapes
>> >from a chain. They insisted on giving him a bag even though he didn't
>> >want one, for "security reasons". He said "I've got ten pieces of
>> >plastic in plastic cases, each case wrapped in plastic, the whole thing
>> >wrapped in more plastic, and you want to add another layer of plastic?
>> >I have a receipt and there's a <chain name> price sticker on the item...
>> >what more "security" could you need?" They insisted.
>>
>> "If I were being cynical (it happens now and then), I'd suggest that
>> store was owned by a petroleum/plastics company." ;)
>
>They're not. But I appreciate your reasoning. :) BOYC?
"An ice-cold orange juice, please."
http://www.dryit.com -- the best at-home food dehydrator! And source of _Dry It---You'll Like It!_
To reach me, use buzz <at> hod <dot> aarg <dot> net
--
Peace is his highest value. If the peace has been shattered, how can
he be content? -- Lao Tzu, _Tao Te Ching_
Basil
<j...@blueyonder.com.uk> wrote:
<snip>
>Some give you a discount of a penny if you bring your
>own bags or boxes (or grocery crates - see my other
>post about these).
"One of the big chains around here (I forget which) does that.
Including using a backpack (as I always do)."
>Sometimes the discount is in the
>form of a donation to charity for each bag you're reusing.
>
>Some stores sell "everlasting" bags - stronger plastic
>carrier bags with good handles that cost a few pennies
>and they promise that so long as you keep reusing it,
>they will replace it free when it wears out.
"I like the sound of that. Let's hope some USian chain borrows the
idea."
Basil
<ekh...@bdexx.com> wrote:
>Matthew Russotto wrote:
>
>
>> I once had a clerk give me a dirty look for asking for a bag for a
>> single item. Service with a snarl, evidentally. She didn't give it to
>> me either, so I reached over and took it.
>>
>> The item was a pint of ice cream, and I needed to walk a few blocks
>> carrying it.
>
>Eesh! Was she expecting you to devour the entire thing the moment you
>
>left the store, perhaps?
"That, or levitate it all the way home, so it wouldn't leak on his
hands."
http://www.dryit.com -- the best at-home food dehydrator! And source of _Dry It---You'll Like It!_
To reach me, use buzz <at> hod <dot> aarg <dot> net
--
It's a funny thing about life, if you refuse to settle for anything
less than the best, that's what it will give you. -- W. Somerset Maugham
Nebulous
"Jan" wrote
> Cool, can I ask another question, then? 'Way back when I worked in a
grocery
> store, I was taught to spread out the canned goods as evenly as possible
> between sacks (pre-plastic, btw) so no one sack would be too heavy.
Nowadays
> the baggers always seem to put *all* of the canned items in one sack and
I have
> to remind them that at, the very least, they need to double bag if they
do
> that. Any clues?
>
customer puts *all* of the canned goods together at one end of the order.
Sometimes, in that case, all that is available to be bagged at the time
*is* cans. This normally only happens when the bagger can keep up with the
cashier. Other than that, I don't know of any excuse besides poor training.
> Jan
> Who drags her groceries up to the third floor and really thinks twice
about how
> many cans ore heavy bottles she buys.
I wish more people did that. :/ "Don't make the bags too heavy!" How heavy
is *too* heavy? Sometimes when they complain I pick up the bag with my
little finger and say, "It doesn't seem heavy to me."
My store is the closest one to a *large* retirement community. From how
busy it was, I think that Social Security came today.
--
Nebulous Rikulau
Sylvia Wulf
"John Vinson" <jvinson@STOP_SPAM.WysardOfInfo.com> wrote in message
news:oo0umusr3l7gafnjc...@4ax.com...
> I've finally mostly got the clerks at the local M&W trained: "Oh, this
> is the guy that doesn't want bags, that's right". Difficult! When I
> want more than (say) a half-gallon of milk I'll bring one of my many
> canvas shopping bags ("Paper or plastic?" "No, thank you!") and once
> in a blue moon will let them give me a plastic bag.
<snip>
<BG> Sounds like what I did with my local quick-mart. It took almost a year
of consistantly refusing a bag (unless I was getting multiple items and they
wouldn't all go in my cotton mesh bag or, more likely, that it was a spur of
the moment stop and I didn't have it with me). Eventually they all caught
on - especially after the nth time I made my joke about saving the planet
one plastic bag at a time. If all I'm getting is a gallon of milk, which has
a nice sturdy built-on handle, I sure don't need one of their flimsy
no-handle bags complicating the 15 foot trip to my car! ;-)
BOYC for all just because ;-)
--
PhoenixWench
not really back but peeking in between bouts of RL lunacy
Pat Kight
> I wish more people did that. :/ "Don't make the bags too heavy!" How heavy
> is *too* heavy? Sometimes when they complain I pick up the bag with my
> little finger and say, "It doesn't seem heavy to me."
>
> My store is the closest one to a *large* retirement community.
"That being the case," says the Spinster down in the Lounge, who's
probably a lot closer to living in one of those `retirement communities'
than the average Callahanian, "`too heavy' may mean `I have arthritis
and the narrow handles of that plastic bags feel like a hot knife
slicing through my palm,' or `I have osteoporosis and my bones are
fragile and my muscles are wasted - I can't lift as much as I could just
a few years ago.'
"Assuming you're young and healthy, Nebulous," Jez suggests gently,
"then you can't be expected to understand how painful and frustrating
the normal human aging process can sometimes be. But I have to say that,
if you really do this, it sounds kind of ... cruel ... to me."
--Jezebel
kig...@peak.org
Sea Wasp
More like a matter of ignorance on the one part and miscommunication on
the other.
Older people should remember how THEY thought when they were younger,
and realize that saying "don't make it too heavy" to a healthy young
person means "Don't put in so much that it's hard to lift or breaks the
bag". If you want them to use a different definition, they have to be
clear. "I can't lift anything more than 5 pounds or it feels like hot
spikes in my arm."
Younger people need to try to realize that even an apparently
healthy-looking older person can have several conditions which make it
either impossible or acutely painful to do what appear to be trivial
things. I have occasional bouts of CTS which makes it painful to just
MOVE my wrist, let alone carry things with it. And I'm not what I would
consider "older person" yet.
--
Sea Wasp
/^\
;;;
http://www.wizvax.net/seawasp/index.htm
Leigh Claffey
If you're paying attention to what they're saying you do a 'sample bag' and
have them lift it and remove or add things as requested. Even when it was
busy you could do this (or at least 'make' the time) and people in line behind
usually don't have a problem.
Where I was working as a bagger (years and years ago) they had a unofficial
'seniors day' (ie: no extra discounts that day, just when everyone seemed to show
up to shop) I got to know the people who usually came through on my shift.
Once I did a sample bag for the ones who needed lighter bags I could usually
remember what the weight needed to be with occassional reminding. That sort
of 'time wasting' was generally approved of (did have one front end mgr. who
did not immediately understand the concept...until we were short handed and
he had to bag for one of the ones I usually bagged for....hehehe she gave him
heck....)
I suppose that it helps that I was living with my grandmother at the time and
had gone shopping with her and had to bag for her when I was younger so
I had a clue....
--Leigh
Lee S. Billings
Well put. "Too heavy" is an entirely subjective term, and therefore not useful
as an instruction. "I can't carry more than three cans and a couple of light
items in one bag, please don't pack anything heavier than that," is a lot
better.
Celine
--
"Only the powers of evil claim that doing good is boring."
-- Diane Duane, _Nightfall at Algemron_
Pat Kight
"Of course, you're right about the communication issues here," says
Jezebel, "but an awful lot of older people have pride issues surrounding
admitting that they can't do what they used to be able to do. The
current `older generation' grew up in a time when it was considered
impolite and whiny to complain about one's limitations - I've seen
elders grit their teeth and bear pain that would have left me screaming
on the floor. I'm not saying that's necessarily a *good* thing - and
certainly, when I injured my leg recently and had to use a cane, I
wasn't the slightest bit shy about saying, `I need some help with this.'
"But a little understanding and common courtesy goes a long way - and in
retail, it seems to me like that ought to be part of customer service."
--Jezebel
kig...@peak.org
Isabel
> Hey all...
>
> The other day, I bought just a tiny little nail clipper. When I buy
> just one little thing, I don't see the sense in bagging it. Just
> creates instant, extra garbage. Still the clerk insists on bagging
> the thing, which means I take it out and give the bag right back.
>
> Turns out the clerk told me people get downright angry if she assumes
> that one tiny item = no bag. They WANT their bag. They insist on
> having their little bag. They sometimes get abusive at the clerks if
> they don't get their little bag.
>
> OK I don't get it.
>
> What's up with that, I wonder? A bag holding several items, I can
> understand. But insisting a bag around one, small innocuous household
> item does not make sense. It makes waste, adds bulk, does not make
> carrying the little item any easier, but the clerks have to deal with
> people getting all insisting on the bag anyway. Anyone have any idea
> what's up with these people?? :)
>
> -Elana
Apparently the Irish government have introduced a tax on plastic carrier
bags, and the UK government is thinking of doing the same.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1969997.stm
Sounds like a good idea to me. I have a couple of nylon bags that fold
up small enough to fit in my hadbag, and use those in preference to
plastic bags wherever possible.
Are there any Irish patrons around who can tell us how this is working
out?
Isabel
--
"Between two evils, I always pick the one I never tried before."
Mae West
kitti...@yahoo.co.uk
http://www.livejournal.com/users/kittiwake/
Lee S. Billings
>"Of course, you're right about the communication issues here," says
>Jezebel, "but an awful lot of older people have pride issues surrounding
>admitting that they can't do what they used to be able to do. The
>current `older generation' grew up in a time when it was considered
>impolite and whiny to complain about one's limitations
<snip>
I'd say it goes beyond that. When my parents, and their parents, were growing
up, it was considered whiny and weak to *acknowledge* one's limitations in any
way. Hence the stereotype old person snapping, "Speak up, young man! Why do all
you young people MUMBLE so?" -- because to admit that their hearing isn't what
it used to be is unthinkable, so the fault *has* to be with the person speaking
to them.
Personally, I view that as one more piece of the "tyranny of normality" -- the
worldview that built stairs in front of every public building because people in
wheelchairs just shouldn't be out in public, so it didn't matter if they could
get into a building or not. So I think it's a Good Thing that we've become more
open about saying so when there are things we can't do.
Pat Kight
"So do I - but I also think anyone who's reached their 70s or 80s
without learning to open up on this sort of thing isn't likely to change
now. And I grew up myself in an era when "respect your elders" was part
of the maternal mantra, so I'm sort of trained to be polite in
situations like these. While I've come to believe that respect needs to
be earned, by people of any age, I stick with the politeness lessons,
because I think it makes for smoother social interaction, a more
compassionate culture and lower blood pressures all-around."
--Jezebel
kig...@peak.org
ken-e
ken-e has seen many people at both ends of this
spectrum. Some customers at work want you to pack
as much merchandise into the bags as possible. Stop
packing the bag just before it starts to split.
OTOH, when ken-e takes his mother grocery shopping,
she wants the bags to be light. he carries the bags
upstairs to her apartment, but if she needs to move
a bag after ken-e leaves, she needs for it to be light
so that she can move it.
The key is communication. What does the customer
need? Do they need a bag when they buy a telephone
card? Do they think that getting a bag when they
purchase one small item is wasteful? Ask.
ken-e
Andreas Schaefer
wrote:
On bagging:
I'd like to have the problems you folk seem to be having.
in supermarkets ( food )
Here plastic carrier bags cost: ( something between 10 and 20 E-cent I
have not bought one for sometime).
There is no bagging.
The assumption that somebody who sits at the cash register thinks it
ridiculous. [1]
Department stores still give free bags and often bag as well (
probably because otherwise they'd have to many customers blocking the
cashregister).Those places also have paper strips that can be fixed (
like the baggage strips on airports ) to LARGE items to mark them
paid.
1: there are exceptions, but they are so rare that one really notices.
Andreas
--
As the carrier of acws.de is going through financial problems
currently (http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/data/jk-31.05.02-005/)
It would be a good idea if you updated your address-books to acws at gmx dot net
which should not be affected. Alternatively you might try ac at gh4 dot de
David C Pugh
news:akqv5a$dst$1...@slb2.atl.mindspring.net...
Well said!
--
David
"From ghouls and ghosties, and long-leggety beasties, and things that go
bump on the Net, Good Lord, deliver us"
Miche
i...@nonsuch.co.uk (Isabel) wrote:
> Apparently the Irish government have introduced a tax on plastic carrier
> bags, and the UK government is thinking of doing the same.
>
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1969997.stm
>
> Sounds like a good idea to me. I have a couple of nylon bags that fold
> up small enough to fit in my hadbag, and use those in preference to
> plastic bags wherever possible.
>
> Are there any Irish patrons around who can tell us how this is working
> out?
I heard the number of bags being used in Ireland has dropped on the
order of 90% or so.
Miche
--
And you may say to yourself "Well -- how did I get here?"
-- Talking Heads, _Once in a Lifetime_
Nebulous
"Pat Kight" wrote
> Nebulous wrote:
>
> > I wish more people did that. :/ "Don't make the bags too heavy!" How
heavy
> > is *too* heavy? Sometimes when they complain I pick up the bag with my
> > little finger and say, "It doesn't seem heavy to me."
> >
> > My store is the closest one to a *large* retirement community.
>
> "That being the case," says the Spinster down in the Lounge, who's
> probably a lot closer to living in one of those `retirement communities'
> than the average Callahanian, "`too heavy' may mean `I have arthritis
> and the narrow handles of that plastic bags feel like a hot knife
> slicing through my palm,' or `I have osteoporosis and my bones are
> fragile and my muscles are wasted - I can't lift as much as I could just
> a few years ago.'
>
said, it would be nice if they could give me an idea of how *much* weight
they consider to be too heavy. And then, of course, the problem comes back
to the original subject of this thread: Too Many Bags.
A couple of ...interesting... situations:
"This bag is too heavy."
"That bag has your gallon of milk. I can't make it any lighter."
<thought>Why not buy the 1/2 gallon jug of milk?
"Don't make the bags too heavy." followed by "I can't carry that many bags,
I'm riding the bus."
<thought>If you have to *carry* everything, why bother asking for light
bags?
> "Assuming you're young and healthy, Nebulous," Jez suggests gently,
> "then you can't be expected to understand how painful and frustrating
> the normal human aging process can sometimes be. But I have to say that,
> if you really do this, it sounds kind of ... cruel ... to me."
>
I really need to start fully explaining my thoughts around here. ;)
I'm not *that* young (nearly 40), but I do wonder about how little work the
younger employees get away with. To be honest, when I was younger, I
wondered about how little work all of the employees my age were able to get
away with. :)
'Picking the bag up with one finger' is not something that I would do with
all complaints, just with the *nasty* ones. The ones that start with,
"Don't make the bags too heavy," and then continue by yelling, "I *told*
you not to make them too heavy! Weren't you listening?"
<thought>I was listening. The bag is less than half full. How heavy is
*too* heavy? Quit yelling.</thought>
I am polite. Sometimes *too* polite (<thought>I don't have time to listen
to your life story. I have work to do. Go away!</thought>**smile** "Yes,
that *was* nice of them. Oh, that's too bad..."
<thought>HELP!!!</thought>), but I don't respond well to being yelled at.
I am still mostly polite, but a *touch* of sarcasm gets out.
( I WILL NOT RANT about customers who think that "The customer is always
right" means "Store employees should be treated with contempt". Please
don't let me rant.**whimper**)
--
Nebulous Rikulau
denaldo
>
> denaldo wrote:
>
> > Denaldo rejects the too obvious "people with excess and/or emotional
> > baggage" pun. "I have never met anyone like that, so I don't have a
> > clue as to the motivation. My baggage pet peeve is taking a gallon
> > or half gallon of milk, that has a perfectly good handle to carry it
> > by, and shoving it into a little plastic bag whose handles may or
> > may not carry the load."
>
> enough for carrying a jug of milk - it's easier for me to carry a heavy
> plastic bag than to carry that milk by the rather awkwardly-placed
> handle (it's fine for transportation to and from the fridge, but I
> generally do my shopping on foot - at best, it's a couple of blocks to
> the bus stop - but not so fine for walking very far with it)
OK. You've got a valid point there. Should have thought of that, as
Houston metro area hasn't quite reached the "no one ever walks
anywhere" status. I used to use a backpack when I was close
enough to the store to walk there. (and a lot less lazy <grin>)
--
Often, when I read a really good book, I stop to thank my old grade
school teacher. At least I used to, before she got an unlisted number.
Send 'pointless' responses to den...@ePoinTv1.net
Pat Kight
>
> "Ellen K. Hursh" wrote:
> >
> > denaldo wrote:
> >
> > > Denaldo rejects the too obvious "people with excess and/or emotional
> > > baggage" pun. "I have never met anyone like that, so I don't have a
> > > clue as to the motivation. My baggage pet peeve is taking a gallon
> > > or half gallon of milk, that has a perfectly good handle to carry it
> > > by, and shoving it into a little plastic bag whose handles may or
> > > may not carry the load."
> >
> > Hm... I've generally found that a double bag is, for me, more than
> > enough for carrying a jug of milk - it's easier for me to carry a heavy
> > plastic bag than to carry that milk by the rather awkwardly-placed
> > handle (it's fine for transportation to and from the fridge, but I
> > generally do my shopping on foot - at best, it's a couple of blocks to
> > the bus stop - but not so fine for walking very far with it)
>
> OK. You've got a valid point there. Should have thought of that, as
> Houston metro area hasn't quite reached the "no one ever walks
> anywhere" status. I used to use a backpack when I was close
> enough to the store to walk there. (and a lot less lazy <grin>)
Jezebel doesn't drink milk, but has a vivid memory of helping a friend
haul some groceries in while wearing her GoodWench jacket. (for the
uninitiated, GoodWench jackets are heavy-duty black satin. Very shiny,
slippery black satin.) And tucking a half-gallon of milk under her arm
to leave her hands free for bags. And feeling the milk jug *shoot* out
from under her arm to explode in a huge *sploosh* at (and on) her feet.
"Bags can be good," is all she says.
--Jezebel
kig...@peak.org
Kat & Kent
>
> In article <3D6F8528...@comcast.net>,
> Kat & Kent <Kd...@comcast.net> wrote:
> > I would be soooooo tempted to point out that they were giving me
> > something to put five finger items in should my mind work that way.
>
> Heh heh...
>
> BOYC?
Kat grins & nods.
Miche
Kat & Kent <Kd...@comcast.net> wrote:
> Miche wrote:
> >
> > In article <3D6F8528...@comcast.net>,
> > Kat & Kent <Kd...@comcast.net> wrote:
> > > I would be soooooo tempted to point out that they were giving me
> > > something to put five finger items in should my mind work that way.
> >
> > Heh heh...
> >
> > BOYC?
>
> Kat grins & nods.
What would you like, then? I'm having Orange Pekoe tea.
Alexis Siefert
>Date: 8/29/2002 2:45 PM Alaskan Standard Time
>Message-id: <Xns9279B48E...@204.214.208.3>
>
>Thus quoth falc...@excite.com (Elana Who?) in
>news:3fb62ee.02082...@posting.google.com:
>
>> What's up with that, I wonder? A bag holding several items, I can
>> understand. But insisting a bag around one, small innocuous household
>> item does not make sense. It makes waste, adds bulk, does not make
>> carrying the little item any easier, but the clerks have to deal with
>> people getting all insisting on the bag anyway. Anyone have any idea
>> what's up with these people?? :)
>
>person in Bibb County, or maybe in Alabama, that doesn't see the sense in
>bagging gallon milk/juice jugs with handles attached. The jug fills an
>entire bag (unless you have a bunch of little stuff to drop in the sides,
>and none of the cashiers/baggers do that anyway), when you could save the
>bag and carry the jug by the handle.
When I'm carrying groceries in from my car I, like many others, have at least
one flight of stairs (perhaps more if I'm taking the groceries to the pantry
space in the basement since the kitchen storage is limited). I like my gallon
of milk jug in a bag, TYVM. If I carry the jug in my hand by the handle, it's
the only think I can hold in that hand (I have small hands). But if ALL of my
groceries are in bags with handles, I can carry several bags on my forearm and
several more in my hands. That way I can usually get ALL of the groceries into
the house in one trip.
I don't consider myself stupid or lazy, I consider myself effecient. I get
enough exercise doing the things I want to do, and making multiple trips out to
the car (especially during winter in Anchorage) is not high on my list of
favorite activities.
Yes, I reuse the bags again and again until they fall apart. So I appreciate
it when the checker asks if I want my milk in a bag. Never once have I had a
checker or bagger even look sideways at me for asking for a bag.
Alexis.
the doltagheys
> Several comments by customers and rules from management:
> "Don't make the bags too heavy."
> "Separate cleaning supplies from food."
> "Separate strong smelling items."
> "Don't put <that> in with <those>."
> "Put <that> in a second bag."
Wow. The mind boggles. Here in British stores, baggers are pretty much
a novelty restricted to customers who have difficulty bagging their
own groceries (the elderly, the disabled, or stressed single mums
trying to control four pre-school kids). Once I actually did get
someone bagging my groceries and I was incredibly frustrated that she
didn't keep frozen and non-frozen produce seperate as I normally do. I
don't think our baggers get instructions like that. They're just told
to pack up and move us on as quickly as possible. I hope it doesn't
become a feature of stores here.
-DH
Bill Longley
>
>"I've found that the sorts of plastic bags Safeway and similar stores
>use to bag groceries are about perfect for moving large quantities of
>books in bundles manageable enough for me to carry," says the Spinster
>down the the Lounge. "This may in part be a consequence of aging and
>loss of upper-body strength. I can remember early moves when I'd
>scrounge liquor boxes; later, it was paper bags. Then there was the `tie
>them up with twine' phase, but that can be hell on your fingers if you
>have to move the quantity of books owned by, say, a typical Callahanian.
AMOTQ time: what IS the typical quantity of books owned by a typical
Callahanian?
I must admit I was grabbing free fruit boxes to transport books in my
last move (about three years ago), and haven't finished unpacking yet.
But I've managed to catalogue about 2,000 SF&F books from the ones I
have unpacked already, and although the TV and film tie-in books and
anthologies haven't been done yet, I suspect there's only about another
thousand of those and the Computer/Cookery/Crime/Humour books
uncatalogued.
So I guess it's around three thousand books for me. Is that normal?
--
Bill Longley
Bill Longley
I have seen baggers introduced on a trial basis at Tesco in Borehamwood,
and was a mite disconcerted. Fortunately they only seemed to be
positioned at the longer checkouts for people with family-size shopping,
and I avoided them usually.
What I would like to see is checkout operators learning that even if you
only have a basket-full of items, you'd like the heavy items processed
first. I'm not going to start packing until they give me the heavy items
for the base of the bag, so passing me the bread, mushrooms and
strawberries before the eight cans of cider is NOT going to speed things
up overall.
Oh, and giving me back my discount card, receipt, money-off vouchers and
change in one go is NOT as quick as giving me back my discount card as
soon as you've swiped it. I can't put my wallet away until you've given
me the card back.
Do it right, and I'm walking away with my bags as soon as they press the
change and paperwork into my hands. Otherwise, I'm going to be standing
there packing things properly and fiddling with card and wallet, and
having the queue building up behind me.
Still, I'm obviously not welcome there anyway as most of the discount
vouchers are for buying huge quantities of perishables, and the other
offers that are "available only today for a valued customer like you
that uses our reward kiosk!" tend to have not noticed that I don't have
a wife, pet, or child, and that I don't drink spirits, eat vegan food,
or want to win a foreign holiday or family day out prize. (Anybody that
thinks that they DO actually use your personal shopping habit data, note
this example. Yes, they _could_: but they don't have intelligent IT
people like me.)
--
Bill Longley
Sasha Rowan
>
> AMOTQ time: what IS the typical quantity of books owned by a typical
> Callahanian?
I have approximately 1000 fiction and 2000 non-fiction/textbooks and
probably at least 1000 children's. So that's 4000 here. I would own a lot
more if we could afford it. I usually read them all at the library and then
my mom will buy me 3-4 of my faves for holidays and birthdays. Most of the
texts come from either college or come and get em before we throw them out
free for alls. Three kids and their accessories limits space for my stuff,
also.
--
Sasha
Arri London
>
> the doltagheys <d...@doltaghey.zzn.com> wrote
> >"Nebulous" <lum...@ix.netcom.com> wrote
> >> Several comments by customers and rules from management:
> >> "Don't make the bags too heavy."
> >> "Keep the cold items together."
> >> "Separate cleaning supplies from food."
> >> "Separate strong smelling items."
> >> "Don't put <that> in with <those>."
> >> "Put <that> in a second bag."
> >
> >Wow. The mind boggles. Here in British stores, baggers are pretty much
> >a novelty restricted to customers who have difficulty bagging their
> >own groceries (the elderly, the disabled, or stressed single mums
> >trying to control four pre-school kids). Once I actually did get
> >someone bagging my groceries and I was incredibly frustrated that she
> >didn't keep frozen and non-frozen produce seperate as I normally do. I
> >don't think our baggers get instructions like that. They're just told
> >to pack up and move us on as quickly as possible. I hope it doesn't
> >become a feature of stores here.
The clerks here are always disconcerted that I want to pack
my own bags. They are even more disconcerted when I put
everything in my rucksack and forego the bags entirely!
>
> I have seen baggers introduced on a trial basis at Tesco in Borehamwood,
> and was a mite disconcerted. Fortunately they only seemed to be
> positioned at the longer checkouts for people with family-size shopping,
> and I avoided them usually.
>
> What I would like to see is checkout operators learning that even if you
> only have a basket-full of items, you'd like the heavy items processed
> first. I'm not going to start packing until they give me the heavy items
> for the base of the bag, so passing me the bread, mushrooms and
> strawberries before the eight cans of cider is NOT going to speed things
> up overall.
Try unloading the basket in the order you want to pack the
bag. It's an easy habit to develop. The lighter fragile
items are put at the back of the belt...most clerks aren't
going to reach back to get those items first.
>
> Oh, and giving me back my discount card, receipt, money-off vouchers and
> change in one go is NOT as quick as giving me back my discount card as
> soon as you've swiped it. I can't put my wallet away until you've given
> me the card back.
>
> Do it right, and I'm walking away with my bags as soon as they press the
> change and paperwork into my hands. Otherwise, I'm going to be standing
> there packing things properly and fiddling with card and wallet, and
> having the queue building up behind me.
But that's what most people do anyway. Not to mention those
who don't begin to look for their wallet until the clerk has
finished ringing up every last item.
>
> Still, I'm obviously not welcome there anyway as most of the discount
> vouchers are for buying huge quantities of perishables, and the other
> offers that are "available only today for a valued customer like you
> that uses our reward kiosk!" tend to have not noticed that I don't have
> a wife, pet, or child, and that I don't drink spirits, eat vegan food,
> or want to win a foreign holiday or family day out prize. (Anybody that
> thinks that they DO actually use your personal shopping habit data, note
> this example. Yes, they _could_: but they don't have intelligent IT
> people like me.)
>
> --
> Bill Longley
You're just such a spoilsport aren't you?
suzilem
>
> AMOTQ time: what IS the typical quantity of books owned by a typical
> Callahanian?
>
> I must admit I was grabbing free fruit boxes to transport books in my
> last move (about three years ago), and haven't finished unpacking yet.
> But I've managed to catalogue about 2,000 SF&F books from the ones I
> have unpacked already, and although the TV and film tie-in books and
> anthologies haven't been done yet, I suspect there's only about another
> thousand of those and the Computer/Cookery/Crime/Humour books
> uncatalogued.
>
> So I guess it's around three thousand books for me. Is that normal?
>
I've got 62 1.5 cubic ft "book boxes" in storage, and approximately 300
books that haven't been packed. It's got to be at least three thousand, if
not closer to four.
I noticed that we have similar tastes in categories. Mine are at least 60%
SF&F with the remainder being Computer/Cookery/Mystery/Humor/General
Fiction/Travel.
I'm frequently asked "Why don't you borrow them from the library"?
My response: "But they want you to give them baaaack". :-(
Another frequent comment: "Have you read ALL of those?" As if the
questioner can't believe that anyone could possibly find time to read that
many. Two things: 15 year accumulation and I don't watch much TV.
denaldo
Probably around 1000 for me, but I recycle a lot.
(Keep signed, first editions, gifts from close friends, complete sets
of favorites, and books I will re-read often)
John Barnstead
: AMOTQ time: what IS the typical quantity of books owned by a typical
: Callahanian?
Pernicious the Musquodoboit Harbour Farm Cat's faithful amanuensis and
general factotum estimates the current size of his collection (after
several severe purgings in the direction of the Russian collection of the
Dalhousie University Killam Library) at something in excess of 5000
volumes, but hasn't an exact figure... "If you *counted* them you wouldn't
have time to *read* them," sniffs Pernicious the Musquodoboit Harbour Farm
Cat...
Crossfire
<junk...@nospam.demon.co.uk> wrote:
] AMOTQ time: what IS the typical quantity of books owned by a typical
] Callahanian?
I've probably got on the order of 1,500. I would have many more, except
I move frequently (so I tend not to collect large quantities of *anything*),
and my budget has never allowed me to truly indulge my bibliophilia.
--
Jon "Crossfire" Reid | jon <at> apeiros <dot> com (DeSPAM the Reply-To)
| http://www.apeiros.com/~jon
Indiana Joe
<junk...@nospam.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> AMOTQ time: what IS the typical quantity of books owned by a typical
> Callahanian?
Uh... lots? :-)
--
Joe Claffey | "Make no small plans."
jr...@cox.net | -- Daniel Burnham
Ali ;-)
<junk...@nospam.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>AMOTQ time: what IS the typical quantity of books owned by a typical
>Callahanian?
We stopped counting at around 4,000, but there are probably another
thousand and a half, easily.
Ali ;-)
"Tolerance is important. You never know when you're the one being tolerated."
- Pat Brady, Rose is Rose
den...@tanstaafl.zipcon.net.invalid
>AMOTQ time: what IS the typical quantity of books owned by a typical
>Callahanian?
What's a typical Callahanian?
(I own around 1300-2000 books I think)
--
dennyw
"A patriot must always be ready to defend his country
against his government."
- Edward Abbey (1927-1989)
US author
Pat Kight
"I've never counted, but I have a wide, built-in,
floor-to-12-foot-ceiling case in the living room that's filled (in some
places two books deep) with fiction and poetry, a large 6-shelf bookcase
in my office equally full (reference books and play scripts), two small
bookcases in the guest roomn filled with the sorts of books ones guests
might enjoy thumbing through (humor, short stories and essays, histories
and geographies of the region, photo essays, etc.), a case in my studio
with books on papercrafts and bookbinding, a drawer full of cookbooks in
the kitchen and the dozen or so recent, current and impending reads on
my headboard. 3,000 or so sounds about right."
--Jezebel
kig...@peak.org
Lee S. Billings
I've never counted either, but based on the number and size of the bookcases,
my horseback guess is between 1,000 and 2,000. I did a breakdown in "shelf-feet
by category" the last time this topic came up, but I'm feeling too lazy to get
up and repeat it at the moment.
Jim Hetley
>
> AMOTQ time: what IS the typical quantity of books owned by a typical
> Callahanian?
>
Many.
Jim
(Simplifies counting)
Jette Goldie
"Bill Longley" <junk...@nospam.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:X6MlrlBD...@callahans.demon.co.uk...
About 5,000 for me, plus a hundred or so videos, plus now
I'm getting DVDs - these take up much less space than
videos, thank goodness!
--
Jette
(aka Vinyaduriel)
"Work for Peace and remain fiercely loving" - Jim Byrnes
je...@blueyonder.co.uk
http://www.jette.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/
http://bosslady.tripod.com/fanfic.html
Jette Goldie
"the doltagheys" <d...@doltaghey.zzn.com> wrote in message
news:df6ddada.02090...@posting.google.com...
Around Xmas the local Scout troop usually does
volunteer bagging in Sainsbury's to collect cash
for charity - you throw a donation in their bucket
(your choice of how much).
I usually give them the cash and tell the boys to
go take a rest - I don't like anyone else bagging
my groceries - I have a system and I don't want
amateurs bolloxing it up <g>
Cymru Llewes
> On Sun, 1 Sep 2002 23:50:43 +0100, Bill Longley
> <junk...@nospam.demon.co.uk> held forth, saying:
>
>>AMOTQ time: what IS the typical quantity of books owned by a typical
>>Callahanian?
>
> What's a typical Callahanian?
"Someone who feels out of place."
>
> (I own around 1300-2000 books I think) -- dennyw
"We have 1275 books catalogued."
--
Cymru Llewes
Caer Llewys
o/~I want to break free from your lies
You're so self satisfied I don't need you~\o
-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
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Cymru Llewes
Cymru applauds and lays a twenty on the bar for Jim's next few drinks.
--
Cymru Llewes
Caer Llewys
Cymru Llewes
Bill Longley
>Bill Longley wrote:
>> What I would like to see is checkout operators learning that even if you
>> only have a basket-full of items, you'd like the heavy items processed
>> first. I'm not going to start packing until they give me the heavy items
>> for the base of the bag, so passing me the bread, mushrooms and
>> strawberries before the eight cans of cider is NOT going to speed things
>> up overall.
>
>Try unloading the basket in the order you want to pack the
>bag. It's an easy habit to develop. The lighter fragile
>items are put at the back of the belt...most clerks aren't
>going to reach back to get those items first.
I use the "one-basket only" queues - there isn't a belt, the checkout
operators lift things straight out of your basket.
When there IS a belt, I do as you suggest. But normally, I'm in a
position where I couldn't make the heavy items much more readily
available.
Hmmm... I suppose I could try taking _two_ baskets into those queues.,
heavier items in the first basket... but I normally try to make things
obvious, like leaving the cider cans uncovered and nearest the operator,
with the basket handle over the soft stuff.
>> Oh, and giving me back my discount card, receipt, money-off vouchers and
>> change in one go is NOT as quick as giving me back my discount card as
>> soon as you've swiped it. I can't put my wallet away until you've given
>> me the card back.
>>
>> Do it right, and I'm walking away with my bags as soon as they press the
>> change and paperwork into my hands. Otherwise, I'm going to be standing
>> there packing things properly and fiddling with card and wallet, and
>> having the queue building up behind me.
>
>But that's what most people do anyway. Not to mention those
>who don't begin to look for their wallet until the clerk has
>finished ringing up every last item.
Yes, fellow shoppers are the bane of my life! ;-)
Couldn't they organise a sort of competition - fastest shopper wins a
prize?
I'd be pretty good at that, given a competent checkout operator to work
with - he/she rings up the total and I immediately hand-over the exact
money and card (no need to ask if I want to use the discounts the card
gives me, or I wouldn't have given the exact change), one card swipe and
I put the card and wallet away, and while the receipt prints I finish
packing the last couple of items and lift the bag(s), ready to take the
receipt in my other hand and walk away immediately.
>> Still, I'm obviously not welcome there anyway as most of the discount
>> vouchers are for buying huge quantities of perishables, and the other
>> offers that are "available only today for a valued customer like you
>> that uses our reward kiosk!" tend to have not noticed that I don't have
>> a wife, pet, or child, and that I don't drink spirits, eat vegan food,
>> or want to win a foreign holiday or family day out prize. (Anybody that
>> thinks that they DO actually use your personal shopping habit data, note
>> this example. Yes, they _could_: but they don't have intelligent IT
>> people like me.)
>
>You're just such a spoilsport aren't you?
I'm perfectly willing to make it a sport, but it has to be a team game!
--
Bill Longley
D.J.
Bill Longley <junk...@nospam.demon.co.uk> wrote:
] AMOTQ time: what IS the typical quantity of books owned by a typical
] Callahanian?
I own about 1,000 books. I've read over 5,000 books.
A few years ago the store room, small spearate building, door blew
in during a hurricane and some of my books and magazines got wet. I
probably lost a few hundred magazines and probably less than 100
books from that. I've bought more.
D.J.
--
Disclaimer: Standard.
Updated: September 1, 2002 my 1E AD&D game world.
Over 200 maps and pages of info.
http://blue7green.crosswinds.net/crestar/index.html
Just Jekke
wrote:
>Bill Longley <junk...@nospam.demon.co.uk> wrote in message news:<X6MlrlBD...@callahans.demon.co.uk>...
>>
>> AMOTQ time: what IS the typical quantity of books owned by a typical
>> Callahanian?
>>
>
>Many.
I probably have about 2,000 in my apartment and maybe as many in
storage. I would have more, but I've run out of space.
--Jekke
--
WWJD? JWRTFM.
Warren Senders
>>> > AMOTQ time: what IS the typical quantity of books owned by a typical
>>> > Callahanian?
>I've never counted either, but based on the number and size of the bookcases,
>my horseback guess is between 1,000 and 2,000. I did a breakdown in
"shelf-feet
>by category" the last time this topic came up, but I'm feeling too lazy
>to get up and repeat it at the moment.
Yeah, I'd guess around 3-4,000. They do accumulate, don't they? Like Celine,
I'm too lazy to get up and count, but unlike her, I have a rationale: they're
still for the most part in boxes (and, dammit, it's been a year now since we've
moved, which is the longest time I've EVER been without a full wall of
books to look at!). As a Boston-area person, I have access to some truly
great bookstores (Macintyre and Moore in Davis Square...sigh), and then,
of course, there is the overwhelming Edward R. Hamilton catalogue. Oh,
for more money and time!
Warren
A Winged Chimera
>>> Callahanian?
>>>
I think I'm down to somewhere between 150-300.
I had lots of books I was hoarding just to have books. Books I'd read and was
never going to read again. Books I had to admit I was simply never going to
read.
I started trading books for other books and giving books away.
I still have a stack of books I have yet to read, that I fully intend to get
to....
And I've been trying to read Being And Nothingness since I was sixteen years
old. I think I'm up to page 49.
TBird <-------- it just hurts to struggle through 2 pages of 5 syllable words
to finally understand he (JPS) is explaining a point of theory that can be
translated into three or four simple sentances understandable by the masses
~ ~
"Heresy is hard to burn
Because fire is what it's all about."
- Libby Roderick
~ ~
I confess, Mr. Allread & I are friends.
Please P&E anything you'd like me to see!
sixt4...@hotmail.com
Thanks!
Jen the Obscure
> Pat Kight <kig...@ucs.orst.edu> wrote
> >
> >"I've found that the sorts of plastic bags Safeway and similar stores
> >use to bag groceries are about perfect for moving large quantities of
> >books in bundles manageable enough for me to carry," says the Spinster
> >down the the Lounge. "This may in part be a consequence of aging and
> >loss of upper-body strength. I can remember early moves when I'd
> >scrounge liquor boxes; later, it was paper bags. Then there was the `tie
> >them up with twine' phase, but that can be hell on your fingers if you
> >have to move the quantity of books owned by, say, a typical Callahanian.
>
> AMOTQ time: what IS the typical quantity of books owned by a typical
> Callahanian?
Hmmm...I used about six large book boxes to ship/store the *sci-fi* section
of my book collection. I'm also currently acquiring more from the used
bookstores around the college, but I also currently brought less than a tenth
of my books with me. The non-fiction/gaming/comic books took up about
another four boxes (not -all- books, I had to make sure UPS could carry
them).
I'd probably say I have total (not counting the books I've purchased since I
got here) about 100-150 sci-fi/fiction books, and 70-80 nonfiction. That
number will probably take a jump once I get a place of my own, since right
now space is a major limitation.
My dad probably has a couple thousand, most of which he's never read.
Beth Jackson
<wince/grin>
Almost *too* many for my small apartment.
(:-\
(Same with VHS-cassettes, too:)
--Canary,
bibliophile and old-movies lover