ANDRE BEGIN

On a recent trip to the grocery store, I was welcomed to the checkout lane by a friendly cashier with a game-show model smile. As I was placing my items on the conveyor belt, the cashier cheerfully asked me, “Would you like your groceries packed a certain way?”

When it comes to this sort of thing, I’ve never really thought of myself as a backseat driver. Frankly, I can’t say I gave it much thought given how cashiers have always done a pretty good job at packing my groceries.

Given the extent to which the cashier exuded initiative, professionalism and client service orientation, I trusted that packing groceries would be a no-brainer.

I responded, “Whatever works for you,” leaving the discretion call in the hands of my confident cashier.

Once my items were scanned and waiting to be bagged, I was distracted by the usual rapid-fire questions:

“Would you like to make a donation to…?”

“Do you have your loyalty card handy?”

“How would you like to pay?”

In my haste to answer the questions promptly, while multi-tasking through my juggling act consisting of my wallet, my credit card and my phone containing my loyalty card, I didn’t actually see how my groceries were being packed.

When the transaction had concluded, I picked up my shopping bags. I then realized what had happened.

All of the heavy objects were in one bag while the light ones were in the other. Walking back to my car, it felt very strange to have one bag so heavy I could barely carry it, and another so light it was ready to take flight at the faintest sign of a breeze.

I suppose I can see the logic of doing it this way. None of the light or fragile items was at risk of getting damaged. But with the weight distributed so unevenly, I could feel the degenerating disc in my back screaming at me with every step back to my car. The joys of being over 60!

The interesting part is that this is the second time that this has happened to me. Meanwhile, my mother-in-law reports that this has happened to her as well at a different grocery store. Is this a new thing or is training slipping through the cracks?

Back in high school, my first job was at a friendly neighbourhood pharmacy in a small suburb where everyone knew everyone. To become the new guy who packs shopping bags in a less-than-conventional way would have surely been the topic of small-town gossip which would spread like wildfire. For that reason, on day one, the conscientious staff took the time to show me how to do it in a way that met customer expectations.

In a nutshell, the trick was to look at the merchandise on the counter, to decide approximately how many shopping bags it would take to pack them, and then to distribute the heavier, more solid items at the bottom of every bag, adding medium-weight items in the middle and the lightest, most fragile items on top.

Also, ever since I was young, I helped my mom unpack her groceries with the same flourish as a kid on Christmas morning, just to get a preview of what she bought. Who knew that this was a learning opportunity, offering me shining examples of best practices in grocery packing?

That being the case, I don’t think it ever would have occurred to me to pack all heavy items in one bag and light items in another one. The paper grocery bags we had back in the day likely would not have survived.

This skill served me well throughout my retail years, as I do remember receiving some compliments from customers on how neatly I’d pack their purchases. It’s too bad that Yelp reviews hadn’t been invented yet.

And now, in the era of self-checkouts, I call upon that skill set regularly, and I haven’t had a complaint yet!

Going forward, the next time I am asked the question about my preferences with grocery bags, I may need a quick, diplomatic answer like “heavy stuff on the bottom, light and fragile stuff on top” just to offer some basic guidelines. And if they choose a different path, I will just have to keep a sense of humour about the more “creative” ways some cashiers are finding to pack groceries.

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Have a great day,
André