A few years ago, in that random way that it does, a conversation amongst friends with a shop worker drifted towards staff packing carrier bags, and he bluntly informed me that he wasn’t allowed to as he hadn’t been trained how.
A response that resulted in a snort of derision from all around.
In hindsighht, I wonder if it was we who were in the wrong – there is certainly a skill to packing a carrier bag that should fit comfortably into the Department of Common Sense, but somehow seems to have been missclassified as belonging in the Department of Mysteries.
Occasionally, the staff manning the baskets only counters will try to pack the bags for me, which considering the tiny packing space they offer (who designs these things?) is not a bad idea.
If only people could work out how to pack a carrier bag so that the items are stacked sensibly within and not scattered around with angles pointing out all over the place.
Walking along with a bag thus adorned with sharp angles is journey laden with curses as a leg swings past the bag and is stabbed by whatever lies acutely within the bag.
I always stack things, heaviest and most solid at the bottom and then ranging upwards to the lightest fluffiest items at the top. All laid out neatly within the bag so that when held the bag offers not the slightest protuberance to disturb as I walk home.
Is it really that difficult?
YES! Weight distribution is, seemingly, beyond their comprehension too. Today, the clerk crammed one of my bags full to overflowing while the second bag held 2 loaves of bread. I had to, AS ALWAYS, stop and repack the bags so that I wouldn’t have to walk hunched over to one side.
You’d think the ‘heaviest items at the bottom’ approach would be common sense, but nothing surprises me!