Originally Posted by Calianna

I have to agree about older cashiers. Actually, I don't know about the food stamp thing, I doubt that any employee who dared ask about such a thing at the store where I shop would be working there very long.

But I've found that certain older cashiers are just sooo inefficient - they take such a long time to locate the UPC code and then scan things 6 times before it takes, or worse yet has to key in the number by hand. (If I look down and see the scanner glass is covered in all kinds of crumbs and dirt, I know that if they'd take the 30 seconds to clean the glass on the scanner, it might work a whole lot better) So I try to find one that I know is able to ring all the food before it spoils waiting to be run up.

Strangely enough, the really bad cashiers seldom have long lines - everyone who shops there seems to know which ones are bad and which ones are good!

I'm also very picky about which bagger I want bagging my groceries - I take my own bags with me most of the time (canvas ones I made years and years ago), and yet some baggers still insist on putting certain things in plastic bags. Hello?! I brought bags with me, and you're only using two of the five I brought, and instead choosing to use 4 of those stupid plastic ones? They're washable, I don't care if something leaks on them! They need washing again anyway! I'm sick of dealing with tons of those stupid plastic bags! And what's with the deal of putting a carton of eggs in a bag by themselves - and standing them on end?! I've broken more eggs that way - my canvas bags are plenty wide to hold the carton of eggs sitting flat on the bottom.

So my real quandry when I check out at the grocery store is to find a cashier that knows how to scan things quickly, who happens to be working with a bagger who knows how to bag groceries. Most of the time, it's one or the other, not both.

Oh sorry, I guess that turned into another rant ... I probably should have started my own conversation, even though it's not exactly low carb oriented... Except that sometimes the stuff they think is going to mess up my bags is meat or something with an odor to it, like broccoli.

Originally Posted by katwoman

I looked in on this thread yesterday, and noticed the debate is still going on today. First of all, I'm not sure some people have heard what Unitydkn was actually saying. She wasn't criticizing the "300 lb couple" for what they were buying and eating--she was criticizing the misinformation that people (many of us included) have been given for years about weightloss. Her feeling that she had to bite her tongue was not to keep from sandblasting them with criticism--but to keep from telling them about LC because that would be outside the scope of her "relationship" with them as their grocery store cashier.

I've noticed that different people have different levels of acceptance/tolerance for chatty clerks. I don't mind them at all--I figure it makes their job more interesting--and would much rather a clerk chatted a little bit than stood there prunefaced and ignored me. I'll even tolerate a question about the birthday cake I'm buying because I know it's just idle conversation to pass the time and be friendly.

My 21-year-old daughter, on the other hand, HATES for clerks to strike up personal conversations with her. I don't know why--personality I suppose--but she always feels they are invading her privacy.

Anyway, I guess this thread is in the war zone for a reason. . .

Originally Posted by TarHeel

Now that I am low carbing, a normal weight, and only buying food for myself, I have been known to buy something labeled "low carb" or "sugar free" pretty much just to try to spread the word about low carbing. Just in case anyone should be checking out what's in the cart. My version of subliminal advertising. Who knows? Someone might be noticing.

Originally Posted by unitydkn

we don't have baggers...we do it all

Originally Posted by unitydkn

I was only use weight to illustrate why someone would be buying the so called "diet" food.......it is the food that is selling, not who is buying it...it is "part of a heart healthy diet" on the front of the box of cookie crisp...

Originally Posted by Calianna

That's my thought when I see some of the stuff people have in their carts, low fat this, and heart healthy that, and you just know they've been completely brainwashed to believe that it really is healthier for them than real food.

It's not just the morbidly obese who are falling for it either, it's practically everyone, including the old folks who grew up eating real food. There's an awful lot of retirees from the many retirement complexes in this area, and they really load up on that stuff in the grocery store.

Originally Posted by ReginaW

The grocery store here recently hired an RD....(you know where I'm going with this already, right?).....and she hosts "Nutrition Night" three times a week to teach people what's healthy in the store. Last week as I strolled the aisles, she had her little group in the cereal aisle....I had to check it out.....sure enough, she was rambling on and on about how healthy ready-to-eat cereal was, how it was healthy with non-fat skim milk, how eating that for breakfast with fruit, like a banana added good nutrients and that a cup of decaf with non-fat, non-dairy creamer or soymilk was acceptable too.

All I could think was "these poor folks" - they're trying to learn about eating well and instead, are being, literally, taken by the hand and taught how to eat in a way that is going to make them sick.

Originally Posted by Calianna

Oh my, Regina! You must have been biting your tongue, trying to keep from blurting out that those were the worst possible things they could be eating!

Originally Posted by Calianna

I think that might be better - although when I take my canvas bags to a store where the cashier bags as they scan, it really messes them up to have to be fiddling with these cloth things. So much easier to just drop items in the plastic bag that's hanging there.

Not complaining about that though - the regular baggers generally can't seem to figure out how to pack them either. I guess I'm just difficult. :P

I do try to put enough starch in my canvas bags when I wash them that they stand up on their own, and are easier to pack, but eventually they still get soft and floppy. I'd prefer to do it myself - at least then I know the 4 lb spaghetti squash hasn't been thrown on top of the carton of eggs or the bag of fresh tomatoes.