Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Boring the World with My Boring Boredomness

A few months ago I finally got with the program and purchased several reusable grocery bags to take to the market and use in lieu of the plastic variety that are clogging up landfills and clinging for dear life along the highways. Half the time I remember to bring them INTO the store with me. The other half of the time I remember mid-checkout. At least they're in the car! Except for those times I clear out the rear of the vehicle to make room for beach going items or putting the back seats down to accommodate extra bodies. Then they sit on a shelf in my garage [the bags, not the bodies].

Mr. Farklepants commended me on my new found environmentally friendly habits until one day, while helping unload the groceries, he noticed that most of the items were in the reusable bags, however, there were also a few plastic bags in use.

Mr. F: You finally buy reusable bags but you didn't get enough.

Tootsie: Yes I did.

Mr. F: Then why are these plastic ones here?

Tootsie: Because I didn't remember to give them to the box-boy until he'd already started bagging the groceries.

Mr F: ......

Tootsie: See, I didn't want to have him transfer the stuff since it was already bagged.

Mr F: .............

Tootsie: Because I didn't want to hold up the line by being THAT PERSON.

Mr. F: .................

Tootsie: Are you even listening to me?

Mr. F: Oh. Wait....what?

Tootsie: I know it's not very interesting but I'm a full time housewife and mother and these are the stories I have to tell. ...This is THE MOST EXCITING THING that's happened to me today.... AND STOP SMILING AT ME LIKE THAT.

Vintage Thirty would like to ask you...do you know how many times Tootsie has told this story? Oh gah someone stop her. And also, is "box-boy" still politically correct, Vintage Thirty forgets.

15 comments:

Suburban Correspondent said...

I've never heard the term "box-boy." At the military commissaries, we call them "baggers."

I have approximately 16 trillion earth-friendly shopping bags. I have remembered to bring one into the store exactly once.

Miriam Mc. said...

Sounds like my days that run on like run on sentences I want something to eat why are we having pork chops massage my feet honey I don't want to brush my teeth sunny (the dog) pushed me I can't find any socks this isn't the right paper for my homework make her get out of my chair...and so on.

Eh, getting kinda down right now. I've been there, with the big Guy staring at me like, "THIS is the most inane minutia possible."

Crazy Aunt Purl waxed poetic last year about Envirosac bags. They ended up offering her readers some on sale. Snatched up a few sets and freaking love them! I use them every day. You get 5 in a set and they roll up like sushi with another small bag to put them in. Super chic designs advertising no stores whatsoever. I could go on, but this is exactly the kind of topic you are talking about. Good gravy!

Love your blog and Mrs. Suburban's as well. I have one question: I know I have seen your little title sign somewhere, have you ever told it's location? I live in So Cal too and I must know! Tx.

Anonymous said...

I think box boy sounds nicer than bag boy which is what I call the sweet old man who bags our groceries. Actually I call him Paul since that's his name. But it's a small town and a small store and always the same guy.
I live with so much eco guilt that I actually forgot bags once and carried all my loot out in my arms instead of accepting Paul's offer of a bag.

Tootsie Farklepants said...

That sign, as I learned, is in many locations. This particular one was in Shockoe Coffee in Richmond VA, my sister took the picture while we were there.

Thanks for reading!!!

Burgh Baby said...

I like to think that a day when the most interesting thing that happens is that I remembered the reusable bags is a good day. I mean, that is a pretty good sign that I didn't murder or maim anyone, and nobody is bleeding. That's good, right?

Lisa..... said...

My husband likes to make fun of me because I INSIST ON BAGGING MY OWN GROCERIES. What can I say, I was raised shopping at food for less.

Karen said...

I don't think they're called "boxboys". I think they're called "annoying twits who insist on putting 27 pounds of groceries in one environmentally friendly bag and 3 oz. of groceries in the other one". Just sayin'.

Glennis said...

I always forget to bring my bags into the store. It's embarrassing.

Swirl Girl said...

I do the same damned thing. Or I use the bags to haul stuff other than grocery's. Like soccer gear, beach sand, dirty laundry...

I opt for paper, and endure the 'tsk, tsk' from my peers.

JoeinVegas said...

Yea, baggers, they haven't used boxes in quite a while.

Sounds like the same thing I do - bring two bags into the store, end up with seven plastic filled when I see my two in the bottom of the cart.

The Girl Next Door said...

I only have one - ONE - of those bags because? It lives in the back of the car that MY KIDS drive So it never gets used. AND? I now "bag as I go" because we have those funky new scanners that totals my trip as I go because spending more than 34 seconds in the checkout line is a crime. really

EatPlayLove said...

Put the bags on your front seat, helps me remember them everytime. Plus it's baby steps, I mean saving the whales isn't until next month right?

Katie @ Can't Get There said...

I still call them "bag boys" (or "bag girls"). Sometimes "baggers" if I think of that first.

SuddenlySouthernCyndi said...

I have those re-usable bags and use them, but then one day I realized I had no more paper grocery sacks at home and we re-use those for the doggie-doo clean up in the yard--thereby recycling said bags. So I had to go back to not using my re-usable bags in order to get the bags I needed to re-use for poop. If that makes any sense. If there is some sort of dog-poop removal method/system that I am unaware of someone feel free to enlighten me.

Unknown said...

I originally hated canvas bags because they didn't hold enough groceries. I'd end up having half canvas bags and half plastic ones in our cart.

However, I obtained some HUGE bags at a seminar I attended in March and now six of these bags hold an entire cart full of groceries.