Daily Archives: September 14, 2009

What is this love affair American merchants have with putting things into bags? In much of the world people have to bring their own bags, or something else, to carry their purchases home in. But not here! I’ve gone to pick up my prescriptions at the pharmacy where each pill bottle is in its own separate bag and the bags are stapled together. Then the counter person wants to put them in another bag. Buy a single pack of gum and they want to bag it for you. Paper or plastic? Doesn’t matter. Most of the time I don’t want either – period. Occasionally when I purchase a couple of items at a store, other than at the grocer’s, a sales clerk will if I want it in a bag. I almost always demure telling them “No, thanks, they just make a mess of the landscape when I toss them out of the window of my car.”