Plastic bag ban chaos!

Well if you live in the ACT, as off tomorrow plastic shopping bags will be illegal for any retailer to have available to customers, and an “environmentally friendly alternative” must be available.

Now, I could go on a big spiel about how this plastic bag ban will have no effect on the current state of the environment, and that instead of the grocery bags ending up in landfill, big black bin liners that take twice as long to break down will end up there instead - But i wont… Because as angry as that makes me, my customer’s attitudes this evening made me even more angry.

This evening at work we *gasp* ran out of plastic bags. Our suppliers in NSW stopped sending us the bags, as understandably the legislation begins tomorrow and there’d be no point in sending us millions of bags only to have us send them back the next day.

Well! Even though the customers have had six months notice to purchase environment bags, and that yes, we are phasing out plastic - majority of my customers were shocked and appalled to find i had no plastic bag to offer them. I had 15 cent re-usable bags, but of course adding a whole 45 cents (for three bags) to a $150 grocery bill was simply outrageous.

I had the manager called on me six times (yep, six times in a THREE HOUR SHIFT) so the customer could tell him what a big ol’ meanie I was for not giving them plastic. When the manager told them exactly what I’d said, they continued giving me attitude throughout the transaction, and vowed to shop elsewhere in the future. I think they failed to understand that A.C.T legislation applies to… THE A.C.T! Not just one suburban Coles.

A customer I served, who was probably the only decent human being I served all evening said something that I have thought to myself millions of times before. She said that it should be compulsory for all people to have a job in retail or hospitality for 12 months, to learn respect and perhaps a little bit of empathy for the faces copping the abuse on behalf of the latte sipping CEO’s in Melbourne and Sydney.

I’m sure a lot of people in my shoes would readily agree, customer service would be just dandy without all the customers.