On The Issue Of Plastic Bags and Discrimination

I witnessed 2 different incidents regarding plastic bags in supermarkets. One was in NTUC and the other one was in Shop and Save.

A lady in her fifties who did not look like she was a highly educated individual and a Philippino asked for more plastic bags in the 2 respective supermarkets. The cashiers were unhappy that their customers took more plastic bags than they were given and began to be rude to them. Both customers, coincidentally, asked the cashiers the amt they had to pay for their groceries and both cashiers gave the same rude response: "$XXX LOR!" The cashier in the Shop and Save even went to the extend of removing the entire pile of plastic bags hung at the hooks where she could conveniently put the groceries in the bags and placed them near the cash register instead. However, when they turned to the next customer (ie, me), they put on a very professional smile as if nothing ugly had happened 2 seconds ago.

I do appreciate these cashiers' effort to save the earth but I think they have done it at the expense of the reputation of their employers. There are a zillion ways to deal with the situation besides being rude. Also, I cannot help but to think that these 2 cashiers were actually discriminating against certain groups of people. If these 2 cashiers work in outlets whereby the customers were mostly expats or tai-tais, I bet they wouldn't even dare to raise their eyebrow at the customers who took a few more plastic bags, let alone raising their voices.

Those who don't give a damn about saving the earth won't care less about the number of plastic bags they throw away. Those who care will keep the extra plastic bags and recycle them. If I were the cashiers and the customers requested for more plastic bags, I would just let them have them.

In my opinion, these 2 cashiers have more important issues to deal with. (1) Discrimination (2) Customer service.

Then we'll talk about plastic bags.