Busy Oh So Busy

Busy oh so busy how did this generation get to be over stressed with day to day mundane tasks.  That's exactly what I was thinking while driving to Zehrs.  I mean having underwear and socks on the grocery list with apples and oranges when did this start.  Is it the media, is it our peer group, is it our family, or big companies?  Who is making us believe we are too busy to park twice?

I definitely have a love/hate relationship with Zehrs.  It started with the loss of the packers, then the installation of self checking but the last straw was the purchasing of bags.  If I wasn't so busy I would have been outraged by the concept.  I often wonder (as I do in many situations) if the "rule makers" are idiots or they think I'm an idiot.  So their message if I understand it correctly is that they are charging us because we have done nothing to save the environment and therefore they must take it into their own hands before it is destroyed.  The obvious cloth bags they carefully placed at the beginning of each cashier aisle on clear display at a reasonable cost--ignored  we obviously were too irresponsible to use them.  The big plastic totes not as reasonably priced but still available to tote our groceries sat gathering dust. So they put up big signs that said to me "look you idiots we are now going to either charge you for plastic bags OR you can buy cloth bags/plastic totes we do this in the name of your future, the future of your children and mother earth."

Realistically though the cloth bags get lost so you have to buy more, or you left them in the other car so you have to buy more, the children lose a least a couple a week so you have to buy more.  Lets not forget that these have to be washed -- and because they are reasonable priced the color runs which makes you have to wash them alone -- water is not the issue though we have lots of that.  Months go by and you start to get lazy and all of the sudden you find yourself embarrassingly squeaking out excuses to the stranger ringing you in.  "Oh I forgot my bags in the other car I'll need plastic TODAY" like it will be the last time you ever jeopardize the earth's future using plastic bags and then it happens again eyes lowered face red hoping it's a different cashier -- okay I admit it I actually stood in a longer line to make sure it wasn't the same cashier.  Soon it's too much work for excuses and I'm really to busy to think of them or remember to grab the bags and then finally after a few more times you just own it and although never enough to shout it out you quietly  just say I need bags......Defeated

So I'm not clear how the charging of bags has stopped global warming or eliminated any waste --but what has come clear to me is this:  Zehrs now makes 5 cents off every bag that they didn't make prior to their environmental crisis.  Oh and the 5 cent bags are like an over inflated balloon stretched to the max regardless how many items are placed in them.  Well with the exception of the handles they have double plastic giving you a false sense of security.  Yes how many times do I have to crawl in the van hitting my head on the lip of the roof to  pick up the apples rolling around the van before I remember that oh yes if I pull too hard it will be the handles only in my hands.

 So here's the love part I can buy apples, underwear, presents, gift cards all in one place cause I'm busy and I'm willing to spend more to get less to save myself the trouble of going to more than one place.  I am so busy and overwhelmed in life I accept the ridiculous notion that huge companies/corporations are justified in charging fees to place the items that have been purchased from them in a container so that I can carry their profits to my van without assistance cause assistance costs them money in wages.  So I continue to accept the unacceptable because I'm just too busy to do anything else....Ugggg