Went to the grocery store to pick up some munchies and a few essentials. Got my mom a bottle of shower gel. We went up to pay for stuff, and I asked them to not pack the bags too heavily because my mom and I cant lift heavy stuff easily, and my dad just broke his arm and we're not letting him help with stuff just yet.

Get home, and I went to get the paper bags out of the car. Couldnt figure out why they were so heavy. They put the 6packs of pop in the bags with the groceries...and that bottle of shower gel? They put that in the same bags with the food...and it came open. Leaked all over. (argh!)

When I worked in grocery stores, we were always taught not to bag "chemical" items (soaps, anything not edible that's used for cleaning that can leak) with food. If we put a chemical item in with food, we put it in separate plastic bag, so that if it opened or broke, hopefully it wouldnt leak all over the edibles.

Just irritated that I shopped with my mom for two hours (that's stressful enough sometimes) and my knee was killing me and I go to unpack stuff and it was all soapy.

Yikes, you should have taken it straight back and replaced it all for free..Grrrrrrr..

I called the store and kvetched (complained) about it to the manager. He wanted to replace it all for me. I didnt want to have to deal with it. I was tired and just wanted to go sit down. I really just wanted to tell him to tell the baggers and cashiers that you're not supposed to bag chemicals and food together for reasons like that.

Not the first time they've bagged chemicals with food, just the first time it's actually leaked onto my food tho. (at least most of the stuff was sealed and I was able to rinse the soap off) Glad I didnt buy any fresh veggies or fruit now.

Everything smells like vanilla and honey soap now tho. Dont like the smell. (mom picked out the soap. I didnt)

wow. great store manager willing to replace everything. That was the right thing to do. You should write a letter commending him to the grocery store owner/chain.

Aargh! That's one of my pet peeves as well! Another one is that I am always very careful to separate the cold stuff from everything else on the conveyer belt so it can be bagged together. So of course, the checker will then bag my frozen waffles with the peanut butter and the cheese with the chips. Makes no sense to me whatsoever.

Another one I hate, they put the hamburger in with the boxes of Pop Tarts and other things that can poke thru the plastic of the hamburger package a couple of weeks ago. (hamburger and other meats need to be bagged in a separate bag by themselves, just in case they leak, so you dont get e coli or other meat born bacterias all over everything else)

If I'm using a fabric shopping bag, I still want my hamburger bagged in plastic and dont put it near my fabric shopping bag. There are times for plastic (or paper) bags, and that's one of them.

I havent bagged groceries as a job for something like 15yrs, but I bet I can still bag better and faster than the kids at our grocery store.