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One time I had a 50 lb bag of dog food in my cart and was just about to lift it out and put it in my car when a strong young guy came along and said,"here let me do that."
Made me feel old.
I can do it but its kind of a struggle.
And how would you feel if they didn't offer to take your groceries to the car? I think it's just something they are told
to do when they thank the customer. I don't give it much thought, just say no thanks I'm fine. Are you just looking
to complain about something that is not meant to offend anyone? What a topic for a thread.
Yeah, I was asked a couple of months ago, not by the cart chaser employee at the food store, but by a young guy on the parking lot who had been fooling around under the hood of his car. I was loading bags into the pickup when he looked up and said, "Oh sir, do you need some help?"
WTF? Yeah, I'm 72 but my bald head was covered by a ball cap with military insignia and I was sporting a tank top, a shirt style that shows me to my best advantage. Gave him a dirty look and he got the message and sort of slunk away.
Today the bagger asked me if I needed help out to the parking lot. It wasn't the first time I've been asked. I find it mildly insulting because it implies I look helpless or disabled. I am convinced that I do not look helpless or disabled, and I certainly hope I am not deluding myself.
I asked her in a friendly tone if she asks everybody that and she waffled with the answer, saying only that she once got in trouble for failing to ask.
I would say I get asked that maybe one out of ten times I buy groceries at Ralph's, which is one of the large chains in Southern California. Sometimes I defuse the situation by saying with a little laugh, "No thanks - I'm old but not that old". I know there is no point in letting my irritation show to the cashier or bagger, as they are not really doing anything wrong and there is more than enough negativity in the world anyway.
Small potatoes, I know, and perhaps not worth making a thread about, but I am just curious whether other posters here have had the same experience and whether, like me, you find it insulting and irritating.
I appreciate being asked if I would like help to the car (framed differently than you posed, which was do you need help).
I especially like assistance if it's after dark. And when the bagger (who gets some fresh air and relief from constant bagging when assisting customers) returns the cart to the proper place, I think it's great.
I believe that many of the baggers feel good helping people, and that's a good thing, too.
OP, I'm pretty sure that they ask mostly just those who look the most feeble, look the weakest & most helpless, and those who look the most elderly & wane!
I've shopped at our local supermarket for some 30 years now. Whenever there's more than one sack of groceries, they offer to help me carry it out. They offer that to everyone, and always have.
Why look for insults when it's entirely possible none is intended. Aren't there enough deliberate insults in the world? :-)
I've been asked this dozens of times, and take no offense to it at all.
I'm a guy, and have been weight lifting for 50 years now, so I hope I don't look too feeble. But they ask anyway, and I politely decline the offer.
Now my wife....she gets pissed.
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