Thwarted environmentalism

I try to be a shopper who is environmentally conscious. I try to use the non-disposable bags with my purchases.

I forget more often than not, but I try.

Today I was proud of myself for remembering to bring the bag in, tote it around with me and drop my items in there after hemming and hawing about the increased prices of skin care products.

But as I dropped them onto the checkout counter, my attention turned to the shiny gum wrappers and magazines in the aisle, and I didn't notice that the woman was dropping my stuff into a plastic bag.

I only picked up on it after she had them all packed away, and I then cried, "Oh, I meant to use this! Can we put these things in here? I'm sorry, I should have been on that."

"Of course, no problem." And she takes them out of the plastic bag, crumbles it up, and throws the bag in the garbage under her counter!

I wanted to scream, "Lady, why do you think I use this bag? That's gonna go sit in a landfill when you could have with a little extra effort used it for your next customer!"

But I didn't. I thanked her and moved on.