Redemption?

I was very surprised, after my last post, to receive a personal telephone call from the customer service manager at the Publix. I was expecting a confrontation, but the man was actually very nice and apologetic and said that he wanted to "make it right" about the bags. I told him it wasn't my goal to get anyone in trouble but that I was trying to understand if I had done something that deserved the reaction from the cashier. I don't like to make people's jobs more difficult. He insisted that the store encourages customers to use their own bags if they wish, and that he would do his best to see that this did not happen again. He had an idea of which bagger it might have been. I just wonder how many other people on the island bring their own bags. I might get singled out as the crazy tote lady after this one.

Key West Publix Refuses Canvas Bags

So in our continuing effort to be "greener" and dig out from under the mountain of plastic bags, we took our canvas totes to our local Publix supermarket. The chain presents a facade of eco-friendliness, even selling reusable "green bags" by the register. Great, or so I thought. We gave our canvas bags to the bagger and explained that we would like to use those instead of the plastic bags. She looked at us as if we were insane and began to place everything into plastic anyway. We again explained that we did not want the plastic bags but would use our own. The bagger then launched into a tirade to the cashier in Spanish (which she probably didn't think we could understand) about how "Americans don't understand what it's like to have to work". Seeing that she was so upset, we said we would take over. She then began racing us, trying to put the goods into plastic before we could get them into our bags. We ended up with maybe half and half. I complained in writing, and received no response. Too bad I didn't have time to wait in the mile-long customer service line to speak with a manager. It's also worth mentioning that we may be getting fooled by that "recycling" bin for plastic bags out front, too. Reliable sources have seen the bins being emptied into the trash dumpster behind certain stores. Shame on you, Publix! Shame!