Oh The Shame!

I am one of those people who ALWAYS brings reusable shopping bags to the store. I have been doing this for a couple of years now and I live in an area where this is just now starting to catch on. It is a rare occasion that I see another person at the grocery with reusable bags. Normally, I try to be understanding of others and not judgemental - hey, no one is perfect. But when I am in line at the checkout and the person in front of or behind me has a basket full of groceries and answers the question "Paper or plastic?" with "Plastic please.", I will often give that person a look of contempt. I know, I know, it's wrong of me to judge. But I justify it for myself by thinking that maybe it will guilt them into switching to reusable bags... I am sure you are thinking that I need to get off my high horse.... Well today I was brought back down to Earth.

I stopped at the grocery on my way home from getting my hair cut to pick up two items - a tube of Burt's Bees Lip Balm and a bottle of Giovanni PureOrganic Leave-In Conditioner. I would normally not bring in a bag for just two small items, especially when one of those items is small enough to fit in my purse. At the checkout, I would just say "I don't need a bag." and be on my way. So - I did not bring any bags with me.
Well, while I was getting my hair cut, LLB texted me to let me know that we also needed a few more items. I actually debated with myself if it would be better for me to drive all the way home to get a reusable bag, or to just use a paper bag this one time. Considering that the grocery is right next to the salon, I came to the conclusion that it was ok to use a paper bag this one time - hey at least I can compost it.
So I go about my business, getting all of the required items. When I get to the checkout, I see that the lady in front of me has reusable bags. My initial reaction was one of excitement! I was so glad to see that there are others out there like me! I could have just kicked myself for not having my bags so that she and I could make eye contact and feel a sense of connection for both caring about the environment! But oh well, hopefully she will appreciate that I am not going to get a PLASTIC (yuck!) bag.
When it is my turn at the checkout, the nice young girl behind the register starts ringing my items. Having not been prompted, I made sure to tell her "Paper please." so that she did not get it wrong. That little brat tells me "I'm sorry ma'am, we are out of paper. We only have plastic."!!! My new friend (who at this point in time still had not even acknowledged my existence) is at the end of the bagging area still putting her reusable bags into her cart - and turns and gives me the most demeaning look I have ever witnessed! Panicked, I look to the person behind me for some comfort, but she has reusable bags too - and is giving me that same look!!! Oh how I wanted to slap that snotty little checkout girl (who was actually very sweet and polite) and crawl under her register counter and hide until the two judgemental tree hugging bitches had left!!!
So I answered the poor girl behind the register with a small "ok." and jammed all of my items as quickly as I could into my stupid plastic bag while she was ringing my credit card. Then of course she couldn't find a pen - purposely delaying my escape! I sign that damn receipt and get the hell outta there!!!!

Lesson learned: Karma's a bitch.