america!

i am back in the homeland, and being struck by the very american-ish ways of this place.

for example: double bagging. why do we do this? the average bag of groceries is put immediately into a cart, wheeled into the parking lot, lifted into the suv then carried from the garage to the kitchen. why does this relatively smooth trip require such sturdiness of plastic?

yesterday as i spent $44 purchasing a couple of items the cashier was shocked, astounded when i refused the double bag. "i'm just going across the street," i tried to explain. this was apparently unprecedented.

when did this start? i have a feeling it happened within my lifetime, maybe in the mid-90s. perhaps it was a coup by the plastic industry, similar to the one pulled by alka-seltzer when they convinced the public to take two instead of one, thus doubling their sales.

the single bag is durable and sufficient, people. let's stop the madness.