Spruce Industries Blog Page

Paper or Plastic

So I was doing my usual weekly shopping at my local supermarket yesterday and had one of the most hypocritical experiences of my life. My household consists of my water guzzling boyfriend and my forever pooping cat. Needless to say, I go through 5-6 gallons of water and a 10lb box of cat litter a week. So on my weekly excursion, I picked up the necessary items amongst other things and proceeded to the self-checkout. While I was checking out & bagging, I broke out the brown paper bag to use in addition to the plastic one for easier transport. The lady behind me started huffing & puffing; rolling her eyes. I figured it was just her annoyance at me for taking my time bagging up my groceries. Well I really must’ve got under her skin because she had the nerve to say “Excuse me but do you really need to use the brown bags? Don’t you realize what you’re doing to the environment by using them and not an eco- friendly tote bag?” The look on my face said it all. Shock, amazement and bewilderment. I’m not one for confrontation, but who did this lady think she was? I dropped my stuff and walked up to her and told her “Not that it’s any of your business, but I have to lug all this stuff up a flight and a half of stairs and using the brown bag makes it easier for me.” Her reply to me and I quote “Well do you plan to recycle them?” Is this lady for real?? Now I’m annoyed because I just want to get home and finish my day out and here’s this lady questioning me like it’s the Spanish Inquisition. I not so politely respond “Get a bleeping life”, finish bagging and start to walk away; and out of the corner of my ear I hear “She’s got some nerve!” My Scorpio pride told me to walk right back up to the lady and give her a piece of my mind but really, is it any of her business what I do with the brown bags after I take them home? She doesn’t know me or my beliefs on recycling and the preservation of the Earth (which is a very strong belief and whenever I see someone litter, I want to kick them). I didn’t give her the satisfaction of an argument. With that said, I’m loading up my bags into the trunk of my car as the same lady is walking to her car. As I watch her walk across the lot, lo and behold, she’s driving a gas guzzling Suburban. Not one of these new hybrids, but the older models that get 8 miles per gallon. How’s that for hypocrisy and maybe just a little bit oxymoronic. How dare she question me when she’s worst of them all with her emissions spewing monster of an SUV.

This experience is minor in the bigger scheme of things, yet makes me realize how disheartening some people can be.

PS.. I do recycle my brown bags. It makes a nice little temporary play house for my kitty until he tears it to shreds and I give him another one to play with. The shreds of brown bag go into my cardboard/paper recycling bin for weekly pickup. So here’s to you gas guzzling hypocrite lady!