Re: supermarket cashier again

Paul J Kriha wrote:
>
> Peter T. Daniels <grammatim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:42B07B52.6054@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > Paul J Kriha wrote:
> > >
> > > Peter T. Daniels <grammatim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> > > news:42B01F16.22F6@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > > > Ron Hardin wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > Peter T. Daniels wrote:
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Operatunity was shown in the US for the first time this evening (a sort
> > > > > > of Pop Idol/American Idol for opera amateurs, but all in one 90-minute
> > > > > > program), and the big winner was shown at her job -- as a cashier at
> > > > > > Tescos. She scanned each item _and bagged it_. Those scenes were
> > > > > > probably shot in 2001.
> > > > > > --
> > > > > > Peter T. Daniels
> > > > >
> > > > > Surely it's ``sacked'' in some regions.
> > > >
> > > > "Sacked" means 'fired' (UK: 'made redundant'). (Talk about
> > > > euphemisms!!!)
> > > > Peter T. Daniels
> > >
> > > Yes, that too, plus in my 'region', "bagging" means "catching"
> > > or "stealing" something. :-)
> >
> > When I was in college (over 30 years ago), "bag it!" meant
> > 'fuggeddaboudit!', 'blow it off', 'don't bother doing it'.
>
> I may have heard "bag it!" used downunder in more-or-less
> the same sense, but it was probably a straight borrowing
> from a US movie.
>
> > > Down'ere, I'd say the cashier or her assistant packs my
> > > shopping for me.
> >
> > One packs one's luggage for a trip, or objects for shipping. It involves
> > care and neatness and secureness.
>
> Nearly the same care and neatness is required to pack shopping.
> All glass bottles have to packed to prevent glass touching

They still use glass bottles down there? Here they're nearly extinct.

> glass. The packer prepares separate bags of different
> categories of product. The classification is done according to
> presumed destination of each item.

How very anal.

> Frozen foodstuffs, cold shrinkwrapped meats, and butter get
> put individually in small bags, then all these refrigerated items
> end up in a big separate bag. All tins in a separate bag. Bottles of
> wine get put in individual narrow paper bags and then all in a
> separate plastic bag. I think the term packing is quite justified.

Wine is not sold in food stores here.

> And all of that is done at high speed so as not to delay the
> cashier and the next customer. The current customer is usually
> fully busy taking finished bags and loading them back onto
> a trolly (shopping cart?) while keeping an eye on the prices
> of scanned items on his repeater monitor.

Imagine having a separate bagger and cashier. Here there's a bagger only
at the very busiest times.
--
Peter T. Daniels grammatim@xxxxxxx
.