Christian lives in Germany and has made several trips to the United States. 

"On my first trip to the US, I went to a supermarket and bought some foods. At the cashier's desk I paid, then wanted to bag my groceries. All of a sudden I noticed that some guy next to me grabbed _my_ fruits and cookies and put them into his plastic bag. "Hey, what are you doing?", I asked, definitely not very politely. After all, why should I be friendly with a thief??

Turned out he was a not a ruthless cookie robber but a store employee who wanted to bag my groceries. Duh.

In Germany, where I live, you get most of your purchases bagged by the cashier (even a paperback or a deodorant stick), and if you don't want a bag, you should say so quickly. But in the departments where it would actually make sense ­ foods/grocery stores ­ you may buy (!) a plastic bag from the cashier and bag your stuff yourself. There are very few German stores where you get your groceries bagged, primarily due to labor cost: Some supermarkets rather invest in automatic bagging systems than hiring extra staff for bagging the customers' purchases.

And yes, I apologized. But I guess my explanation must have sounded strange..."

09/10/2002