Saturday, August 21, 2010


Today, I was the bag lady. I got dragged a little begrudgingly to the store this morning, because we were out of cereal. I perked up walking through the door though, because there was a big rack of nice reusable bags for 99 cents each. I bought ten, got some cereal and dog food, and went to stand outside the door to hand out the bags. The responses were so interesting! The first guy was so shocked and happy. He had a plastic bag partially full of groceries and his other arm was awkwardly juggling some sort of small appliance in a box. He immediately stopped and tried to wrestle the appliance into the bag, so I helped him, and then he had long, handy straps to help him carry it more comfortably. He was very happy. Most of the people were really happy to get a nice free bag. Some of the people also asked for the mesh produce bags I was holding. Some people said no. Some were very suspicious. It's funny how jaded people get by the fact that everything in our society is supposedly for a profit or a scam. A few people had their own bags, and I thanked and praised them for remembering them. When I gave one guy a bag, he said, "Why?" I said, "Because I want you to use it." He held up his plastic bags and said, "At least I saved a tree." I spared him the lecture.

After giving away my last bag at the Albany store, I went home, got dressed and drove into Corvallis to do the same thing there. I bought twenty bags this time. My poor husband is sure this is going to break us, but I have to admit that it makes me feel great, and the more people rain on my parade, the more likely I am to need to do it some more.

Corvallis was more open to the bags, and many people there were walking in with their reusable bags and boxes. People were so excited to get reusable bags. They couldn't believe they were free. Several people said, "You're giving me something free? Sure, I'll take anything that's free!" One lady said, "Well, what's the catch?" No catch. "I mean, what's the gimmick?" No gimmick. Just next time you come to the store, please use it. A few people said, "No thank you," going into the store, but when they came out of the store, they said, "You're really just giving these to people for free?" Yes. "Okay, then, thanks, I do want one." Awesome. One lady thought the bag was so nice, she wanted to use it to carry things to her classroom at school, not for groceries. That's not really the point, but oh well. At least she won't be using plastic bags for that I guess.

The last bag is always the hardest for me, because I really feel like just this random lady standing there with a bag, suddenly offering it to an unsuspecting shopper. Who knows where it came from? Luckily, it feels stranger to me than it does to them. The last bag I gave in Corvallis was to a teenaged boy. I was worried he wouldn't take it, because a couple of young guys had been cheeky about not taking bags and intentionally coming back out carrying arms full of plastic bags to "show" me. But, he looked amazed, like I had given him a hug or something. When I was done, I just started walking down the street with that giddy happy feeling of randomly brightening the day of thirty total strangers (and the people who watched from their cars and cafe tables). It's a good way to bounce back from the things that weigh a person down.

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