Penny Wise, Pound Foolish

Recently, my daughter helped me pick out a present for her friend's birthday. Later, I stopped at the Paper Store for gift wrap and a birthday card. The teenager at check-out asked me "Do you want a bag for that?", pointing at the gift wrap roll.

I remember the dollhouse we'd bought as a gift, my little girl has the same one. It is attached securely with thirty seven wire ties and several miles of scotch tape, to a sturdy piece of cardboard (The dollhouse contains pieces that might be choking hazards, so these wire ties and tape are a safety precaution to ensure children don't actually play with the toy). This whole thing comes in an indestructible plastic box. I was going to wrap this up in the wrapping paper, which itself came wrapped in clear cellophane.

So now, do I need a plastic bag to carry the cellophane wrapped decorative paper that is going to cover the plastic box that surrounds the cardboard protector that secures the dollhouse?

The correct answer is "Ofcourse!".

But I said, "No, thank you."

Then the checkout girl started to put my greeting card in a small plastic bag, and I said, "That's okay, I don't need a bag for that either."

So she pulled out a large paper bag and was going to put the small lone birthday card it it, and I told her, "Really, I don't need a bag."

She said, "Are you sure?", looking at me strangely. I put the card in my purse pointedly.

The next time, they might kick me out and refuse me service for being a troublemaker. You see their point - they are the Paper Store. If people start refusing bags for their merchandise, how long before they shun favor bags and paper plates, and - God Forbid - curling ribbons? Then what would happen to the paper economy? What would we recycle? What would we do with all those trees, which would breed without control and become a menace to the human population? What would we put in landfills? What, tell me, what, kind of legacy would we leave our children?

But I'm still a rebel and have been going about refusing bags for small items everywhere. I've already donated my share in those toy wrappings, disposable diapers, junk food bags, paper towels, to my local landfill.

So, Paper Store girl, go easy if I refuse a little baggie here and there. On second thought, I should have taken the paper bag from you. I might need it over my head so you let me into your store the next time I need gift wrap.