Published: October 29, 2009 08:39 am      

Asking a simple question

Tell me, please, what is up with this stuff?

Seriously.

I mean, what’s up with the baggers at the grocery store? Don’t they receive training anymore? Or maybe the training doesn’t cover this. If not, it should.

And this happens more often than not.

Ninety-nine percent of the time, I go to the grocery, I pick out my food. I go through check-out. And down at the bottom of the belt stands the bagger, “anxiously” awaiting as the stuff makes its way toward him/her.

And then, that bagger will pull certain items aside — primarily canned goods — and put them all into one bag. One bag that will weigh more than all the other bags combined.

Look, i’m not going to the grocery to gain arm strength. I just want to buy my groceries, go home and put the groceries away. I don’t want to throw something out anatomy-wise carrying one bag that’s filled to the brim with heavy stuff.

Do these people not buy their own groceries? Do the baggers bagging their colleagues’ groceries do unto them as those baggers have done unto other shoppers?

And a friend of mine wants to know why a bagger would put the oranges on top of the bread.

What’s up with that?

And what’s up with this — a friend and her husband were driving home from Florida the other day. They’re driving in the “fast lane” when some idiot driver barrels down on them, riding their car’s bumper until they move over into the “slower lane.” 

As if that’s not annoying enough, this idiot driver will then pull up and drive side-by-side of the car that was supposedly going too slow instead of moving ahead. What’s up with that?

And what’s up with this?

This is something that leaves another friend scratching her head. Those idiot drivers who talk on their cell phones, smoke a cigarette and take a sip of soda. “Look, Ma, no hands!”

And what’s up with this: Whatever happened to good manners and common sense? I wonder the same thing on a regular basis.

Then there are those stores that post hours but never adhere to them. This one friend can’t figure that out. She’ll go to the store about 10 minutes after it was supposed to be open only to find the employees still scrambling to get things ready. What’s up with that? And why is it a regular occurrence?

And what’s up with this? Facebook has this need to change things when they aren’t broken. The most recent example is splitting up the posting feeds. Now, there are “live” feeds and “news” feeds. Users had a chance to vote whether or not they’re embracing the change, and the results, to date, are: yes, 151 users, 1.82 percent; no, 2,678 users, 32.19 percent; and those users who feel the whole thing “sucks,” 5,501 users, 66.13 percent. I am one of the people who think it sucks.

Then there are those people who pay a nice chunk of change to attend  professional football games only to spend more time making beer runs than watching the game. What is up with that? 

I have a friend who happens to be a teacher, and she wants to know what’s up with parents. 

She said that when the doctor tells you to change something in order to maintain a healthier lifestyle, they do it. When the mechanic tells them something needs fixed on their vehicle, they do it. 

However, if a teacher makes certain suggestions that will improve their child’s education, they tend to completely ignore what’s been said.

What, she wondered, is up with that?

I know I’m not supposed to sweat the small stuff — or anything I can’t control — but come on, what’s up with that? I do sweat the small stuff, and I wonder, “What’s up with that?”

• Deb Saine is a columnist for the Pharos-Tribune. She can be reached through the newspaper at ptnews@pharostribune.com.