banned from all grocery stores or at least the Safeway where I do my shopping. Now don't get me wrong. They are nice and friendly when stocking shelves and I'm sure they know what they're doing hidden away in the back storage area but put them in from of a cash register and they switch off their brains. Today I had the misfortune to stop in the line-up at checkout #5. It was almost my turn at the till when I realized it was a dreaded male working the machine. I quickly scanned the other open checkouts but all had lines longer than the one I was standing in so I shrugged my shoulders and prayed to the grocery gods that this one would keep his wits about him and not default to sleep mode. I was still loading groceries onto the conveyor belt when I looked up and saw he had pushed my cloth grocery bags out of the way and was automatically filling his plastic bags with my groceries. When I politely asked him to use my cloth bags he got a surprised look on his face as if to say, "Oh! Is that what those are for?". As he rang up my bloody (literally, not swearing) package of ground beef he was reaching for another one of my unwashable because they shrink to half their size cloth bags and I intervened again by telling him, "You can put THAT in plastic." When I finished unloading my cart I walked around to the other end of the checkout and started to bag the large items he considered too big to bag. He actually noticed and comprehended what I was doing and asked if I wanted everything bagged. I refrained from saying, "Well, duh! Ya think?" Instead I said, "Yes please. They are easier to carry that way." He proceeded to pack the groceries that were not yet in the cart and asked if I needed any help out with them. I said, "No thank you." I thought, "Not from you, ya Bozo." Keep in mind this was no pimply faced adolescent. This was a middle aged man. As I stood, pen in hand, waiting to sign the Visa slip he asked for my Safeway Club Card and Air Miles Card. I politely although through gritted teeth reminded him he had already run them through the machine. He turned back to the cash register and eventually found my receipts. I signed and as I turned to grab my cart and leave he again asked if I needed any help. I smiled and shook my head and then he said it. I should have known it was coming. They never let you get away with out the cheery, "Have a nice day." I turned my back on him muttering, "Too late." as I left the store. Arriving home I discovered my previously unblemished bananas (I know because I spent seven minutes searching for them) were in the same bag as my canned goods. If he makes minimum wage it's way too much.