You Can't Make Me

I realize that I have been MIA. I've actually had a variety of blog worthy moments in the last several months, I just haven't had the time to put finger to keyboard (so to speak). This is a short anecdote, and somewhat amusing so I figured I'd take the time to share.

I am somewhat of an environmentalist. I try to minimize my impact on nature by doing things like bringing cloth bags with me to the supermarket, recycling, reusing, driving the shortest route, you know, the basics and then some. Plastic bags are awful for the environment for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, they never go away (when I say never, I mean not in my life time or the life time of my potential great-grandchildren).

I went shopping for 2x4's birthday recently and purchased him the 10 inch frying pan he's been anxious to receive for a while now. A frying pan has a HANDLE. Keep this small fact in mind while I share with you the exchange between myself and the older lady at the department store register.

I put the pan on the counter. The nice lady scaned the pan and then grabbed a plastic bag. As I took my money out of my purse, I stated; "You know what, I don't need a bag, I'll just carry that as is."

The nice lady then proceeded to put the pan in the bag and declared, "No, I have to give you a bag or I'll get in trouble with security. If you want to remove the bag when you get outside, you can." Clearly she missed the point. I don't want to use a bag nor waste a bag, nor add one more plastic bag to the world.

I handed the nice lady my money and then removed the pan from the bag stating, "If I get stopped by security, I'll inform them that you tried valiently to give me a bag but I resisted your efforts"

The nice lady was clearly annoyed and moved more stealthily than I would have thought someone her age could, producing a role of tape with the store's logo printed on it and before I had a chance to protest, stuck some to the pan announcing, "Then I have to give you some tape!"

This was particularly amusing because I wouldn't have objected to the tape but somehow her approach made me feel victimized, like she had just smacked me across the face with her glove.

But, as my middle name is compromise, I smiled and said, "That's just fine." After all, the situation had quickly evolved from a simple "I'll do one little thing to help sustain the health of the planet" into "I WILL win."

I feel that in the end, mother nature and I were triumphant. Our team won the battle.