That cashier at the grocery store made me feel guilty about my reusable bags

I was at the checkout line at Kroger yesterday, and the cashier, this older lady named Carol, saw me pull out my reusable bags. She got this look on her face and said, 'You know those things are full of bacteria if you don't wash them, right?' I just froze with my bags halfway out. She wasn't mean about it, just matter of fact. But it got me thinking about how we try to do good things but miss the details. Like I've been patting myself on the back for not using plastic bags, but I've never once washed those reusable ones in 2 years. Has anyone else run into this hidden side of ethical choices?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_taylor25d agoMost Upvoted

I gotta push back a little on this, @grantp14. I get what you're saying about our microbiomes being resilient, but there's a difference between normal bacteria and the stuff that can actually make you sick. Like, I finally washed my bags after two years, and the water was straight up gray. I had raw chicken juice soaked into the bottom of one from months ago, and that's not a "healthy ecosystem" - that's a food safety risk. Carol the cashier might've been blunt, but she wasn't wrong about the basics here. We can be proud of using reusable bags while also admitting we're probably being kinda gross about it.

kelly63826d ago

Right? Pretty sure mine have their own ecosystem at this point lol.

grantp1425d ago

Wait, are we complaining about having bacteria that literally keeps us alive now? Sounds like your microbiome is doing its job and throwing a party, which is way better than the alternative of it being a ghost town.