One of the many benefits of living on a military base is access to the commissary and post exchange which provide tax free shopping. But, there is a catch. After a few visits to the commissary to pick up my weekly groceries, I realized that at the bottom of the receipt where it normally says “tax” and an amount, it says “surcharge” and an amount. I asked the cashier what this “surcharge” meant and her response was “it’s like a tax”. HA! I couldn’t help but laugh out loud right there. Tax free my eye! Sure…the money probably doesn’t go to the same place as normal grocery store tax, and it is definitely a smaller amount, but still!
AND THEN….there are the “baggers”. You know the person that bags your groceries for you at the checkout? Here on post, they work for tips. I’m not sure who came up with this idea, but it really bothers me. The thing is, they have a different kind of cart than the normal shopping cart so if you want them to bring your groceries out then they put it on their little cart and walk out with you, at which point you are supposed to tip them a few dollars. So, in order to avoid this, you have to tell them as they start bagging your stuff that you want it back in YOUR cart. At which point they realize that you don’t want to tip them, but they still have to bag your stuff. So they turn on you, instead of being overly friendly to get the best tip, they bag your stuff however it suits them. That’s right, canned goods on top of your chips. It always makes me feel kind of bad, but truthfully I don’t carry cash on me anyhow, so I wouldn’t be able to tip really. I just wish that their boss would pay them enough that I wouldn’t have to tip them to do their job! I hate even tipping waiters…that’s why I love Australia/New Zealand. They consider it rude if you tip a waiter because it’s like saying that you don’t think the restaraunt pays enough. Just pay your employees what they’re worth here people!
