Over the Christmas weekend I had the pleasure of helping out some people who were bag-packing for charity.
My couple of hours paled into insignificance compared to the hard-working team from Global Assist but I did learn something about people.
The briefing from brother Asif was simple.
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"The bread always goes at the top and you have to let the customer know which bag the eggs are in."
"And you can't start packing unless you get the go ahead from the cashier."
Straight forward advice.
"What do you do if there is a kick-off?" I asked.
"Look, you are packing bags why on earth would there be a kick-off?"
"You never know somebody might not like the way I packed their bags."
"Then do it properly! And try not to be nosey."
The first couple of customers were jovial enough.
The usual banter ensued - 'Christmas shopping is a pain', 'My feet are hurting', 'Aren't you that shoplifter from aisle nine?'
Most people are generous. They were more than happy to make a donation even though they had nothing at all to pack.
There were quite a few who decided to pack their own goods and still drop a couple of pounds into the bucket.
But then there were the other ones. One gentleman bought enough milk to bathe in (10 six-pint bottles to be exact) and then didn't even tip me afterwards.
Now, one should not really have to make a donation.
In fact you shouldn't be pressurised into putting anything into a bucket unless, of course, you have just bought over 10 gallons of fresh milk.
And then there was the very fussy woman who wanted me to pack things in a particular way.
For instance, you couldn't put the shampoo in with the apples.
It saves having to separate stuff when you get home.
It made sense I suppose.
Bar from the odd 'Hey I packed your bags give me some pennies' looks I was more interested in the shopping habits.
I don't eat swine, and never have. But those pork cocktails seemed very popular.
I must have packed at least twenty packs. And at least 22 bottles of vodka, a couple of crates of Carling Black and quite a few bags of frozen peas.
Somebody was having a great party with that lot.
A special mention for the good staff at Tesco Blackburn for putting up with our wisecracks for two whole days.
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