http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021857149 Whisp (15,017 posts)
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Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested... (on being Green)
Last edited Tue Nov 20, 2012, 03:11 PM USA/ET - Edit history (2)
Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.
The woman apologized and explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my earlier days."
The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations." She was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.
Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were re cycled. But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.
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http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/quirks-quarks-blog/2011/11/old-folks-perspective-on-the-environment.html
I would have went to the manager and got her fired. But then it never happened in real life so the imaginary clerk still has her imaginary job.
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elleng (36,196 posts)
3. 'did not care enough' is both rude and uninformed.
She didn't fall for it.
Skidmore (28,100 posts)
12. Let's talk about the number of disposable electronics consumed
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in the form of cell phones, tablets, cables, etc. Everyone dropping their current toy for the next one.
The other two things that drive me nuts are disposable diapers and stick pens. I washed cloth diapers for my two and only used disposables on trips, and disposables were a new invention back then. Remember those plastic pants you put over the cloth diaper and washed and washed until they would spring a leak?
Stick pens are an abomination. Period. Especially those damned pens pushed for advertising a company. They are everywhere. No way to recycle them that I'm aware of. Loathe them.
The skidmark is quite familiar with dirty drawers.
northoftheborder (2,988 posts)
17. I could give up ballpoint pens for real ink pens, but not plastic diapers. I too washed many
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cloth diapers, and without a dryer; but the disposable diapers are so much gentler for the baby's skin, and so much more sanitary for the baby and family.
And green poop is biodegradable.
Skidmore (28,100 posts)
19. I sure would have loved to have a dryer
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when my kids were little. Dryers were a fairly new invention and really expensive. I washed diapers in boiling water and hung them to dry, regardless of the weather. In the winter, they froze on the line and in the summer sun they would dry quickly. Mothers used to pass diaper sets on to their sisters and friends with new babies. They were well used and sturdy. And I'll wager those diapers have long since disintegrated by now though. Now those diapers they sell now will still be intact in a landfill a millennia from now.
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1935 First clothes dryer
To spare his mother having to hang wet laundry outside in the brutal North Dakota winter, J. Ross Moore builds an oil-heated drum in a shed next to his house, thereby creating the first clothes dryer. Moore’s first patented dryers run on either gas or electricity, but he is forced to sell the design to the Hamilton Manufacturing Company the following year because of financial difficulties.
http://www.greatachievements.org/?id=3768 <--------------Cool link
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frazzled (8,314 posts)
6. My mother and mother-in-law were children of the Depression ...
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My mother always turned out the lights as she was leaving a room (still does), kept the furnace at the lowest possible setting that would keep us warm, and only let us use a few inches of water our baths (you should save water! she would tell us). And heaven forfend if you should stand in front of the refrigerator with the door open: you're wasting electricity! she would scold us.
My mother-in-law used to wash and re-use the plastic bags from the store that vegetables come in ... and use them again! Every little thing was saved and re-used, including pieces of aluminum foil.
I think my generation (I was born in 1950) rebelled against these endless scrimpings and savings of our mothers. As soon as I got away from home I used to fill the tub up with hot water to my neck. Later, as my kids got into the "green" movement at school, I began to change again: recycling everything, trying to use less electricity, etc.
The Magistrate (79,189 posts)
15. Nickel It Was, Sir
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The machine was a big ice-chest, with the bottles hung from the bulge under the cap on rails, in the iced water. Putting in the money released a lug that let you pull one free at a corner.
The ones where I grew up, the bottles were lying loose in a big chest/cooler. You took what you wanted. You went inside and paid for it.
No Vested Interest (92 posts)
10. This story has been around
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as an email for several years.
Not long for this world.
athena (832 posts)
24. I have a hard time believing this story.
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Last edited Tue Nov 20, 2012, 05:00 PM USA/ET - Edit history (1)
I think someone made it up to make environmentalists look bad.
When I'm checking out at the store, with my own bags, I have to work hard to prevent the cashier from automatically giving me a plastic bag. Even after telling them that I don't need a bag, I have to watch closely and stop them just as they're reaching for the plastic bag. I've never seen a cashier suggest to anyone that they should bring their own bag; on the contrary, they offer to double-bag everything for people who don't have their own bags. I don't think they want people to bring their own bags; they never seem quite sure whether they should fill my bags for me or let me fill them.
It's one thing to criticize a group for something they have actually done. It's really unfair to criticize them for something they haven't done.
You don't need our help to look bad.
