Bags of logic
One of the things in Armenia that still bug me after so many years is the fact that you get plastic bags everywhere. Even if you buy one small item, you still get a bag for it. And if you buy food and non-food items, the non-food items are put in a separate bag. For a reason I have yet to figure out, you do not put food and non-food items in the same bag in this country, even if both the edible and non-edible items are packaged and closed shut. Not only is it environmentally insane to waste so much plastic, but I find it annoying to have such a huge and ever-increasing collection of plastic bags at home. Like everyone else, I use them as garbage bags, but still the plastic bags arrive faster than they leave my house.
A long time ago I started taking a spare bag with me whenever I go shopping or I put the items I bought in my own bag so as to limit the amount of plastic I receive. Not surprisingly, I get lots of odd looks whenever I break the rules by refusing a plastic bag or putting edibles and non-edibles in the same bag. Sometimes it is almost as if the girl at the cash register is insulted when I refuse the plastic bag. By now everybody working in the shop in my building knows that I am the wacky foreigner who doesn’t want plastic bags, but even there I still get odd stares. I just don’t need or want so many plastic bags!
Today I went to the new Yerevan City supermarket on Komitas. With my spare canvas shoulder bag empty and folded up in my hand. Upon entering the shop, the security guard stopped me and asked me to put my bag in a locker. I knew this was a battle I was going to loose, but I wasn’t going to give in so easily. I told him I don’t want plastic bags and showed him my bag was empty. I asked him why women were allowed to take their (more often than not sizable) handbags or shoulderbags inside, but I wasn’t allowed to take my bag. I pointed out that if anyone wants to steal something from the shop, they could just as easily put it in those handbags. I told him I didn’t see the difference between their bags and my bag. He mumbled something about people with handbags stealing less than people with other bags, but it sounded rather unconvincing. Of course, the guard didn’t give in. I didn’t expect him to. Then I asked him what he would do if I took my wallet out of my coat, put it in my otherwise empty bag, sling the bag on my shoulder and tell the guard that it was my handbag. He didn’t really have an answer for that. I guess that by now he was getting annoyed by my persistence.
In fact, but I didn’t tell the security guard this, I had brought the same bag into different supermarkets on many occasions carrying it as a shoulder bag without anyone asking any questions. Also – and I didn’t tell the security guard this either – a few days ago I had entered the same supermarket with an spare bag folded up in the pocket of my coat. No questions asked then, but this time he wouldn’t let me put the bag in my pocket.
I ended the conversation by telling mister security guard that I’d put my bag away in a locker, but that I saw neither logic nor consistency in the current policy of allowing handbags, but not the bag I was carrying.
So what did we learn from this? If you want to steal from a Yerevan supermarket, bring a handbag and use that to carry off your loot. It makes you look less conspicuous. Of course, you didn’t hear this from me.
I ended up with two more useless plastic bags. And no, I don’t get myself into conversations like this on a daily basis.
Category: Armenia, Life in Armenia, Yerevan | Tags: environment, shopping 6 comments »
January 22nd, 2011 at 12:58 am
Next time refuse the plastic bags, and, going back and forth carry the items to the locker, creating as much commotion as you possibly can. Involve the security guard as your personal assistant, responsible for the purchased items. Repeat until they insist you take the bag.
January 22nd, 2011 at 8:47 am
I also take my canvas bag, and am used to be looked at like I am delivering a personal insult to the cashier. Though, it seems to happen less and less. I think it isn’t as surprising as it was a couple of years ago. I usually just carry it on my shoulder as though it’s my handbag….yes, you got into a pointless conversation with someone who probably doesn’t even make enough money to care if you actually steal….but he does care because if someone steals they probably take the cost out of his measly salary.
You could always pretend like you don’t understand….
January 22nd, 2011 at 12:36 pm
[...] a Dutch expat blog, recounts a visit to a local supermarket in Yerevan, the Armenian capital, and a pointless conversation with a security guard who refused to allow her to take a canvas bag into the … in order to avoid needlessly using plastic carrier bags. [...]
January 22nd, 2011 at 12:53 pm
[...] a Dutch expat blog, recounts a visit to a local supermarket in Yerevan, the Armenian capital, and a pointless conversation with a security guard who refused to allow her to take a canvas bag into the … in order to avoid needlessly using plastic carrier [...]
January 22nd, 2011 at 2:58 pm
“One of the things in Armenia that still bug me after so many years is the fact that you get plastic bags everywhere. Even if you buy one small item, you still get a bag for it. … I get lots of odd looks whenever I break the rules by refusing a plastic bag”
It was the same here in the Netherlands only 25 years ago. If you bought something and it wasn’t in a plastic bag with the shop’s logo on it, you were supposed to have stolen the item. Plastic bags were compulsory and every time I refused one the shop assistants became annoyed.
Fortunately things have changed quite a bit since then and I have no doubt that they will in Armenia, too – with people like you in the vanguard!
January 23rd, 2011 at 5:58 am
[...] hoe ze, tijdens een bezoek aan een plaatselijke supermarkt in de Armeense hoofdstad Yerevan, in een zinloze discussie verzeild raakte met een beveiligingsbeambte [en] die haar verbood een canvas tas mee naar binnen te nemen die ze had meegenomen om niet onnodig [...]