Daily Joke: Grocery Store Encounter The Boy Who Couldnt Choose Your Bags

The fluorescent lights hummed overhead as I rolled my cart up to the checkout counter. The grocery store boy, barely older than seventeen with a name tag that read Derek , smiled sleepily and scanned my items.

“Paper or plastic?” he asked, like it was a question he’d asked a thousand times before lunch.

I shrugged. “You pick. Doesn’t matter to me.”

He blinked. “Uh… really?”

I nodded. “Yeah. You know what’s better. Go ahead.”

For a moment, Derek looked like someone had handed him a million dollars and told him it was legal tender. His eyes lit up behind his glasses. Then, just as quickly, his face fell.

“I can’t,” he said quietly, almost mournfully.

“What do you mean, you can’t?”

“It’s against policy.” He gestured toward a laminated sign taped to the conveyor belt: Customers must choose bag type. “If I assume your preference, I could get written up. Baggers can’t be choosers.”