Subway stupidity

The following is just a little anecdote for a local Subway sandwich bar.

I went for my weekly wrap treat. I like to buy myself a wrap once a week for lunch as my treat to myself.

We got to the end of the sandwich-making process, and I also asked for a cookie for my daughter. Then I said, "And no bag, please. I don't like plastic."

The girl can't have heard me right, because she then proceeded to put the cookie in a plastic bag (one of their plastic sandwich bags), without a paper cookie bag, along with the wrap.

I'm like - huh?

So I repeated, "Uh, sorry. I meant, no plastic bag at all."

And I waved my specially-brought-for-the-purpose re-usable "StuffIt" bag I had with me, and put it on the counter.

So the girl takes the cookie and the wrap out of the plastic bag, and puts the cookie, the wrap, and the plastic bag in my StuffIt bag.

*sigh*

So by now I'm really feeling like the biggest pain-in-the-arse. But I take the plastic bag out of my StuffIt, and put it on the counter, saying, "I really don't want the plastic bag. Sorry to be difficult."

The girl then gives me a really, really dirty look. I'm glad she'd already made my wrap, or she might have spat in it.

Avoiding unnecessary plastic

Do you, like me, sometimes feel really awkward and embarrassed when you refuse even a little bit of the garbage that gets dumped at us in our daily lives?

In the situation at that Subway, I was really embarrassed. A year ago, I'd have just let it pass.

But these days, I'm getting tougher. I've realised that unless people like me start holding our ground, and making it clear that we really don't like the whole 5-minute-usefulness-plastic thing, then it won't change.

A few people were behind me in the line for their sandwiches, and none of them said anything about their plastic bags. They all accepted them without complaint.

But I bet that every single one of them thought about their plastic bags. Because they heard and watched me taking a stand. And while they may not be ready to take a stand too, at least now they know that some people are.

Not so stupid

Actually, this was an exception to the rule. It was the first time one of the Subway staff was so dumb about my not wanting plastic. Usually they're great, and they understand completely. No fuss.

But I do have a complaint about the automatic let's dump the sandwich in a plastic bag for the customer thing.

It's wasteful and, in the case of every single customer that eats in the restaurant itself (a sizeable number of us), completely unnecessary.

How hard would it be for Subway to get its staff to ask customers if they want a plastic bag before the inevitable DUMP?

Better yet, why not charge customers for a plastic bag? 50 cents would scare a few cheapskates off fouling up our world for a few seconds of "convenience"!

You know what? I think I'm going to write another letter!
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Cluttercut - Be the change