We didn't have the 'green thing'

Tringa

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Saw this on another forum and thought it was amusing and interesting -

Yesterday after shopping in our local supermarket, I was in the queue at the Check Out, and heard when the young cashier suggested to the much older lady that she should bring her own grocery bags, because plastic bags are not good for the environment.

The woman apologised to the young girl & then sighed, "We didn't have this 'green thing' back in my earlier days."

The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today. You folk didn't do enough to save our environment for future generations."

The older lady said "Ahh yes you're right -- our generation didn't have the "green thing" in its day." She sighed then continued:
Back then, we returned milk bottles, lemonade bottles & beer bottles to the shops. The shops then sent them back to the plant to be washed, sterilized & refilled, so those same bottles were used over & over, thus REALLY were recycled. But we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.

Grocery stores put our groceries into brown paper bags that we reused for numerous things. Most memorable was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our school books. This was to ensure that public property (the books provided for our use by the school) were not defaced by our scribblings. Then we were able to personalise our books on their brown paper bag/covers. But, too bad we didn't do the "green thing" back then.

I remember how we walked up stairs because we didn't have an escalator in every store or office building; walked to the grocery store & didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go 200 yards.

Back then we washed the baby's nappies because we didn't have the throw away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts. Wind & solar power really did dry our clothes back in our days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. . . . But we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.

Back then we had one radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And if anyone did own a TV, it had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of a football pitch. When cooking we blended & stirred by hand, we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send by post, we used layers of old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity., , , , But we didn't have the "green thing" back then.

We drank from a tap or fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, & we replaced the razor blade in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn't have the "green thing" back then. Back then, people took the bus & kids rode bikes to school or walked instead of turning their mothers into a 24-hour taxi service in the family's expensive car or van, which cost what a whole house did before the "green thing"..

Oh and we had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest leisure park."

. . . . But it so sad this current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the "green thing" back then?

Dave
 
So true! Funny thing about discouraging the give-away plastic bags is that I always re-used them for shopping etc, none were ever just thrown away. I find it hard to throw away really neat looking pieces of well-sculpted plastic that looks as though it deserves some other use — they look like things I would have had to pay a lot of money for in my youth :confused:
 
I remember how green we were then, all the factories down Carpenters Road, Stratford spewing out smoke.
The stink from the perfume and glue places combined for a very evil aroma.
Thames so polluted you needed a stomach pump if you fell in.
Coal fires chucking out black smoke and smog that nearly did for my ma in the fifties.
Gas works that burnt coke then the leftovers went down to the breeze block factory.
Always knew the kids that lived near there, clobber was always a bit sooty.
 
And the green pea-souper fogs where it was difficult to see far enough ahead for walking :confused:
 
Seen this posted so many times and it’s utter rubbish!!!! The simple facts of this is it fails basic maths of blaming a young generation that weren’t even born when the decision to change from reuse to the connivence of single use plastic packaging was made. It was in the 1970s and 1980s when the move from reusable packaging to single use packaging was started. The decision makers at the time would likely have been 30-50 years old and therefore part of the now older generation 30-40 years on (simple maths says the decision maker was would likely be a 60-90 year today and not a 16-18yr old cashier). It was mainly done to improve convenience and therefore INCREASE PROFITS for BUSINESSES. There were also said to be some food life and heath improvements by doing so, potentially they could be overcome by modern technologies that weren’t available 30-40 years ago.

The main thing is we don’t waste time laying blame to a certain generation and rectify the issue...... or could just waste time blaming everyone else and say ‘not our problem’ leaving it to others to clear up. We all need to recognise we were ALL WRONG by getting back to a reusable products and away from single use plastic. stopping our need to consume new products is also critical. Throwing away working products just because the latest model is out is wasteful.

The sad fact is everyone’s future children and grandchildren, great grandchildren will be affected more than anyone alive today if we don’t change our ways now. History will show us to be the wasteful generations.
 
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Should’ve gone to Aldi — no time to chat there!
Aye they don't half push you along off the end of the checkout :LOL:

that's because in the UK we do Aldi and Lidl all wrong, they don't have big checkout areas as you're supposed to load all the shopping back into your trolley then use the massive shelf which is just adjacent to the checkouts to then load into bags (yes, it's designed for loading shopping, not parking noisy, bored 6 year olds :) ).

go to Germany/France and the checkout operator's in these shops are even quicker!
 
that's because in the UK we do Aldi and Lidl all wrong, they don't have big checkout areas as you're supposed to load all the shopping back into your trolley then use the massive shelf which is just adjacent to the checkouts to then load into bags (yes, it's designed for loading shopping, not parking noisy, bored 6 year olds :) ).

go to Germany/France and the checkout operator's in these shops are even quicker!

I'm guessing the ones here in Ireland are the same as the ones in the UK, there's just enough counter space at the end to fill up a bag - for trolley loads you are supposed to just dump your items in and head to the separate counter area along the front window. But I swear the employees are trained to fire stuff out onto that small counter quicker than you can re-load yer trolley :D
 
they don't have big checkout areas as you're supposed to load all the shopping back into your trolley then use the massive shelf which is just adjacent to the checkouts to then load into bags (yes, it's designed for loading shopping, not parking noisy, bored 6 year olds :) ).

We have them in Sheffield. No as used as they used to be in Netto days though
 
The first state sponsored recycling scheme was in the 1930s in Germany. I used to have a late 1930s book that said Mr Hitler's government was showing the World the way forward on recycling. I sent it to my hippy brother. ;-)
 
that's because in the UK we do Aldi and Lidl all wrong, they don't have big checkout areas as you're supposed to load all the shopping back into your trolley then use the massive shelf which is just adjacent to the checkouts to then load into bags (yes, it's designed for loading shopping, not parking noisy, bored 6 year olds :) ).

go to Germany/France and the checkout operator's in these shops are even quicker!
My local Aldi works like that, back in trolley the to the shelf*, plenty of room. I like as it’s easier to organise your packing.

*Edit: the bloody spillchucker put SHEFFIELD for shelf — though I’m in Yorkshire that would sill be a long push.
 
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I'm guessing the ones here in Ireland are the same as the ones in the UK, there's just enough counter space at the end to fill up a bag - for trolley loads you are supposed to just dump your items in and head to the separate counter area along the front window. But I swear the employees are trained to fire stuff out onto that small counter quicker than you can re-load yer trolley :D

There are two different Aldi’s, we have Aldi Nord in UK but much of the stuff is labelled “Aldi Eire” so I guess it’s the same.
You probably all know that the two brothers Aldi inherited the stores but then couldn’t agree on selling cigarettes so divided into 2 separate Aldi companies, Nord and Sud I think, the names are the same but the logos are subtly different and they operate in different geographical areas. It’s an interesting story — well I found it interesting.
 
that's because in the UK we do Aldi and Lidl all wrong, they don't have big checkout areas as you're supposed to load all the shopping back into your trolley then use the massive shelf which is just adjacent to the checkouts to then load into bags (yes, it's designed for loading shopping, not parking noisy, bored 6 year olds :) ).

go to Germany/France and the checkout operator's in these shops are even quicker!

In Germany I prefer shopping in REWE, much more civilised and good quality stuff too.
 
Saw this on another forum and thought it was amusing and interesting -

Yesterday after shopping in our local supermarket, I was in the queue at the Check Out, and heard when the young cashier suggested to the much older lady that she should bring her own grocery bags, because plastic bags are not good for the environment.

The woman apologised to the young girl & then sighed, "We didn't have this 'green thing' back in my earlier days."

The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today. You folk didn't do enough to save our environment for future generations."

The older lady said "Ahh yes you're right -- our generation didn't have the "green thing" in its day." She sighed then continued:
Back then, we returned milk bottles, lemonade bottles & beer bottles to the shops. The shops then sent them back to the plant to be washed, sterilized & refilled, so those same bottles were used over & over, thus REALLY were recycled. But we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.

Grocery stores put our groceries into brown paper bags that we reused for numerous things. Most memorable was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our school books. This was to ensure that public property (the books provided for our use by the school) were not defaced by our scribblings. Then we were able to personalise our books on their brown paper bag/covers. But, too bad we didn't do the "green thing" back then.

I remember how we walked up stairs because we didn't have an escalator in every store or office building; walked to the grocery store & didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go 200 yards.

Back then we washed the baby's nappies because we didn't have the throw away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts. Wind & solar power really did dry our clothes back in our days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. . . . But we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.

Back then we had one radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And if anyone did own a TV, it had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of a football pitch. When cooking we blended & stirred by hand, we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send by post, we used layers of old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity., , , , But we didn't have the "green thing" back then.

We drank from a tap or fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, & we replaced the razor blade in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn't have the "green thing" back then. Back then, people took the bus & kids rode bikes to school or walked instead of turning their mothers into a 24-hour taxi service in the family's expensive car or van, which cost what a whole house did before the "green thing"..

Oh and we had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest leisure park."

. . . . But it so sad this current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the "green thing" back then?

Dave
Excellent. A nunber 1.(y)
 
What about the biggest crime?? Making bathrooms green and pink... forcing us to rip them out to put white stuff in [emoji1]
 
What about the biggest crime?? Making bathrooms green and pink... forcing us to rip them out to put white stuff in [emoji1]
Covering all panelled doors with hardboard to make them look like “modern” flush doors and then ripping it all off again.
 
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