Commissary Baggers

I thought I'd share a quick bit of military life that most are not aware of. That is the presence of Commissary Baggers. For those of you who don't know, the Commissary is the Grocery store and they are located on every military installation. No matter where in the world you are, the Commissary is ALWAYS a busy place. It's a place that is very neat and orderly and in true military fashion even has a single line that leads to all the check out counters. At the end of this line is usually a Commissary worker that directs you to the check out counter of her choosing. It's a very orderly system that keeps all the checkers busy but not overwhelming one.

I must talk a minute about my first Commissary experience. It was at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, MS. Keesler is a popular retirement location due to it's climate and full service hospital. Keesler's Commissary was small when I first arrived. It was so small that the aisles were not as wide as most normal aisles. For this reason, the aisles at the Keesler Commissary were "ONE WAY" aisles. So here I was, a brand new LT on my first trip to the Commissary and I didn't notice the very LARGE signs that hung above the aisles directing people in a ONE WAY fashion up and down the aisles. I didn't notice but I was quickly told (quite sternly I might add) by several 'blue haired' retirees that I was going down the aisle the wrong way!!

I digress...the reason I am writing this is to talk about the baggers. You certainly don't see baggers anymore in your local grocery stores unless you want to count the dual checking/bagging action that happens at your local Walmart store. Baggers at military Commissaries are usually military dependents, mainly teens and the occasional retiree. Baggers work for tips, they don't get paid an hourly salary and they all wear big blue smocks that tell you that they work for tips only! The baggers are 'professional' they know how to bag your groceries so you don't make it home with smashed bread, broken eggs. Some are so good they have the pantry items, separated from the canned goods and the cold items. Once the baggers complete their job at the checkout their service continues to your car where they load it all up, shut the trunk or door and wish you a good day. As I mentioned before, the baggers work for tips only. I've tipped them with loose change and I've tipped them with bills but never more than $5. They never give you a look of "are you kidding?", they are grateful for whatever you give them and always have a smile on their face. The bagger that gets stuck with the express line even gets tipped (mostly loose change) that is thrown into whatever receptacle that is placed there...an old Folder's can or a tupperware bowl. I've always wondered how much these guys take home. If you saw the constant flow of people that go in and out of the Commissary on any given day...they probably make more than I do!

Most of the baggers at Kadena's Commissary are Okinawan or Korean. There are a few teens but not as many as the other bases I've been to. This brings me back to the size of the Okinawan people...they are so tiny! Last week my bagger was a very small petite Okinawan woman barely tall enough to push her little cart! When we arrived at my SURF (Okinawa's version of a Toyota 4-Runner) she was barely tall enough to get the bags into the back...not to mention she put too many cans in a couple of the bags where she couldn't hardly lift them! I helped her out (of course) tipped her with a combination of Yen and US change and off she went back to the next load of groceries.