Grin and bag it.
Teenager at Giant Iggle, putting our groceries into our reusable bags: "I don't know what you guys see in these things."
Me: "We don't like to waste all of the plastic ones."
Him: "Just throw them away!"
I could have responded by scolding him about how "away" is a place, and thrown in a few figures on just how much waste our country creates with them, or talked about how they are made with a non-renewable resource, even explained how reusable bags cut his employers' costs, thereby making it a fraction more likely that he would have a job. But the know-it-all grin he was flashing meant that this was not exactly a teachable moment. So I just smiled tightly and said nothing, thinking about how even though Pittsburgh is in many ways an environmentally conscious place, we still have a long way to go.
Me: "We don't like to waste all of the plastic ones."
Him: "Just throw them away!"
I could have responded by scolding him about how "away" is a place, and thrown in a few figures on just how much waste our country creates with them, or talked about how they are made with a non-renewable resource, even explained how reusable bags cut his employers' costs, thereby making it a fraction more likely that he would have a job. But the know-it-all grin he was flashing meant that this was not exactly a teachable moment. So I just smiled tightly and said nothing, thinking about how even though Pittsburgh is in many ways an environmentally conscious place, we still have a long way to go.