Don't listen to grandama

Several years ago I attended a seminar and remember a story that the instructor told. I am paraphrasing so bear with me.
The story is about recently married young woman who was going to cook her first holiday ham dinner for the family. So she asked her mother for advice and mom told her to cut off the end of the ham before baking. When she asked why her mother responded with 'I don't know it's what my mother always did'. So they called her mother to ask and she said "Because my pan is too small"
The moral of the story is question why things are done, the reasons may be out dated. Or don't just do what everyone else is doing. Something along those lines.
I was thinking about that story a couple of days ago when I was in the produce department at the grocery store. I watched shoppers all around putting fruits and vegetables into individual plastic bags. Sometimes it would be just two oranges. So much plastic! One woman even put a bunch of bananas in a bag, complete with twist tie. Now I use to always put fruit in bags because that's what I learned from my mom and observing other shoppers. I think that is why everyone else does it. One day a few years when I didn't use a bag for my fruit the girl at the checkout told me to use one next time! Seriously? Why? Why did we start that anyway? I can see with the small, fall through the cracks kinds of fruits and veggies but it's really out of hand. Some of the stores have redesigned the carts to have a cup holder for the coffee drinks you buy in those disposable cups you get while shopping. I think someone should design the carts where you can put your fruits & veggies in a safe spot and then we won't need all those plastic bags. If you read this and it inspires you to do this, feel free to cut me a check.
When I was training to start my emagineGreen business I learned that we go through a million plastic bags a minute! Can you imagine? Does that number surprise you? Since then I use my reusable bags and my string market bags for my fruit veggies. My point isn't to get you to buy one of my bags (however they are great bags, you may want to). I do hope that you use reusable bags or at least start with not using a bag unless it's really necessary. I challenge you to pay attention next time you are at the store and see how many plastic bags are wasted.