INNOVATIVE USE OF A PLASTIC BAG

FANTA IN A BAG

While were travelling on Costa Rica’s Independence Day we stopped in some small town to watch the local parade.

“I can’t believe how little some of the children are. They can’t be more than five or six. Look how well they march.” I remarked to my son.

He answered, “They must start music very young in the schools. These little ones are doing remarkably well playing their instruments.”

We stood watching the parade until it was over. Returning to our van one of the gals was thirsty so stopped in the equivalent of a 7-11 or Speedy stop.

She found a bottle of Fanta orange drink. When she paid for it the clerk asked, “Do you want a bag?” He spoke English so there was no misunderstanding him.

She kind of shrugged answering, “Okay.”

The clerk cracked the bottle for her and then proceeded to pour the drink into a plastic bag. He inserted a straw, gathered the bag at the top and handed it over the counter to her. How lucky she was that the bag didn’t leak!

We ran into her walking down the street a few minutes later. She and her husband were still laughing. They stopped long enough to tell us what had happened. Then I told them, “I have had to stay in a store and drink a soda in a couple of places where sodas are still only sold in glass bottles. And I’ve had a bottle emptied in a glass where the bottle never left the hand of the waitress.”

“Like you wanted to steal the bottle and take it home?”

“I guess so. They just never knew I only travel with a 22-inch roll-on and have no room for such nonsense.”

I’ve never had the experience of drinking soda from a bag, but I admit that since this incident, I never see a bottle of Fanta that this story doesn’t flash across my mind.