Marc Fisher Mourns The Plastic Bag

Fisher today stands up for bags, free bags of any kind. Since Whole Foods is effectively getting rid of plastic bags today, the Post columnist argues that the question: "Paper or Plastic?" was a great conversation starter at checkout lines everywhere.

Fisher writes: "I've found that ever since 'How are you?' became so ubiquitous and so routinely ignored as entree to conversation with strangers, it has taken words such as 'paper or plastic' to shake people out of their blank stares on the cashier line. A small thing, to be sure, but I usually end up enjoying those brief exchanges with the supermarket workers, and I often learn something from overhearing the conversations ahead of me on the queue."

Let us now all worry about Marc Fisher. Mr. Fisher, let me just say, you seem to be a really nice guy and a great journalist. You appear to have a lot of sources and enough time to attend games at your beloved Nationals Park. Surely, you must have great conversations outside of the checkout line. So chin up!

Maybe this is how Fisher gets his story ideas. Or maybe he just gets lonely waiting in those long lines. Maybe the Nats aren't the universal citywide conversation starter like the Redskins are. Then again, maybe the loss of this question will actually make the lines move faster.