Supermarket Etiquette

ferdi

Ok, i recently took a temp christmas job in a local supermarket.

What do you think about people eating food off the shop shelves before reaching the checkout?

Personally, due the way I was brought up - i find this to be the height of ignorance. You have not paid for it, it is not a restaurant - what are you playing at?

the worst is parents giving food to their children - what are you teaching the kid? - its fine to take things without paying - you can have whatever you want NOW NOW NOW and dont let the worry of "paying" distract you from your ultimate destiny of instant gratification. everything on the never-never - I'm worth it and i want it now!

also - when you see a supermarket attendnt pushing a row of 10+ trollies through the shopping centre/car park - DO NOT walk right infront of him!!! a big row of trollies do not have brakes and it can involves alot of physical pain and effort for the guy to stop them when you casually saunter infront of him. please think!

rant over.
opinions?

subway

pissed off that you have a crap job?

j/k, i would like to add that if you cant use a self service check out without someone to help you out, go to the normal till.

Terry

i hate the people who go to the express checkout with more than 10 items and then wait until all their items have been scanned before taking out their purses (yes, it's mostly women), rooting for small change and then packing their bags.
it's the express checkout. hurry the fuck up, bitch.

ferdi

subway wrote:

pissed off that you have a crap job?

nah, its a students xmas job, just what i needed really, flexy hours etc.

c - 13

People who knock stuff, or let their kids knock stuff all over the place. Look at it for a moment and then leave it on the floor. Especially when something breaks, the least can do is find a member of staff and tell then theres something broken/spilled. Otherwise you have someone falling on their ass and your blamed cos' your section was'nt up to standard.

connundrum

Hmmm..

Having done a spell in a local Costcutters, I will agree that people are gob****es (your point summarised ).

If I am pushing a row of trolleys up a narrow lane way - it would be great if you wouldn't walk/drive infront of me. You are liable to be hit/get your car scratched! The pits is when you have to apologise to a customer, after they walked out and you hit them.. YOU WALKED INFRONT OF ME FOOKER!!

Another thing is when I was stocking shelves, and people (sometimes smellyass people) would always lean across/over me to get something - seriously, just ask and I will move.

The whole 'consuming goods before paying' thing doesn't really bother me, as often I've been parched whilst trekking around Tesco. I do however have a problem with people consuming goods without paying for them, parents giving kids sweets especially! I stopped tackling them after about a week, because inevitably I would be made apologise to the thieving customer by the store manager, who would say..

'What does €2's worth of sweets matter when they're spending €150 per week.'

Archeron

Well I wouldnt eat going round the shop, but if I'm buying a bottle of coke because I'm thirsty, I would not hesitate to drink some while I'm queuing at the till.

If no-one is looking though, I could perhaps eat one grape and I might not even pay for it.

I once seen a women rip open a pack of nappies in a supermarket and change her little sproglet right in the middle of the bloody air freshener counter. (I suppose she may have been trying to numb the stench a bit)

wba88

julep wrote:

i hate the people who go to the express checkout with more than 10 items and then wait until all their items have been scanned before taking out their purses (yes, it's mostly women), rooting for small change and then packing their bags.
it's the express checkout. hurry the fuck up, bitch.

exactly! if u are in a long queue and u have a basket/trolley get ur clubcard and money ready, believe it or not it speeds up the process!

wba88

And another thing, i dont mind ppl opening and drinking a bottle of coke or something as long as they pay for it but the annoying thing is seeing ppl come in and spray themselves with linx or use a bit of dax wax, i mean wtf! i hate smelly people too (some people stink of píss aswell)

letterman

I reckon it's all down to the 15c charge for plastic bags. If you can eat most of your shopping on the way round the shop, then you won't get stung for 3-4 bags.

Tabnabs

Two things that annoy me are people leaving their trolleys in the middle of the aisle to wander off in search of something or other. I usually have to play bumper cars to get it out of the way.

The other thing is staff standing around chatting and making plans for going out later on. This always seems to take place beside stacks of unopened boxes and/or a leaking fridge. Get to work!!

It's not all that rare to see staff wondering around the shop (off on a break presumably) with a bottle of coke or something in their hands, so it probably makes the customer feel like it's OK to do the same?

Celticfire

ferdi wrote:

the worst is parents giving food to their children - what are you teaching the kid? - its fine to take things without paying - you can have whatever you want NOW NOW NOW and dont let the worry of "paying" distract you from your ultimate destiny of instant gratification. everything on the never-never - I'm worth it and i want it now!

Someday you might even have kids of your own and we'll see how strong you are in your convictions when you are trying to do a weeks shopping with a bored child sitting in a shopping trolley that has started moaning as soon as you started. See if you wont open a packet of crisps or anything else to keep your little precious quiet. Someday you will have to take off your rose tinted glasses and live in the real world....and worry about what really matters.

Noelie

Worked in shops for year while in college, never had a problem with people eating stuff before they buy it, as long as they buy it.
I'd do it quite often myself while shopping.
I don't see how you find it ignorant. perhaps your just looking for a way to start a discussion.

bounty_hunter

ferdi wrote:

the worst is parents giving food to their children - what are you teaching the kid? - its fine to take things without paying - you can have whatever you want NOW NOW NOW and dont let the worry of "paying" distract you from your ultimate destiny of instant gratification. everything on the never-never - I'm worth it and i want it now!

Nothing against your opinion, I just thought I should add my 2c on this bit.
My mother used to do this all the time, and it wasn't because we wanted or demanded the food immediately, it was because we were hungry and she would sooner have taken her time shopping and get everything she needed rather than have to watch us hungrily eyeing everything we weren't allowed to have and then rushing out of the shop minus the full week's shopping before it caused any trouble (hungry kids = mega doom).

It neither taught us that paying wasn't a necessity, nor that we were entiled to have what we want when we wanted it without having to wait for anything, or as you put it, instant gratification.

Would you rather have to deal with a supermarket full of screaming kids because their parents are carting around a trolly load full of edible things but refusing them any of it? Very young children can't understand why they're being denied it, only that they are being denied it, and this to them just appears like their parents are refusing to feed them despite having all the food in the shop at their disposal. As long as it is made clear to them that it must be paid for and that it is generally not ok to behave in this way, it won't teach them all the nasty things you have mentioned, it'll simply prevent them from making everybody else's shopping trip a complete misery.

Ruu_Old

Those people who take up the whole aisle with their trolley knowing full well you are behind them trying to get by, move, stop..move a bit more, stop..etc. *sticks knife in back*:(
Checkout people who go on their breaks without telling anyone is another one, no checkout closed sign or anything. How am I meant to know where they are going?

humanji

I always liked Jack Dee's gag on supermarket queues where he's at the counter with a full trolly and a person comes up behind him with only one or two things. He looks at their stuff and asks, "Is that all you've got?" The person looks all sad and innocent ands say, "Yeah". So Jack says, "Well you might as well f*ck off then cause I'm going to be hours!"

My biggest pet hate in supermarkets, as mentioned above , are people who can't figure out self service tills. Granted, we all had to learn how to use them at one stage, but stupid people shouldn't be allowed near the things!

c - 13

Actually another thing that I saw while I worked in a supermarket (only one isolated incident thankfully) was some customer, presumably he had a cold or something wipe his runny nose with his hands and then procceed to sort through a crate of tomatos ..... :eek:

petes

Dyflin wrote:

The other thing is staff standing around chatting and making plans for going out later on. This always seems to take place beside stacks of unopened boxes and/or a leaking fridge. Get to work!!

What is the world coming to? Staff talking amongst themselves. They should know better.

Ruu wrote:

Those people who take up the whole aisle with their trolley knowing full well you are behind them trying to get by, move, stop..move a bit more, stop..

These people really annoy me. They stand and look at things like a tin of soup for half an hour, can obviously see you are trying to get by and don't even make an attempt to move their fooking trolley!

ferdi

Celticfire wrote:

Someday you might even have kids of your own and we'll see how strong you are in your convictions when you are trying to do a weeks shopping with a bored child sitting in a shopping trolley that has started moaning as soon as you started. See if you wont open a packet of crisps or anything else to keep your little precious quiet. Someday you will have to take off your rose tinted glasses and live in the real world....and worry about what really matters.

yeah... and who knows, maybe someday i'll have the responsibility of teaching a child manners and self restraint!

when i was a child and my mam had me in the trolly doing the weekly shop, you better believe i moaned but my ma did not give in just because it was the easy option, instead she tried to instill some "discipline" in her child - teaching him that crying and making my parents life difficult did not result in getting my own way.

i'm sad to read that my vision of future generations with some social cop-on is a result of rose-tinted glasses. i feel sorry for any kid whose parents choose an easy life over going to the effort of ensuring their child is a decent individual.

xzanti

Archeron wrote:

Well I wouldnt eat going round the shop, but if I'm buying a bottle of coke because I'm thirsty, I would not hesitate to drink some while I'm queuing at the till.

Same here.. As long as its not something thats pay by weight and it has a barcode and you're planning on paying I don't see anything wrong with it, I'v often had some 7up or whatever from the bottle, once I know I have the money to cover it whats the problem??

ferdi

bounty_hunter wrote:

Would you rather have to deal with a supermarket full of screaming kids because their parents are carting around a trolly load full of edible things but refusing them any of it? Very young children can't understand why they're being denied it, only that they are being denied it, and this to them just appears like their parents are refusing to feed them despite having all the food in the shop at their disposal. As long as it is made clear to them that it must be paid for and that it is generally not ok to behave in this way, it won't teach them all the nasty things you have mentioned, it'll simply prevent them from making everybody else's shopping trip a complete misery.

the mind boggles. you make it sound like i dont have to deal with screaming kids. they are being fed, throwing food around the shop and still sreaming and crying - the parents will never correct their child, only go down the easy route of shoving a bun in its gob, no effort to "parent" the child is made from what i can see in the majority of cases. and no-one lese dare say anything for fear of the parent going ape for anyone else daring to say something about their little darling.

fair enough, i dont have kids but i dont believe i need to have kids in order to make an assesment on someone elses parneting skills, or lack there of.

fair enough

nobodythere

I used to work in a shop and there's be this one fecker who'd come in once a week, REEEEKING of piss, bringing the same plastic bag that he must have brought out of the womb with him, goes over with his dirty hands fiddling around the fruit looking for the good apples.

Moral of the story? NEVER EAT THE SKIN!

MojoMaker

Noelie wrote:

never had a problem with people eating stuff before they buy it...I'd do it quite often myself while shopping.

That's exactly why you don't have a problem with it :rolleyes:

c - 13

grasshopa wrote:

... bringing the same plastic bag that he must have brought out of the womb with him ...

LMFAO, must remember that one

stovelid

in fairness, I don't unduly worry about eating into the profits of supermarkets.

I agree with the express checkout thing. Its f*cking ignorant.

ferdi wrote:

What do you think about people eating food off the shop shelves before reaching the checkout?

Nala

I work in a supermarket and would much rather parents let their kids eat something and then hand me the empty wrapper at the checkout, than to have the kids screaming their heads off the whole way round the shop. Screaming kids put other customers in a bad mood which I then have to deal with!

My pet hate is getting stick for asking for I.D.
You can keep telling me "I'M 19!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" til you're blue in the face, if you don't have I.D. I am NOT serving you.
And no, your friend can't buy it for you!!!

ferdi

i'm not worried about the profits of large british supermarkets - believe me , its the principle i guess, this job is not too taxing so i've alot of time to think and get annoyed about stuff !

leeroybrown

About the worst case of ignorance I've seen is a woman who was in the queue ahead of me during the supermarket rush hour. The girl at the checkout had almost finished putting her trolley of stuff through when she notices that she has picked up the wrong type of something. She tells the checkout girl that she is going to swap it for the other one and heads back into the shop. Almost five minutes later she arrives back having swapped the item and also having picked up four or five other items from various areas of the shop (vegetables, butchers counter, etc).

Then she waits for the whole lot to be checked out and packed into the bags in the trolley before beginning to search for her purse. Then she begins counting out change and notes slowly for the girl at the till before realising that she doesn't have enough. So next she searches for a debit card and asks for cashback also.

miamee

xzanti wrote:

Same here.. As long as its not something thats pay by weight and it has a barcode and you're planning on paying I don't see anything wrong with it, I'v often had some 7up or whatever from the bottle, once I know I have the money to cover it whats the problem??

I would have thought the same myself (about the barcoded stuff) though I personally would never ever eat/drink anything before paying for it...I'd feel guilty or something! Nothing wrong with it really though. On the other hand you have people eating grapes & pick & mix sweets or weighing their fruit/veg & then throwing in a bit extra :rolleyes: -really, how much are you gonna save?

(obviously our parents NEVER allowed us eat anything in the supermarket til it was paid for, hence the feelings of 'guilt' lol )

xzanti

miamee wrote:

I would have thought the same myself (about the barcoded stuff) though I personally would never ever eat/drink anything before paying for it...I'd feel guilty or something! Nothing wrong with it really though. On the other hand you have people eating grapes & pick & mix sweets or weighing their fruit/veg & then throwing in a bit extra :rolleyes: -really, how much are you gonna save?

Well having said that, I never would have done it either only I worked in Dunnes on the checkout for a short period and the amount of people I saw doing it was unreal.. Not just taking sips of drinks but milling chicken wings from the deli etc while queing and nothing was ever said.. I wouldn't rip into the deli stuff myself but you know what I mean...

Once this junkie came in to the shop and sat his child up on the deli counter, opened a packet plastic cutlery and just started feeding the child and himself from the salad bar, straight from the metal containers... Needless to say he wasn't there long before security came.. Quite tragic really...

miamee

xzanti wrote:

Once this junkie came in to the shop and sat his child up on the deli counter, opened a packet plastic cutlery and just started feeding the child and himself from the salad bar, straight from the metal containers... Needless to say he wasn't there long before security came.. Quite tragic really...

I don't know whether I find that funny or tragic. A junkie prepared for a picnic