Supermarket Etiquette

JohnCleary

julep wrote:

if someone comes up behind me in the queue when i'm doing my weeks shopping and they only have a few things, i let them go ahead. if they proceed to pay with a credit card, i follow them out to the car park and stab them in the eye.

Yeah, but you are part of the 0.000000001% of the population that do that. The worst is those snotty women that shop in Lidl/Aldi (Such a contradiction) who look back at you, see you have one item and then stick their nose up to you and turn back around, continuing to Q .... Argh an axe into the back of their head would be nice

IzzyWizzy

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.

Oh your POOR precious little darlings! :rolleyes: When I was a kid, I was told to keep quiet, stop moaning and that I'd have to wait an hour to eat whatever I wanted from the trolley. And that was it. I was brought up to never even think about opening food and eating it around the supermarket - it still shocks me when I see people doing it. I agree with whoever said it was about 'now now now' - as if people are so starving they can't wait an hour until they get home. I've been an au pair and I mind kids all the time, and I never let them open food in the supermarket. I think it's a bad habit. When people do that (I've worked in a supermarket), you're never sure if they're going to pay for it or not, since loads of people just chuck the wrapper somewhere. Would be 100 times easier if people just wouldn't do it at all.

And it DOES set a bad example - I used to volunteer, taking kids on day trips and once we went to the cinema, and half of them robbed Popcorn and Coke. When I questioned them they said "you can just take it, my mam takes food and eats it at the supermarket, nobody knows if she paid for it or not." They genuinely thought it was OK to take the stuff, because nobody was looking/checking, and that payment was an optional extra :rolleyes:
It's just better not to start doing it at all, IMO. Eat the food in the car or at home.

ferdi

DaveMcG wrote:

Please that is not going to traumatise the child :rolleyes:

*15 years later*

"Sorry Garda, when I was a kid me ma used to do it, I assumed ye didn't have te pay for it! :eek:"

whoa nelly! i never said the kid would end up robbing, just that it may believe that it is entitled to what it wants now. i dont personally think that teaching kids to 'buy now, pay later' is good or healthy.

DaveMcG wrote:

I think you should stop analysing people so much.

and i think you should stop analysing me so much, thanks for the tip though!*thumbs up*

Noelie wrote:

i think Ferdi has a lot more to learn about customers

lol, no thanks.

Dave!

ferdi wrote:

whoa nelly! i never said the kid would end up robbing, just that it may believe that it is entitled to what it wants now. i dont personally think that teaching kids to 'buy now, pay later' is good or healthy.

The child isn't paying at all, perhaps that's a problem too. It won't develop an appreciation of having to put in work to earn something if you just buy them food out of the blue!
I don't think it would have a profound effect on the child at all. Children are perceptive, but I don't think that letting them eat a grape before you pay for the bunch is going to turn them into self-centred brats in and of itself.

But each to their own.

ferdi

DaveMcG wrote:

but I don't think that letting them eat a grape before you pay for the bunch is going to turn them into self-centred brats in and of itself.

No, but it cant help. kids do what they see, if a kid sees his mam behaving like this its not such a stretch for it to permiate elsewhere.
i'm not saying this is the worst crime ever comitted, i just think it sets a bad example, simple as.

Ickle Magoo wrote:

...and a child munching on a croissant can be a really good wee boy who loves croissants
.

and as he munches he drops loads of crumbs all over the shop floor, which you completely ignore - teaching the child that someone else will clean up after him

Sad Professor

Red Alert wrote:

Managers who hate music: Why do supermarket managers have a crap music taste?

Oh don't get me started about this. The Corrs, Elton John and Westlife - over and over and over and over again. It wouldn't be so bad if they switched cds once a week but no - the same cd gets played for about 6 months. Its not even a full cd, usually only about 5 songs. Sometimes I just want to die listening to the crap. It's especially bad this time of the year with the lousy Christmas music.

The Sweeper

I can remember being in a large supermarket on Christmas Eve last year. I was in the express check out lane, with three items, the guy in front of me had six items. This included two fresh figs.

The queues were 15 - 20 people long. The dude with the figs had his groceries rung up and as soon as the total came through he piped up: 'The price on the figs is wrong. It was buy one get one half price'. The price that had rung in on the two figs was eighty pence, 40p each. The checkout girl stared at him for a second, and then said 'I'll check my price book'. She took out the laminate book they have for miscellaneous items and purused it quickly - no special on figs.

'I'm sorry sir, there's no special on figs listed here, are you sure they are on special?'

'Yes I am, it's buy one get one half price'.

The checkout girl looks at him, looks at her 20-person queue and says 'Certainly, sir, I'll just call for assistance'. So she buzzes for a hassled looking manager, who collars a floor-staff lad and sends him off down to fruit and veg to check the price on figs.

Meanwhile, fig boy simpers at me. "You have to get your money's worth, eh?" he says.

"It's Christmas Eve." I said. "It's Christmas Eve, it's ten to five, there are 20 people in this queue, and all I'm thinking is I'll refund you the 20 pence. I'll even buy you the figs. As a present. Honestly. All 80 pence worth, on me. We don't have to tell anyone, it can be our little secret."

The fact that the checkout girl had dissolved into a hysteria somewhere between laughing and sobbing at this little exchange didn't help his sulks.

(Keep in mind that I had in my hands a red pepper, a green pepper and a bottle of wine. My brother had called me and asked could I get a green pepper at Waitrose on my way from the train station. He had advised me to pop into Waitrose and shoplift the pepper. Honestly. He said 'It's about 40p, just walk in and out of fruit and veg, no one will notice, otherwise you'll be there for 45 minutes, come on, I spend eight grand a year at that shop'. I was horrified. I refused and decided to justify the queue by buying a seocnd pepper and a bottle of wine as a reward for resisting his entreaty that I descend into crime. And then comes this moron with his figs.)

passive

"It's Christmas Eve." I said. "It's Christmas Eve, it's ten to five, there are 20 people in this queue, and all I'm thinking is I'll refund you the 20 pence. I'll even buy you the figs. As a present. Honestly. All 80 pence worth, on me. We don't have to tell anyone, it can be our little secret."

I you.

Ickle Magoo

ferdi wrote:

No, but it cant help. kids do what they see, if a kid sees his mam behaving like this its not such a stretch for it to permiate elsewhere.
i'm not saying this is the worst crime ever comitted, i just think it sets a bad example, simple as.

and as he munches he drops loads of crumbs all over the shop floor, which you completely ignore - teaching the child that someone else will clean up after him

But someone else always does clean up after him, he's two - what huge lesson in life are you suggesting you are going to make?! Honestly! :rolleyes: How many people that think giving something to your kid to eat while doing the shopping is the crime of the century & something that their parents certainly wouldn't have done (perish the thought!) have stolen from a shop - or stolen anything, for that matter? My mum gave us stuff to munch on while doing the weekly shop which she always paid for & I've never stolen anything in my life, not so much as a penny chew. Those of you who have, obviously had terrible parents who did much worse than offer a croissant - or maybe they should have given you something when you wanted it so you wouldn't feel the need to just take something without paying?!

Really, if your life consists of getting into a tizzy over what crumbs are dropped on a supermarket floor then I really can't think of anything to say to help you! I worked in a pub as a student, people used to ground fags out on the floor, did it bother me behind the bar? NO. Why? We had a cleaner. It was their job to sweep & polish the floor & a couple of peanuts & a few fag butts didn't make any difference to their job nor mine & frankly I didn't feel strongly enough about the subject or the pub floor to bother about either. I don't see the issue tbh.

coffee_cake

passive wrote:

I you.

lmao - me too.

c - 13

Nightwish wrote:

I've even had a woman have her kid pi$$ on the floor and she just took the kid and walked off.

Ill see this and raise you a kid taking a dump in a display toilet in a well known Irish DIY chain while his parents looked at wallpaper about two aisles over.

Anyone who has ever worked in a supermarket and been annoyed with customers should try working in a Toy Shop over the chrtistmas period, then you see the real ugly side to humanity. I worked in a toy store for two christmas' and you get the following

- Why dont you have it in stock, my child saw it on the late late toy show and they want it for xmas ? Well why didnt you buy it earlier ? It is the top selling one for xmas.

- Here kids you go play on the toys while mammy and daddy go shopping. These items are for display purposes only sign hanging less than 3 feet away

- Could you get this out to the car and make sure the kids dont see it while I pay ? Then you take the item, leave the shop, find the car that you were directed to and theres four kids and the mother sitting in the car with their mother, as the mother distracts the kids with shouts of "Look over there" you try to jam the thing into and already overfull boot

- Could you carry that to the car for me ? Then you leave the shop with them and realise theyre actually parked about three carparks away, and unlike you lady I cant hop over the car park boundaries because i'm carrying a 40KG trampoline

- Drunk people knocking on the window at 6.05 on christmas eve, "OI neeead to geeat somethin' for ma nephyooo". Well **** off I need to go home, should have came earlier instead of going to a bar then shouldnt you ?

And then the 27th of december, the first reopening after christmas produces the following gems -

- I bought this for my child for xmas and it wouldnt work, (s)he was upset all christmas day. Is it too obvious to suggest that you check the thig first ? And secondly I dont see how its my fault, I only sold it to you off the shelf I didnt actually make the thing.

- I bought this bike and it was impossible to put together on christmas eve Further questioning reveals that they were drunk while trying to do it, same story with people and trampolines

Also with regards to "the man will throw you out", after the first year I started introducing myself to customers at "The Man", some customers got the joke, others just looked at you blankly.

Customer :"Can I take your name in case theres any problems ?"
c - 13: "Sure, its c - 13, but most people tend to call me "The Man""
Customer: **Blank Look**

//Got that rant felt so good

Archeron

Minesajackdaniels wrote:

(Keep in mind that I had in my hands a red pepper, a green pepper and a bottle of wine.his

You were perfectly poised to start a very entertaining juggling act with those items, thus keeping the queue amused while Figman got his monies worth.


What do people who work in retail think of people who, when you present them with a total, they take all their change out of their pockets (usually including some bits of tissue, a rubber band and a half sucked cough sweet) and then ask you to pick out how much you need from the big drippy mess on the counter? I've seen people do this, and I think its really cringy.

stovelid

Jesus Christ, I'm getting a vasectomy. Now

c - 13 wrote:

Ill see this and raise you a kid taking a dump in a display toilet in a well known Irish DIY chain while his parents looked at wallpaper about two aisles over.

c - 13

stovelid wrote:

Jesus Christ, I'm getting a vasectomy. Now

Dude you wouldnt belive some of the other stories, I worked in retail for about 8 years (Through school and college), and some of the stuff you see is just mad.

I really dont know how some people have the patience to work in retail long term, some of them should be canonized (sp?) at this stage.

ferdi

Ickle Magoo wrote:

I don't see the issue tbh.

you wouldnt. your mother let you do it and you let your kids do it. your'e one of the bad guys tbh.

r3nu4l

For those of you who get annoyed at people leaving their trolleys in the middle of the aisle and disappearing. Two tricks...

1. Grab offendors trolley and push it around the next corner, me and the gf do this all the time. Look back at the seriosuly confused face of a$$hole who left it there and has now returned to find it gone

On one occassion I had to push the same persons trolley out of the way twice, on the third occassion I brought it with me to the back of the store, half full. My gf stayed around and said the woman went ballistic because she had to start her shopping again. Serves her right :mad:

OR

2. Go to nearest counter, grab one or two items and place it in their trolley, they won't notice until the checkout, if they catch you just say you made a mistake, the trolley was unattended and you thought it was yours.

stovelid

I feel that some large cucumbers, four jars of Vaseline and multiple packets of condoms would suffice here

r3nu4l wrote:

2. Go to nearest counter, grab one or two items and place it in their trolley, they won't notice until the checkout, if they catch you just say you made a mistake, the trolley was unattended and you thought it was yours.

whiskeyman

Red Alert wrote:

Managers who hate music: Why do supermarket managers have a crap music taste?

Anyone remember when Crazy Prices in The Square had a little DJ box for it's own in-house supermarket radio when it first opened?
Ah, the memories...

miamee

CherieAmour wrote:

...I forgot to mention, in my top five worst things about working in supermarkets is parents who won't discipline their children. Kids rolling around the floor screaming, throwing food, hanging out of/throwing stuff out of the trolley and their parents say.....

:mad: 'THE GIRL IS WATCHING YOU' :mad:
:mad: 'THE MAN WILL THROW YOU OUT'. :mad:
:mad: 'LOOK, THE GIRL IS GONNA GIVE OUT TO YOU':mad:

This happened daily!!!!!!!!! Parents, face up to your responsibility!!!!! Tell them YOU want them to stop!!

Someday you should actually give out to the kid/ get some man to throw them out...see how the parents like that one

Archeron

whiskeyman wrote:

Anyone remember when Crazy Prices in The Square had a little DJ box for it's own in-house supermarket radio when it first opened?
Ah, the memories...

haha. Crazy prices in Janelle in Finglas used to have one of those as well, and to top it off, they had some dude in a suit with a microphone walking around the shop giving out prizes (cups and balloons and stuff) and announcing special offers and generally making a show of people. That was funny.

There is nothing scarier than the sight of 2000 mad women with trollies who have heard that coco pops are half price for the next 15 minutes. So many broken ankles......the shopping centre used to have its own ambulance bay

whiskeyman

Archeron wrote:

There is nothing scarier than the sight of 2000 mad women with trollies who have heard that coco pops are half price for the next 15 minutes. So many broken ankles......the shopping centre used to have its own ambulance bay

lol!
Wasn't Thursday dubbed 'Crazy Night' when those offers would be broadcast in store?
I remember my folks dragging me and my best mate to the local Crazys when we were little nippers. Everytime my Mum heard an offer that interested her, we were send flying to get the goods before the other shoppers! It was like Supermarket Sweep for kids!

Ickle Magoo

ferdi wrote:

you wouldnt. your mother let you do it and you let your kids do it. your'e one of the bad guys tbh.

Yeah, because on the scale of "bad guys", dropping crumbs on a supermarket floor you don't even have to clean makes me "bad" indeed. Oh dear. I'm glad I don't work in a supermarket, I just don't know how you cope with the hardship, lol.

r3nu4l

Ickle Magoo wrote:

Yeah, because on the scale of "bad guys", dropping crumbs on a supermarket floor you don't even have to clean makes me "bad" indeed. Oh dear. I'm glad I don't work in a supermarket, I just don't know how you cope with the hardship, lol.

There is such a thing as consideration for other people and basic good manners, if we all dropped a few crumbs on the floor then we'd be complaining of the filthy floors in the supermarket. There is no excuse for ignorance tbh. Nothing wrong with making someones job a bit easier by being clean and tidy people.

Archeron

whiskeyman wrote:

lol!
Wasn't Thursday dubbed 'Crazy Night' when those offers would be broadcast in store?
I remember my folks dragging me and my best mate to the local Crazys when we were little nippers. Everytime my Mum heard an offer that interested her, we were send flying to get the goods before the other shoppers! It was like Supermarket Sweep for kids!

aaah memories, I used to do the exact same thing. Never forget the night giant bags of peanut M&Ms were 75% off. I ran as fast as my little legs could carry me pushing through the aul ones like a professional rugby player. I do remember people used to nick stuff out of others trollies if they didnt get to the bargains on time.
Thinking back, that was a bloody dangerous but hilarious way to do your shopping. "thursday night is crazy night" You dont say, I kind of gathered that by the pile of corpes by the door and the look of utter horror on the checkout girls face, no to mention the rivers of blood and rice crispies running down the drain.

Ickle Magoo

r3nu4l wrote:

There is such a thing as consideration for other people and basic good manners,

I agree & I don't see much of either as a rule. I thought if you can't beat them, join them, lol.

You're right, it's probably not the best but I bet we all have an anti-social habit that others hate...Smoking? Drunk in town on a Fri night? Speeding or bad driving? Etc, etc..

Mine is giving my son something to munch on while going around the supermarket - fairly harmless in the scheme of things. I save my energy for lobbying for better roads, improving the terrible driving, education & healthcare improvements, etc, rather than getting worked up about who had how many items & didn't let me skip in front of them or a small child dropping a few flakes of croissant but meh, I'm one of the baddies so what do I know, lol.

r3nu4l

Ickle Magoo wrote:

I agree & I don't see much of either as a rule. I thought if you can't beat them, join them, lol.

You're right, it's probably not the best but I bet we all have an anti-social habit that others hate...Smoking? Drunk in town on a Fri night? Speeding or bad driving? Etc, etc..

Mine is giving my son something to munch on while going around the supermarket - fairly harmless in the scheme of things. I save my energy for lobbying for better roads, improving the terrible driving, education & healthcare improvements, etc, rather than getting worked up about who had how many items & didn't let me skip in front of them or a small child dropping a few flakes of croissant but meh, I'm one of the baddies so what do I know, lol.

Well concentrate on getting things right at home before trying to sort out what everybody else should be doing for a start

Is this a case of you being too busy sticking your nose into everybody elses' business that you can't see the destructive little monster you are creating?...That was a joke, no offence to you or your child

Seriously, teaching your child good manners increases the chance that he/she will grow up to be a net contributor to society thus improving better road, driving etc.

Ickle Magoo

r3nu4l wrote:

Well concentrate on getting things right at home before trying to sort out what everybody else should be doing for a start

I do & I didn't realise I was - I thought this was a complaint about what everyone else (people like me) are doing, rather than me complaining? When did that happen?

r3nu4l wrote:

Is this a case of you being too busy sticking your nose into everybody elses' business that you can't see the destructive little monster you are creating?...That was a joke, no offence to you or your child

Erm, possibly, but I don't care if people eat in supermarkets as no-one has ever died of the ignorance of a parent giving their child something to munch on - unless they choked on it of course...:eek:

r3nu4l wrote:

Seriously, teaching your child good manners increases the chance that he/she will grow up to be a net contributor to society thus improving better road, driving etc.

Really? Ah, I see, that's how it works...;)

My wee man says please & thank you & has great manners, he's very thoughtful - and he's only just going on two. I don't think indulging him with the odd croissant while traversing Tesco's is going to have a huge impact on his future driving skills or his net contributions to society, as I said my mother let us have the odd munch & I've never stolen anything, never been unemployed, never had a car accident, never been in trouble with the law, etc, etc - bet not everyone who has chastised me can say the same. Unthoughtful for store cleaners, yes I can see that. Slightly iritating to staff, yes, I suppose I get that too - the cause of so much snotty behaviour in kids & risking the collapse of civilisation as we know it...probably not. :cool:

dellas1979

Hahaha. This thread makes me laugh. There are so many different walks of people out there.

I used to work in a large supermarket on the floor and then on the checkout. Have to say 99% of the customers were grand. Just doing their thing.

However, of course, there are the really annoying ones (I akin them to the people who do 50kph in a 100 zone) - they just feel like they can do what ever the hell they want - they dont give an fcuk.

I was doing some shopping the other week. I waited my turn, then placed all my stuff on the belt. While waiting for the customer in front of me to pay, I arranged my shopping into food and non-food - this usually speeds up the packing process.

Anyways, along comes some ould biddy behind me, with her husband. She had the "I'll do what a fecking please" attitude. Puts out her arm and in one swoop pushes everything I was about to pay for up the belt - knocking over fizzy drinks, food with non-food, fruit everywhere. Well I could have murderered her. I stared at her and continued to stare at her while fixing everything. Her husband then said to her "I think you have annoyed that girl"...... she shrugged her shoulders. I then preceeded to take 10 more minutes to rearrange everything, pack my bag, have a chat with the checkout girl, decide whether to use laser or cash etc..... at the end I looked at her again, smiled and shrugged. Her mouth just dropped.

DéiseGirl

I worked in a supermarket for years, but thankfully the memories are fading.

my big bugbears in supermarkets at the moment are "charidee" bag packers and when your items are being scanned etc and you start packing as the checkout operator is scanning/processing your payment etc and the next person in the queue basically stands at your shoulder....BACK OFF! :mad: As a rule I never walk past the checkout operator until they've started scanning my items. It ain't rocket science? :rolleyes:

DéiseGirl

dellas1979 wrote:

Anyways, along comes some ould biddy behind me, with her husband. She had the "I'll do what a fecking please" attitude. Puts out her arm and in one swoop pushes everything I was about to pay for up the belt - knocking over fizzy drinks, food with non-food, fruit everywhere. Well I could have murderered her. I stared at her and continued to stare at her while fixing everything. Her husband then said to her "I think you have annoyed that girl"...... she shrugged her shoulders. I then preceeded to take 10 more minutes to rearrange everything, pack my bag, have a chat with the checkout girl, decide whether to use laser or cash etc..... at the end I looked at her again, smiled and shrugged. Her mouth just dropped.

Ha ha, nice one! :cool:

I'd agree with you about the 99% of customers being grand, unfortunately the 1% tends to comprise people so obnoxious that they stick out. My sister in law is now working part time in the same shop I worked in and the same names keep popping in her diatribes about the place.

I hated the way people used to whinge at me about the price of items, even though I had nothing to do with setting them. I was part of the evil empire I suppose, and therefore fair game. Working at the cigarette counter the day after the Budget was always good craic. Another favourite was when people asked how much the bin labels were and after being told how much would say "No I won't take any, I'll just burn the rubbish in the back garden"...and I'm sure they did as well.

Hmm...maybe the memories haven't faded at all..:eek: