when did common sense and good manners go out the window? (a rant)

on_my_oe

Today I made the mistake of going shopping. I didn't need Christmas presents, just a few items for a trip this week. I left it until early evening, thinking it would be quieter and I only had one store to go to.
I found a quiet cashdesk, and approached the queue, followed by other customers - bottleneck. Two young women (early twenties) had blocked the aisle with their shopping baskets while they browsed the 'impulse purchases' hanging on the queue wall, and were ignoring all polite requests to step aside by the trapped customers. All the while, a staff member was standing beside them yelling 'Next please' and the sales assistants at the tills were watching the queue forming behind the browsers.
After a minute or two they cop on and we all stream past. Then we can't reach the cash desks because a young girl has blocked the aisle with her pram, and again all "Excuse me", "Could I get through?" etc by customers were ignored and the staff member continued yelling "Next please" while watching everyone trying to get past. The woman finally turns around and threatens to smack myself and several of the customers before walking off, throwing dirty looks over her shoulder.

I'd like to credit myself with some commonsense and basic good manners; if I'm in someone's way, I do my best to 'make way' - I don't ignore them, and I certainly don't threaten to hit them. Did I miss something where this behaviour has become acceptable?

me_irl

Good for you!

The Sidewards Man

Fair play op.

Sh1tbag OToole

Where I'm from, if there's a hold-up in the shop you quickly take the opportunity to have a chat with the other people in the queue and catch up on the gossip

Usually the hold up would be caused the ham slicer needing sharpening or the shopkeeper has to go out the door to start the genny because some fool wants to pay with one of them silly contactless yokes

La Fenetre

It's survival of the fittest op. Good manners went out with the 1950's

Sh1tbag OToole

La Fenetre wrote: »

It's survival of the fittest op. Good manners went out with the 1950's

That is probably a clichéd phrase from de States where they probably did go out the window around that time. Here in Ireland the rat race didn't start in earnest until at least the mid 90's

RayM

A lot of people aren't deliberately rude - they're just so utterly self-involved that they fail to consider the very existence of other people. And it's not just young people either. Go into any 2 Euro Shop between now and Christmas and you'll find yourself engaged in a brave battle against wizened old vultures rifling furiously through greetings cards, using their tartan trolleys as roadblocks. You'll be lucky to get out alive.

Dr.Robotnik

Im going shopping tomorrow..wish me luck!

Ruu

When you are shopping, it is every man (or woman) for himself! Sad that it has gotten that way.

sonny.knowles

Sounds like you encountered some silly bints today, OP.

Amazon + Parcel Motel/Parcel Wizard = stress free shopping.

rizzodun

I quite enjoy it, it's good conditioning, what chance have we got in the zombie apocalypse if we can't make if from one end of the aisle to the other at 2:30 on a Saturday in Euro Giant?

Mourinho

on_my_oe wrote: »

The woman finally turns around and threatens to smack myself and several of the customers before walking off, throwing dirty looks over her shoulder

Sounds like you just got stuck behind a run of the mill knacker tbh.

doolox

There is one character in our local Tesco who uses the self scan out checkout while engaging in conversation on her mobile with someone slowing down the checkout process. If I see her at it again I might tell her to hurry up. Others seem to take ages packing their stuff or making payment for no reason other than they are SLOW people from SLOW city. Move on!!!!

on_my_oe

I'm loving the 'shop local' campaign on the radio... The realities of shopping local just inspires me to shop online

Sh1tbag OToole

on_my_oe wrote: »

I'm loving the 'shop local' campaign on the radio... The realities of shopping local just inspires me to shop online

Depends where ya live. If you're in a place where shop rent and rates are high then only shops that are absolutely fleecing people on high-volume high-margin stuff survive

NachoBusiness

November 22, 1963.

That's right. Lee Harvey Oswald was the original unmannerly bastard.

Capt'n Midnight

on_my_oe wrote: »

when did common sense and good manners go out the window? (a rant)

Oddly enough there are several defenestrations of Prague to choose from.

The Backwards Man

This is why shopping trolleys should have airhorns.

NachoBusiness

Ruu wrote: »

When you are shopping, it is every man (or woman) for himself!

Ain't that the truth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6jDBbG698A

rizzodun

Mourinho wrote: »

Sounds like you just got stuck behind a run of the mill knacker tbh.

And Mourinho would know, he has a team full of em! :pac:

dubscottie

I know OP.. Shopping tomorrow.

Done with military precision.

In and out, recover the goods and cry at the bank balance! All in 2 hrs including travel time

caille

Sad to say, OP, I am now more shocked when someone is mannerly and polite as I see so much rudeness and bad manners now when out and about. I try not to let it get to me and also, I stay mannerly and polite myself, it's just not worth lowering yourself to some people's levels.

Regarding shopping,if I need to buy a few things, I am in and out very early at the weekends, as in done by 11am!!

NachoBusiness

Silly bint in her mid 20s barged her way in front of me (and everyone else) as the crowds were attempting to make their way into the Jervis Street Shopping Centre earlier this evening in the wind and rain and I said after her, 'No, not at all, after you' in my sarcastic but yet charming way and she looked back over her shoulder and gave me the sexiest little smile you ever saw. Think Lisa Bonet in Angel Heart, only if she was white, with green eyes. Now imagine maybe that she had a tough upbringing, wasn't fed as well as she might have been and so her complexion suffered as a result and that her brother was in an unfortunate accident on the way to collect her from swimming lessons one day and had to spend the rest of his days in a home, and she blamed herself. Imagine the pain of that etched on her face. Did you see her? Well imagine what her cousin would look like. Absolutely beautiful. If you think you might know her, you can call us here on crimecall 1800 40 50 60.

Victor

on_my_oe wrote: »

when did common sense and good manners go out the window?

The were murdered by reactionary elements attempting to purge health and safety and political correctness.

realdanbreen

To make the whole shopping 'experience' a little interesting I sometimes throw a packet of Durex into the trolley in front of me and wait for the reaction at the checkout.:

BettePorter

This exactly!

My biggest bugbear is the fact that I could go to the farthest corner of the store at 9.01 am on a Monday morn ..... and the one thing I wanted to look at would attract someone to stand at my shoulder fascinated by same exact item.

I feel better when I just accept ..... people are arseholes

realdanbreen

realdanbreen wrote: »

To make the whole shopping 'experience' a little interesting I sometimes throw a packet of Durex into the trolley in front of me and wait for the reaction at the checkout.:

Thinly veiled 'I'm getting it' post :pac:

Smiley11

Standing in the supermarket queue yesterday, 9 months pregnant, two people in front of me. Stupid ould fella that was giving my waddle a run for its money started bitching at me for not diving immediately across the conveyor belt to get one of those metal shopping separators to put between my few bits & his bloody dog food & cans! I actually couldn't reach one & there was no hope of his shopping reaching the shop assistant without one being inserted. Had I thought it urgent enough, I might have interrupted the lady in front of me during her phone conversation but it wasn't so I waited until I could comfortably reach. He was still waiting a few minutes later, two metal bars long in situ, no hope of me paying for his c**p.

Whats the panic with people these days? This type of mentality astounds me on a regular basis.

on_my_oe

I may start gifting individual condoms to control the 'feckwits and idiots' population

Then again that might get me actually smacked

KungPao

One thing that gets me is the Irish reaction to "Excuse me".

I just mean, like, the definition of "excuse me", I'm not being offensive

Gaygooner

Don't shop at penny's

Birneybau

Gaygooner wrote: »

Don't shop at penny's

Is that like Centz?

Dave_The_Sheep

KungPao wrote: »

One thing that gets me is the Irish reaction to "Excuse me".

I just mean, like, the definition of "excuse me", I'm not being offensive

When Irish people say "Sorry", what they mean is "Excuse me" and when they say "Excuse me" they mean "You ignorant ****, get out of the ****ing way".

La Fenetre

KungPao wrote: »

One thing that gets me is the Irish reaction to "Excuse me".

I just mean, like, the definition of "excuse me", I'm not being offensive

It's all in the tone

RobertKK

It is simple, if they refuse to move you go on your phone, pretend to be a drug dealer and make threats to an imaginary person on the phone, you make sure the person causing you a problem hears you, then when you end the imaginary call and say 'excuse me', if the person still refuses to move you say 'Yo bitch, don't you want to see tomorrow?'.
I find it always works...when I play it out in my head.

pconn062

I go shopping once a year for Christmas, everything else I buy online. I feel I now have it down to a fine art. The key is to only go on a weekday, when the kids are still in school, that's important. Something like a Tuesday morning would be fine. Then you need to be at said shopping center just as it opens. Last year I was in the shopping center as the shops were still lifting their security shutters. You will be a few strange looks off the shop assistants but it's worth it. For the first half an hour you should have the run of the place. No impulse buying, no browsing, in and out. The whole process takes no more than an hour.

realdanbreen

Deleted User wrote: »

Thinly veiled 'I'm getting it' post :pac:

Not my tolley!, stay awake tg.

RayM

Dave_The_Sheep wrote: »

When Irish people say "Sorry", what they mean is "Excuse me" and when they say "Excuse me" they mean "You ignorant ****, get out of the ****ing way".

For added shade-masquerading-as-politeness, say "Excuse me, please" and follow it up with a clipped "Thank you".

BenedrylPete

20 more days of shopping in garages at 10pm.

On the good side the odds of being charged with assault are way down.

Chain Smoker

On the whole I've found Irish people at checkouts to be extremely considerate. Lord knows how many times people have let me skip past them in the queue of a shop without the slightest hint of me being annoyed. It's something that's pretty easy to take for granted but my experiences abroad have been surprisingly negative in this respect.

There's always going to be some rude f*ck or someone having a bad day, but on the whole we're remarkably good at this kind of thing.

Dyr

You'll always find this around christmas time

Just make sure you catch the offenders attention by tapping them on the shoulder while you say "excuse me please"

If that draws a negative response etiquette demands that you bark "MOVE TA F***K" while you go through them for a shortcut with your shoulder

further conversation may follow, liberal use of the term "g**bag" is allowed at this point

Gaygooner

pconn062 wrote: »

I go shopping once a year for Christmas, everything else I buy online. I feel I now have it down to a fine art. The key is to only go on a weekday, when the kids are still in school, that's important. Something like a Tuesday morning would be fine. Then you need to be at said shopping center just as it opens. Last year I was in the shopping center as the shops were still lifting their security shutters. You will be a few strange looks off the shop assistants but it's worth it. For the first half an hour you should have the run of the place. No impulse buying, no browsing, in and out. The whole process takes no more than an hour.

Not first Tuesday of every month! Mickey money carnage!!!

FISMA.

when did common sense and good manners go out the window?

Around the start of the Celtic Tiger.

uck51js9zml2yt

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Amazon + Parcel Motel/Parcel Wizard = stress free shopping.

I had a book shoot at me yesterday on amazon as I thought aboit buying it..seemed someone else wanted it as well......or was that my imagination?