Supermarket Etiquette

ferdi · 06-12-2006 2:49pm #1

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 · 06-12-2006 2:51pm

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 · 06-12-2006 2:53pm

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 · 06-12-2006 2:56pm

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 · 06-12-2006 2:59pm

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 · 06-12-2006 3:00pm

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 · 06-12-2006 3:01pm

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 · 06-12-2006 3:02pm

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 · 06-12-2006 3:07pm

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 · 06-12-2006 3:10pm

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 · 06-12-2006 3:11pm

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 · 06-12-2006 3:11pm

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 · 06-12-2006 3:12pm

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 · 06-12-2006 3:14pm

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 · 06-12-2006 3:16pm

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 · 06-12-2006 3:18pm

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 · 06-12-2006 3:19pm

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 · 06-12-2006 3:26pm

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 · 06-12-2006 3:26pm

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 · 06-12-2006 3:28pm

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 · 06-12-2006 3:33pm

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 · 06-12-2006 3:35pm

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 · 06-12-2006 3:39pm

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 · 06-12-2006 3:41pm

grasshopa wrote:

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

LMFAO, must remember that one

stovelid · 06-12-2006 3:43pm

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 · 06-12-2006 3:44pm

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 · 06-12-2006 3:47pm

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 · 06-12-2006 3:51pm

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 · 06-12-2006 3:55pm

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 · 06-12-2006 4:02pm

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 · 06-12-2006 4:06pm

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

englander · 06-12-2006 4:08pm

What really gets me at supermarket is

- checkout 'people' who insist on scrubbing my laser/credit card with their grubby nylon uniform - scratching it to b_uggery despite me insisting it works perfectly well everywhere else and maybe they should manually enter it with the keypad before they completely foook my card.

- Was in Marks and Sparks and this woman as thin as a rake proceeded to open her salad in the queue and use a spoon to eat it loudly. And she said very loudly how famished she was. She was still eating it when she got to the counter where they scanned an empty carton. Could have shot her.

- bag packers. Usually GAA kids. I do my best to avoid them as they wreck my groceries and then expect money. Its almost demanding money with menace.

- overcharged. Every week (literally) I have to do battle with local supermarket as they have overcharged me. About 1/5 times does anybody actually apologise.

- just loads and loads of inconsiderate shoppers who have no sense of getting their shopping with minimal fuss and inconvenience to fellow shoppers.

Red Hand · 06-12-2006 4:10pm

I do find it pretty ignorant to see people wandering about supermarkets using stuff they havent even paid for.

Reminds me of a Simpsons episode where Homer uses the excuse that everything he picks up in a supermarket with a cocktail stick (using the excuse of free samples that are on offer cooked sausages etc) is fair game to be eaten without having to pay. I seem to remember him trying to cocktail stick himself a live lobster at the end of his supermarket trawl.:)

Archeron · 06-12-2006 4:49pm

Well, on the subject of supervalue....

I go to Lidl. They have wide open corrdiors on which three trollies can easilty fit by each other. Go to supervalue, and the already narrow corridors are made even narrower by all these stupid special offer baskets scattered randomly through the store. IF I WANT TO BUY TOFFEPOPS I BLOODY WELL KNOW WHERE TO LOOK!!!

Then add to that the fact that there will always be a staff member stocking shelves on one side of the toffeepops and some old woman gossiping on the other, and that leads to an extremely unpleasant experience. Especially when they give you a dirty look because you've apologised when asking them to get out of the way. If you wanna good natter, go to a coffee shop, not the coffee aisle.

Terry · 06-12-2006 4:49pm

Jeremiah 16:1 wrote:

I do find it pretty ignorant to see people wandering about supermarkets using stuff they havent even paid for.

Reminds me of a Simpsons episode where Homer uses the excuse that everything he picks up in a supermarket with a cocktail stick (using the excuse of free samples that are on offer cooked sausages etc) is fair game to be eaten without having to pay. I seem to remember him trying to cocktail stick himself a live lobster at the end of his supermarket trawl.:)

pinchy.

User45701 · 06-12-2006 4:50pm

there is only one thing i eat in a supermarket and that is the poppyseed french stick they sell im superquinn, if i buy one of those on my wayin at the main door i will munch on that while i go around the shop but im not one of those people who use trollies and spend ages on a job that should if shopping for one take 4-5 mins and shopping for 4+ should take no more than 16 -19 mins.

Anyway ye i like to eat part of a french stick in superquinn

Sad Professor · 06-12-2006 6:06pm

I work in a supermarket so I've got a lot to say on this subject:

- Customers who stand right over your shoulder as you (or another customer) are trying to enter your pin. They sometimes have practically pushed their trolley through so you can't even get to the pin pad. I mean, can't people see that you haven't paid yet? Get the f**k outta the way you stupid f**kin morons!!

- Screaming kids. I don't care how much child care cost! I don't care you have no one to leave them with! Just keep them the f**k out of supermarkets. Either that or get some control over them for chrissake! Most parents just stand there with blank expressions while their kids are screaming their heads off. Whats wrong with them? I listen to this all day long.

- Customers who only after you tell them how much their bill is suddenly decide they need to use the cash machine and proceed to join the 10+ queue. Why couldn't they have got cash on their way in? Didn't they see it was busy? And then sometimes the ATM isn't working and they have to go outside/down the road/home to get cash. I never go to a checkout with anything, much less €100+ worth of shopping without making sure I have money to pay for it.

- Foreign customers who can't speak English but seem to expect you to understand their language and start babbling on about something they're looking for. I don't f**king speak Romanian/Spanish whatever, f**k off!

- People (usually old women) who don't read the special offer signs properly and want to know why they aren't getting two 7ups at a discount, when the actual offer was for Coke and was on a different shelf. Its not my fault you can't read!

- Stupid people who go shopping for two things on a Saturday in December and want to know why its so busy. They seem so surprised when you tell them its Christmas soon. Idiots.

- People who get load of fruit and veg and don't weigh any of them because they think we do it at the checkout. We don't. You've been coming here for 4 years, haven't you figured that out yet? No this isn't Tesco. Go there instead.

I'm sure I could think of plenty more

As you can see I really love my job :rolleyes:

Terry · 06-12-2006 6:11pm

Mother****ing schoolkids standing in the middle of the aisle in a big group and only one of the 10 of them is actually buying something piss me off. so much so that i just push them out of the way at this stage. screw them. they're in my way and i'm a paying customer. don't come into the shop unless you're going to buy something or at least rob something. ****.

Tar.Aldarion · 06-12-2006 6:12pm

Nah, I see nothing wrong with eating or drinking the food you are going to buy.

Dave! · 06-12-2006 6:17pm

ferdi wrote:

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?

They are going to pay for it presumably. If they don't pay for it then they are shoplifters, but if they do then what's the problem? It's not like they're tasting them and putting them back if they don't like them.

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!

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:"

The child will probably not be finished by the time they reach the checkout, so the mother will take the food off them, pay for them, and give them back. Moral conundrum averted.

That's in my observation anyway.

ferdi wrote:

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!

I woulda thought that was a stupid thing to do regardless of the pain and suffering caused to the person pushing the trollies.

I think you should stop analysing people so much.

Nightwish · 06-12-2006 6:18pm

I share this hatred for the shopping masses. Although I dont work in a supermarket, I work in a very busy outlet of a well known British catalogue retailer, and have done so for the past 6.5 years. I have issues with:

*Customers with bratty kids-look I know there are many many many good kids out there, but there are also plenty of horrible bratty kids with parents who seem like they dont give a sh*t. Everyday in work, at least 7 displays will be brought down/torn/destroyed/vandalised by kids, and their parents don't care. Also they allow them to climb on the displays, which will inevitably result in poor little Oisín getting floored, and deafening anyone within a 2 mile radius. I've even had a woman have her kid pi$$ on the floor and she just took the kid and walked off. And just this summer, a man left his 3 children in the shop, while he went up to do his grocery shopping.

*Customers complaining about the wait/size of queue - Firstly its Christmas!!! Of course the shop will be mobbed. Secondly you are told when you pay, your estimated collection time.

*Customers complaining about the phone not being answered-look I'll answer the phone when I dont have a customer standing in front of me. I mean how ignorant would it be if I just answered the phone and didnt serve the person next in line. Anyway, thats why theres a special reservation line AND a website.

Noelie · 06-12-2006 6:29pm

Nightwish wrote:

*Customers with bratty kids-look I know there are many many many good kids out there, but there are also plenty of horrible bratty kids with parents who seem like they dont give a sh*t. Everyday in work, at least 7 displays will be brought down/torn/destroyed/vandalised by kids, and their parents don't care. Also they allow them to climb on the displays, which will inevitably result in poor little Oisín getting floored, and deafening anyone within a 2 mile radius. I've even had a woman have her kid pi$$ on the floor and she just took the kid and walked off. And just this summer, a man left his 3 children in the shop, while he went up to do his grocery shopping.

I'm with you Nightwish, i think Ferdi has a lot more to learn about customers.
when i was working in a spar, a woman was in with her two kids, one looked about 4-6 and the other was about 10, a boy and girl. the shop was mad busy. I looked over the the younger one was throwing bars of margarine around the shelves, obviously since it's margarine it is very soft and each of the bars were getting ruined, I asked the lady, very nicely i will add, if she wouldn't mind asking her son to stop destroying our stock. and she went mad telling me he's only a child and it's what kids do. I said a child his age shouldn't be left unsupervised in a shop to which i was told her 10 year old daughter was minding him!!!

Honestly customers should really be left alone as long as they aren't stealing or breaking anything. as they are doing nothing wrong.

It's the ones who have "The customer is always right" shoved up their ass's you need to look out for as they are usually wrong.Having watched Eddie Hobbs too much on TV and there are plenty of them.

Ickle Magoo · 06-12-2006 6:41pm

I often give my son a croissant to munch on going round the supermarket...I do tell the checkout girl he's had one. I think if all you have to worry about is what other people are doing during a shopping trip then you really have to get a life - or a job you like, lol! If no-one is stealing anything & it keeps the kid quiet & entertained, where's the harm?

If a supermarket doesn't like me giving my son something then the manager can let me know, if people are so socially intollerant as to not want other people who are not single & only buying 12 items at 100mph around them, then they can take full advantage of the 24hr shopping & go at 3am or use internet shopping.

Mind you, I used to hate parents with anything but exemplary kids doing anything until I had my own & had to accept that even very good kids can act up. The amount of times I said "I'll never....", "my mother...." - I'm embarrassed even thinking about my arrogance (added to the fact that my mother has since admitted she used a myriad of bribery & subduing techniques!).

06-12-2006 6:47pm

Noelie wrote:

I looked over the the younger one was throwing bars of margarine around the shelves, obviously since it's margarine it is very soft and each of the bars were getting ruined

Good kids acting up or not, *that's* not on at all.

Terry · 06-12-2006 6:58pm

Ickle Magoo wrote:

I often give my son a croissant to munch on going round the supermarket.

well la dee fuckin' da. tell the truth, it's a packet of tayto cheese and onion you give him, isn't it!

CherieAmour · 06-12-2006 7:00pm

I worked in a supermarket in school & college and have stories the length of the port tunnel. My observations are as follows:

The people behind the counter have a very different outlook to shoppers who have never had to listen to **** all day. On a rainy day every customer who says 'It's a day for the ducks' thinks they're the first when you've heard it 50 plus times. Annoying.

Leaning down into smelly pull along trolleys and massive canvas bags that have been used for 15 years to carry fish, meat, sour milk, rotten veg etc etc. is the most vile thing about packing bags. Don't subject staff to this.

When I was 16 and had just started packing backs, an old lady was getting a trolleyload of crap. I saw her take a tub of fresh cream under her sleeve past the girl on the checkout. My instinct was to say 'are you going to pay for that?'. It took a minute for what I said to register and instead of responding with 'oh my, I do believe I've walked through without paying for this', she roared and screamed and went crazy at me. '...20 years shopping here......ignorant little....why I oughtta' etc etc etc. She got a ton of superclub points and an apology from the manager etc etc etc. I learned a lot about people that day.

What amazed me was how precious people are about groceries. I was never one to put the bread in with the fish or the fire lighters with the fruit, but the amount of ignorant people who literally snatched stuff out of my hands and told me they didnt trust me was incredible. When you're on the tills they practically scan some of the stuff themselves in case you turn it upside down or something.ITS ONLY SHOPPING. GET A LIFE. IF YOU DON'T THINK WE'RE CLEVER ENOUGH TO SCAN A BARCODE/PACK YOUR BAG THEN F*CK OFF SOMEWHERE ELSE!

Tokens - sort them f*ckin out before you get to the till, dont hand over a bundle of ****e that the staff member can't even sort out - often a dishonest way of using tokens for stuff you havent bought.

As far as the kids go, if you can't say no to your kids for 1 hour during a shopping trip then you may as well let them do whatever the hell they want in every other respect. If they're likely to be hungry, feed them before they go. Who cleans up the Liga when your kid throws it out of the trolley and someone trods it into the ground?

I think it's rude to go around the supermarket munching on food and drink, even if you are going to pay for it. Do you not care about what people might think of you? Doesn't anyone have any patience anymore?

Ickle Magoo · 06-12-2006 7:02pm

bluewolf wrote:

Good kids acting up or not, *that's* not on at all.

I agree - I cringe when I see some kids doing things & their parents just standing there & watching...I just meant when you see a kid screaming in the trolley & their parents pushing the trolley on relentlessly, it could well be that they are having to ignore a tantrum & just get on with the shopping rather than being bad parents...and a child munching on a croissant can be a really good wee boy who loves croissants & is a bit peckish, rather than some sociopath shop-lifter in the making...and that some posters may have greater sympathy when, one day, they innevitably find themselves doing exactly the same things they are condemning others for.

Ickle Magoo · 06-12-2006 7:03pm

julep wrote:

well la dee fuckin' da. tell the truth, it's a packet of tayto cheese and onion you give him, isn't it!

Lol! It's only because the first counter we come to is the Deli France one!

Anyway, I don't give my son crisps - what kind of an irresponsible idiot of a parent do you think I am?!

:D

06-12-2006 7:05pm

Ickle Magoo wrote:

I agree - I cringe when I see some kids doing things & their parents just standing there & watching...I just meant when you see a kid screaming in the trolley & their parents pushing the trolley on relentlessly, it could well be that they are having to ignore a tantrum & just get on with the shopping rather than being bad parents...and a child munching on a croissant can be a really good wee boy who loves croissants & is a bit peckish, rather than some sociopath shop-lifter in the making...

You're very fond of the croissants arent you

and that some posters may have greater sympathy when, one day, they innevitably find themselves doing exactly the same things they are condemning others for.

Ah well, some of us aren't necessarily going to have kids
but we'll see, tis true

Ickle Magoo · 06-12-2006 7:08pm

bluewolf wrote:

You're very fond of the croissants arent you

It's the same wee croissant muncher I am referring to, lol!

And I know not everyone will have kids - or kids that eat in supermarkets, which is why I said some...

Sad Professor · 06-12-2006 7:09pm

CherieAmour wrote:

On a rainy day every customer who says 'It's a day for the ducks' thinks they're the first when you've heard it 50 plus times. Annoying.

Agreed, this really does my head in. I do try to be nice and smile but after I've heard the same joke for the 1000th time all I can manage is a grimace.

Supermarket Etiquette

Comments