I noticed a lot of grocery store complaints in this thread (Stupid things that bug you, or something) and decided that since we all have to buy food, and grocery stores are chock full of various annoyances and people demonstrating bizarre, inconsiderate, often downright rude behavior, this probably deserves it’s own thread.
So grocery customers, or employees, sound off! Share your complaints and/or horror stories of modern supermarket shopping.
Quit moving stuff around! I understand why you do it, so I’ll see new stuff you want me to buy, but I want to go to aisle three, left side to find my item!
And quit bagging my tomatoes with heavy stuff, dammit. Those tomatoes are expensive!
Here’s something I encounter every single trip to the supermarket: people parking their shopping carts in a manner that essentially blocks the entire aisle.
I am self-aware and considerate enough to either park my cart at the end of the aisle or at least as far off to the side as possible so as to not block passage through the aisle and/or block the shelves while I spend a moment or two deciding what I want. Is that really so hard?!
People will go right down the middle of the aisle and just stop. People will see someone they know and park their carts side-by-side to chat for 5 minutes. People go down an aisle, see something they want to look at on the shelf, then as they turn to take the item off of the shelf to read the label or whatever, actually turn their cart so it is perpendicular to the length of the aisle, completely blocking anyone from passing. Perhaps they don’t realize they’re doing this, but seriously, what the fuck?!
And then they look at me like I’m a dick for simply saying “excuse me” to try and get by.
I loathe the extra-large kid-friendly carts, the ones w/ the race car on the front. I’ve seen women struggling w/ a full cart plus the kid in the little car and they barely make it down the aisle w/o wacking other carts and people. They won’t make aisles wider in the stores, why don’t they stick w/ one standard cart size or smaller?
Related: whole families shopping. And I don’t mean Mom and a kid or two. The whole mob-parents kids, grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins.
And t.h…e…y w…a…l…k l…i…k…e t…h…i…s.
Oh, yes, the doddering plodders…
Folks, if you can’t walk at something approaching a normal pace, if little old ladies with walkers exceed your forward speed, use one of the damn scooters, alright? They’re there for people with mobility issues, hint, hint.
I worked in a chain grocery store for years. That chain (chain A) got bought by a different chain (chain B), and while the name is the same, the stores have gradually become more and more like chain B’s stores. The thing is, I had developed a pretty thorough understanding of the way Chain A laid out their stores, so I could find anything even in stores I had never been in. In chain B’s stores, nothing seems to make sense, and I have trouble finding things all the time.
This is really a complaint about my own inability to adapt to change, but it’s annoying that 15 years after I stopped working in grocery stores, I still know where the canned tomatoes ought to be, but not where they are.
The inconsiderate cashier dumping my fruits and veggies onto the conveyor belt makes me crazy. I suppose I should unpack them next time, but I thought it would be easier to contain them all in the handheld basket since I don’t use produce bags if I have 2 apples or 1 tomato and I didn’t want them rolling all over the counter. She picked up the basket and turned it upside down from about a foot up, bruising all of the previously unblemished soft stuff that I spent time finding among their crappy produce bins.
Ugh. I hate that store in general. Lousy selection of fresh stuff, old and often broken bottle returns, and an unpleasant staff. I usually drive a few minutes further to shop at the cleaner, better grocery, but my husband likes to shop within our city (support local :p) and even when he’s not with me it’s easier to pop in there if I just need one or two things.
And even if the whole gaggle of family isn’t poking along, the kids are zooming up and down the aisles and in general, not understanding the concept of someone trying to get in and out of the store as fast as possible on their lunch break.
I love dogs. I don’t care how small Fi-Fi is don’t bring her to the grocery store.
You know food and shit ?
Aisle blockers are a real pain the in the ass. They drive there in their cars I wish they could just pretend thier carts are cars and the aisles are streets, seriously.
And people that watch the clerk bag their produce. I know it’s an amazing process to watch unfold but you can help them on occasion.
People who sit watching the entire order being added up and then, when the total is finally announced, then begin to take out their wallet or purse and start gathering up their money. Did they think they weren’t going to be asked to pay for things?
People leaving their carts in perfectly good parking spaces.
Especialy handicap ones. Do they not realize that leaving their carts there is basicaly just like parking your car there?
People in the checkout line who are still actively shopping.
If you forgot one thing, or you notice one of your eggs is broken or a jar is cracked or you just noticed one of your coupons requires you buy X number of items or whatever and you need to run back and get another one, fine, that’s happened to all of us. But when you’re repeatedly running back and forth from the aisles to your cart in line, FUCK YOU, you need to get out of line and finish shopping, asshole.
Worse still are people who do this while they are already being checked out so you can’t just cut in front of them while they’re gone.
Stores that never have more than two lanes open at any given moment. I will never understand why so many grocery stores are permanently understaffed up front.
But that saves money and then the store can pass the savings [del]to you[/del] up the corporate ladder to the CEO.
I thought I was the only one who noticed—Even when I unpack them gently on he conveyor belt, half the time the cashier tosses them in the bag with no concern about heaviest stuff going in first.
Might be a small thing to some, but squashed kiwis or bruised pears and apples really sucks, especially after me taking the time to carefully choose the best looking pieces of fruit available.
Yeah, I’ve seen that countless times where there are a dozen checkstands and only 3 checkers.
When I worked at Safeway we were always busy and never had all of the checkstands open, even for the week preceding Thanksgiving. Which is why I watched in astonishment when they installed 2 additional checkstands, which of course were never actually used. 
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, even though I know exactly how big a can of worms it’ll open:
FUCK LOYALTY CARDS!
Sadly, we don’t have a single store around here that doesn’t extort you into carrying one.
Also, selection in this area is absolute crap, but that’s more about where we live than grocery stores being useless. Three years living here, and we’ve never once managed to get a whole week’s shopping done at one store.
I hate the fact that my new local doesn’t have the self- service with the conveyor belt like my old one did.
I hate stuff being moved around.
I bought a really nice salad dressing two months ago and it’s never been in stock since.
Don’t comment on my items. Just ring them up and bag them.
Joe