# Gah! Is this a thing now with all grocery stores or just Kroger? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 20, 2013, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gah-is-this-a-thing-now-with-all-grocery-stores-or-just-kroger/661514 "2013-06-20T22:17:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2013, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gah-is-this-a-thing-now-with-all-grocery-stores-or-just-kroger/661514/1 "2013-06-20T22:17:33Z")
Solicitors! God damned solicitors! Last week alone I’ve been approached buy a guy wanting to sign me up for a newspaper subscription, some lady from the bank (that’s in store) wanted to sign me up for an account, and today, a guy wanted to sign me up for a “free week” of LA Fitness. FFS! What dumbass manager thought: “Yeah, my customers should appreciate this.”? The La Fitness guy was really pissing me off as he was one of those jack asses that doesn’t take NO for an answer. Forget the fact that I already have a membership somewhere else. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2013, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gah-is-this-a-thing-now-with-all-grocery-stores-or-just-kroger/661514/2 "2013-06-20T22:31:01Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > FFS! What dumbass manager thought: “Yeah, my customers should appreciate this.”? Would you like to sign up for an extended warranty on your purchase today? ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2013, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gah-is-this-a-thing-now-with-all-grocery-stores-or-just-kroger/661514/3 "2013-06-20T22:41:33Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > Solicitors! God damned solicitors! > > Last week alone I’ve been approached buy a guy wanting to sign me up for a newspaper subscription, some lady from the bank (that’s in store) wanted to sign me up for an account, and today, a guy wanted to sign me up for a “free week” of LA Fitness. > FFS! What dumbass manager thought: “Yeah, my customers should appreciate this.”? > The La Fitness guy was really pissing me off as he was one of those jack asses that doesn’t take NO for an answer. Forget the fact that I already have a membership somewhere else. :rolleyes: Those people are just doing their job as ordered by their employer. What an [asshole](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=687179) you are to complain about this. ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2013, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gah-is-this-a-thing-now-with-all-grocery-stores-or-just-kroger/661514/4 "2013-06-20T23:49:33Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Those people are just doing their job as ordered by their employer. What an [asshole](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=687179) you are to complain about this. Totally disagree. If they want to set up an information table so I can stop and talk if I feel like it? Fine. Solicit me and I will take my business elsewhere. Who needs that shit? ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gah-is-this-a-thing-now-with-all-grocery-stores-or-just-kroger/661514/5 "2013-06-21T00:11:12Z")
They’ve done that for years at all the grocery stores around here, with Kroger probably being the most consistently populated by these people. Usually they have coupons or something if you sign up; so I tend to sign up as “Phil McRotch” or with video game names (John Price, Victor Reznov, Gordon Freeman, Christopher Blair, etc…) and some funny address that doesn’t exist. Doesn’t bug me unless they really put the hard sell on when they aren’t giving anything away, and I don’t want to talk to them. The a-holes selling stupid woo stuff in the personal care area of my Sam’s Club bug me far more- no, I don’t want their reusable cold pack, or their stupid-ass electrical bracelets or aloe juice. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gah-is-this-a-thing-now-with-all-grocery-stores-or-just-kroger/661514/6 "2013-06-21T00:11:40Z")
> [@Southern\_Yankee](#): > > Totally disagree. If they want to set up an information table so I can stop and talk if I feel like it? Fine. Solicit me and I will take my business elsewhere. Who needs that shit? Don’t let the wind knock you over. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gah-is-this-a-thing-now-with-all-grocery-stores-or-just-kroger/661514/7 "2013-06-21T00:12:41Z")
> [@Southern\_Yankee](#): > > Totally disagree. If they want to set up an information table so I can stop and talk if I feel like it? Fine. Solicit me and I will take my business elsewhere. Who needs that shit? I think you missed the point of my last post. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gah-is-this-a-thing-now-with-all-grocery-stores-or-just-kroger/661514/8 "2013-06-21T00:22:18Z")
They don’t have solicitors in Publix or Winn-Dixie down here. ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gah-is-this-a-thing-now-with-all-grocery-stores-or-just-kroger/661514/9 "2013-06-21T00:23:34Z")
> [@BubbaDog](#): > > Don’t let the wind knock you over. > [@pkbites](#): > > I think you missed the point of my last post. I don’t think I did. The OP is angry at the store for allowing their customers to be solicited while shopping there. I agree. I have a choice where to shop. Shit like this influences that choice. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gah-is-this-a-thing-now-with-all-grocery-stores-or-just-kroger/661514/10 "2013-06-21T00:32:01Z")
You did. He was being facetious, having been yelled out for complaining about the same thing (kinda). ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gah-is-this-a-thing-now-with-all-grocery-stores-or-just-kroger/661514/11 "2013-06-21T00:32:02Z")
There’s a new thing going on, kind of like a flash mob, in a way. It involves people who are affected by a form of Tourette’s and OCD, a compulsion to inflict minor annoyance on perfect strangers based on fictitious but plausible reasons. She stands there with a plate full of liquid pizza on a cracker snacks that tastes as dreadful as it looks. Which ensures that you will not go try and buy some at Piggly Wiggly, thus blowing the cover. (There’s none available, of course, it doesn’t exist.) Also depends on the setting, it can be offers to try ghastly samples, or subscribe to a dying local newspaper, or offer support for some seemingly worthwhile political cause. Once at Asswhole Foods, I signed a position to ban feeding puppies into blenders and was all the way to the balsamic vinegar before I went, hey, wait a second here!..But they had vanished. You probably haven’t heard about this, its not very mainstream yet. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gah-is-this-a-thing-now-with-all-grocery-stores-or-just-kroger/661514/12 "2013-06-21T00:33:00Z")
It’s not new. I’ve plain told them that newspapers are dead, I don’t want one even for free. I get all my new online in 5 minutes. I turn down the free newspapers the grocer gives out on Sundays for free too. ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gah-is-this-a-thing-now-with-all-grocery-stores-or-just-kroger/661514/13 "2013-06-21T00:48:24Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > You did. He was being facetious, having been yelled out for complaining about the same thing (kinda). Huh. I guess I did then. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gah-is-this-a-thing-now-with-all-grocery-stores-or-just-kroger/661514/14 "2013-06-21T00:49:21Z")
I refuse to patronize Sears or Kmart because you have to tell them half of your life story for even a small cash purchase. :mad: No wonder those companies are headed down the tubes. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gah-is-this-a-thing-now-with-all-grocery-stores-or-just-kroger/661514/15 "2013-06-21T01:31:24Z")
What information do Sears and Kmart demand? Some stores I’ve been to ask for my ZIP code (or email address lately, so they can send an electronic receipt), but I just say, “No, thank you.” ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gah-is-this-a-thing-now-with-all-grocery-stores-or-just-kroger/661514/16 "2013-06-21T03:09:21Z")
I’m not sure I’ll like it better when all they say is “have a good day, sir” and I say “um, don’t you need my credit card or something?” and they say “that’s not necessary, Mr. Turnip. We already have all the information we need. Thank you for shopping at Sino-Mart!” and I’m ushered out the door on an invisible cushion of compressed air. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gah-is-this-a-thing-now-with-all-grocery-stores-or-just-kroger/661514/17 "2013-06-21T03:57:54Z")
> [@Southern\_Yankee](#): > > I don’t think I did. Yes. You. Did. Didn’t you see the link I posted? It was to a Pit thread where I was ranting about the same exact horseshit the OP is mad about. Post #3 in this thread was a sarcastic dig not at the OP but to the mucus mouths who gave me guff for complaining about this crap. From the guy who accosts you at the door to the cashier who tries to sign you up for a card, get you to buy candy bars, or donate to some charity, it’s relentless and makes shopping even more miserable than it already is. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gah-is-this-a-thing-now-with-all-grocery-stores-or-just-kroger/661514/18 "2013-06-21T04:06:17Z")
Yeah! and goddamit, its fifteen items or fewer, not fifteen items or _less_! Damn! ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gah-is-this-a-thing-now-with-all-grocery-stores-or-just-kroger/661514/19 "2013-06-21T04:35:11Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Yeah! and goddamit, its fifteen items or fewer, not fifteen items or _less_! Damn! [Ahem](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/less?s=t): > [@](#): > > 1. fewer: less than a dozen. & > [@](#): > > _ **Usage note** _ > Even though less has been used before plural nouns ( less words; less men ) since the time of King Alfred, many modern usage guides say that only fewer can be used in such contexts. Less, they say, should modify singular mass nouns ( less sugar; less money ) and singular abstract nouns ( less honesty; less love ). It should modify plural nouns only when they suggest combination into a unit, group, or aggregation: less than $50 (a sum of money); less than three miles (a unit of distance). With plural nouns specifying individuals or readily distinguishable units, the guides say that fewer is the only proper choice: fewer words; fewer men; no fewer than 31 of the 50 states. > Modern standard English practice does not reflect this distinction. When followed by than, less occurs at least as often as fewer in modifying plural nouns that are not units or groups, and the use of less in this construction is increasing in all varieties of English: less than eight million people; no less than 31 of the 50 states. When not followed by than, fewer is more frequent only in formal written English, and in this construction also the use of less is increasing: This year we have had less crimes, less accidents, and less fires than in any of the last five years. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gah-is-this-a-thing-now-with-all-grocery-stores-or-just-kroger/661514/20 "2013-06-21T06:45:05Z")
Amusingly, ‘solicitor’ in Britain means what you call an attorney ( the latter is quite archaic here ), or counsel. It would be a virtuous world if lawyers and CEOs had to personally hawk for business in the mall. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gah-is-this-a-thing-now-with-all-grocery-stores-or-just-kroger/661514.md?page=2)