Tiny little threadjack–I don’t mind couponers, as I use them myself from time to time, as long as they’re not like those jerks I’ve seen on Extreme Coupons or whatever it’s called. I’ve only watched one episode but I’ve been behind people like that before and it’s nuts. NOBODY (at least nobody I k now, unless they’re shopping for a church pantry or something to that effect) needs eleventyfourthousand boxes of dried pasta. Or a hundred candy bars (no really..the store had them four for a dollar on a particular type of chocolate bar so they swept nearly the entire box into their cart).
Aren’t the wide spaces nearest to the store? How about taking the cart back to the store? I don’t have kids so maybe I shouldn’t comment, but it seems to me that if you don’t want to leave your child unattended even for less than 1 minute, then you take the kid with you to return the cart and carry him/her back to your car.
Heh. I literally “ran into” this at Wal-Mart a few weeks ago. I was driving “up” an aisle that had a slight grade to it, and saw the driver in front of me swerve. He/she had swerved around a cart that was rolling right down the middle of the aisle, and then just kept going. I immediately stopped my car and put it in “Park” so that I could jump out and grab the cart, but by that point the cart was rolling faster and I realized I wasn’t going to get my seatbelt undone and myself out of the car in time. So, since my car is a beat-up piece of shit anyway, I just stopped the cart by opening my door right into its path. Then I got out and shuffled the cart into the nearest corral.
She rolled her cart up and left it behind your car, with you in it about to drive away? I can assure you that if I were on your jury, I’d acquit you.
I have to learn how to put my own bags on the bag thing - maybe today’s the day. I’ll go when the store is slow and I won’t be in too many people’s way while I learn.
Why do the shopping centers have 30 checkout registers, yet refuse to open more than 4 at a time? Even on the busiest days of the year, they never have all of them open. Standing in line behind 3 carts full of stuff because they won’t open another lane drives me crazy. That and the shopping carts always being jacked up… squeak squeak squeak
Not always. Some products are made and sold in “packs”; you don’t get “mixed packs which can not be sold separatedly” (you know, like those mixed yoghurt packs), but when coffee mousse arrives, an equal amount of chocolate mousse and of lemon mousse arrive at the same time. The supermarket cannot order coffee mousse by itself.
I’ve seen the coffee part of a load of mousses get taken off the pallet before the shelver could put it on the fridge. I’ve seen women calling their relatives “the supermarket just got mousses, do you want me to buy you a pack? Two? OK!” I’ve been part of a group of lucky women rationing the mousses based on who got there first, family size and the notion that forcing someone who’d actually seen the fluffy, coffeey goodness arrive go without would have been some sort of sin for sure (cruelty at the very least).
In this case, and yes it was a real example until the company that made it decided to change the mousses (the new ones also get sent in equal-amount packs, but none is as popular as the old coffee mousse was), the reason the coffee mousse was always empty was not that the supermarket ordered less of it than of other varieties, it’s that they could not order more of it. Lemon on the other hand stayed in the shelfs until expired; now it’s the cookie one which does, the mixed-chocolate and coffee-with-caramel kinds move at normal speeds.
Sometimes I think reaching the job of manager involves putting on blinders. A manager will usually open another checkstand if I call it to their attention, but why did I have to tell them in the first place?
Thanks. This rant really made me laugh. Many years in retail and still, some customers just annoy/amaze/amuse/irritate/ and leave me flabergasted at thier lack of thought/preperation/consideration.
I always defer to the elderly and extend my already fairly patient apporach but even I was forced to utter “really?” when this dear lady waited until her very full cart was totaled to begin fishing around in her purse for her checkbook.
Um,…it’s here,…somewhere,…I just had it the other day,…and …well I know it’s in here,…well that’s not it,…oh,…here it is.
And who do I make this out to? Okay that 's K…R…O…
Really? The availability of wipes for people interested in using wipes is somehow an inconvenience to you? People wanting to take 2 seconds to disinfect a grimey cart handle infuriates you to the point of frikken swearing? There’s an INSISTENCE to having wet wipes around?
Do you get mad that there are disposable toilet seat covers in restrooms that other people might want to use, or Purell stations in hospital hallways?
Jiminy Christmas, if this is the sort of shit that makes you stew you must be a real fucking peach to be around.
I didn’t say it was an inconvenience. I think it’s stupid and pointless. And yes, I also think that ass gaskets are also stupid. Purell in a hospital is smart because it’s a fucking hospital.
I didn’t say I was mad. I said ‘vaguely annoyed’. As in, I think it’s stupid. Nice reading comprehension, dipshit.
You want to see me mad, get me started about tailgaters.
Another reason to vote with your feet. Our Lucky’s has a policy of opening a new lane when there are 3 carts - what they don’t say is that every open lane has to have 3 (including self checkout) before they do it. In the Safeway I’ve been plucked out of line and brought to a newly open stand more times than I can count. And even when shopping I’ve heard many announcements to the tune of “checkout people, get your asses to the front” - slightly more politely, of course. Slightly more expensive, but well worth it.
How many people do you think go to or from a hospital to a grocery store? Anything that helps us break the chain of pathological bacteria and viruses on people’s hands is a good thing, as far as I’m concerned.
I really doubt wiping the cart handle will make any difference in that regard. But different strokes for different folks. I’m still allowed to think it’s silly.
Great thread, and I have to agree that one of the worst things is the family shopping trip. OK, if you’re a single mother and can’t afford childcare then you have to bring your devil spawn to the supermarket. But if there’s two of you then why the hell do you both have to be there, along with your posse of bored offspring. The kids are obviously hating it, the two of you are getting stressed and everyone else in the shop is pissed off.
My theory is that neither partner trusts the other to shop alone. If Wayne is left to do the shopping he’ll just come home with twenty pizzas, half a dozen six packs of beer and a bunch of tit magazines. If Waynetta goes on her own she’ll come home with eighteen packets of chocolate biscuits, ten litres of White Lightning and a bunch of celebrity magazines. If they go as a family the kids will hopefully point to some real food along the way.
One thing I haven’t seen mentioned is the charity packers. In the UK it’s normal for people to pack their own bags. Occasionally there will be a bunch of schoolkids at the checkout offering to pack your bags in return for a donation to whatever charity they are fundraising for. I’m all in favour of this and admire the kids for giving up their time for a good cause.
However: Teachers, supermarkets and anyone else involved in this please spend five fucking minutes explaining basic physics to these kids. They have probably never been shopping on their own and are fundamentally unaware of the consequences of putting eggs, soft fruit, bread etc. into the bottom of a shopping bag and then dropping 10lb of potatoes and a bottle of wine on top.
Of course…but on the occasions I use it, I’m not really using it for bacteria. I use it when there’s something sticky or yucky on the cart, or maybe just some food. I also use it when I’m picking out worms for my gecko at the pet store. Yes, the worm germs are not going to cause me any trouble, not even if I eat the entire box of mealworms. But it’s still powdery dust all over my hands.
