I was in the grocery store with my mom the other day. I was pushing the cart and following her around as she got what she wanted. I don’t like pushing the cart for the fact that pretty much every person above the age of 35 (especially seniors) think they can cut me off stranding me from my mother as we are trying to shop. I was turning a corner around the bread and this old man goes straight by me, banging my cart, then stops with his wife to browse and blocks the whole area not allowing for me to pass and doesn’t get out of the way. Apparently because I am teenager this is allowed.
Don’t get me wrong I’m polite and I often let elderly’s go by and hold doors open for them, but when they do that it makes me reconsider!
Also, don’t forget the irresponsible parents who think a five year old can handle pushing a cart that is twice their size. You have no idea how many times I’ve been hit at the ankles because of those little brats. After that, the parents have the NERVE to glare at me like I’m the one who’s hurt their little brats.
And, don’t forget the seniors who think it’s their god given right to STEAL, yeah, that’s right STEAL shopping carts from the store. Yes, you put a quarter in there, but that doesn’t mean you’re allowed to take it outside of the parking lot and push it all the way home! And trust me when I say, once these seniors push the carts back home, there’s no way in hell they’re going to push it back to the store. They just leave them in a ditch somewhere.
I get SO frustrated with old people when grocery shopping. They travel at 1/4 impulse power, and stop whenever and wherever the notion hits them…nevermind if they are blocking 6 or 7 people trying to go down the isle. I recently was shopping with my mom, and she did this. Aghhhh. I guess in another 25 years, I’ll do it, too. Let me apologize ahead of time. Sorry.
Cart stealing isn’t confined to senior citizens. I practically can’t step outside my door without running into another “borrowed” shopping cart, usually borrowed by some 35-year-old. (Wait, that would make them a senior citizen, wouldn’t it?)
And finally to address the OP, the grocery store seems to operate via the law of the jungle. People will block you at any convenient point just to get in and out of the store more quickly. Got to be more aggressive with your cart there, I suppose.
The problem of stolen shopping carts is one reason why some supermarkets have employees insist on taking your groceries out to your vehicle for you. They help you unload the bags into your vehicle, then wheel the cart back into the store.
This practice depends on if they have enough people working at the checkout stands.
A friend who used to work for a supermarket chain in its corporate headquarters told me supermarket shopping carts cost over one hundred dollars apiece, so I can understand how they don’t want to lose any.
In fact, why let old people in the store at all? It’s not like they need a lot of food!
And why allow mothers with children to shop in the same place I do? All they do is waste MY time!
I demand that each and every trip I take to the store be completely on my terms! Even when it come to the check out. There should be at least one register in place, open, and manned for every potential customer the store may have while I am in it!
Now, do you see that your rant is a bit lame? If someone’s in your way, just say “Excuse me” or “May I get by here?” And for the other minor troubles you may run across: Welcome to life, Kiddo.
NoClueBoy, you beat me to it.
To the OP – may you someday have arthritis, or sciatica, or some other ailment that causes pain to preoccupy your mind and slow your steps. Oh, and BTW, 35 is not considered “senior.” A 35-year-old has at least 20 years to go in order to make claim to that status.
Show some respect, you little whippersnapper, you!
The reason Parkerz used the word “old” in his title and “elderly” in his post is probably because he finds this to be more widely practiced by seniors. He didn’t say that 35-year-olds are seniors, and I don’t think he meant to imply it either.
I do find the five-year-olds pushing carts annoying, but I’m willing to cut old people some slack. Also, I find that it is hard to maneuver those carts around, so I’m not going to get too snarky when people get in my way.
Thank you for clarifying, yes that is what I meant. I do try to be polite and understand that elderly ppl suffer from some things and may need a hand as I mentioned at the end of post if any bothered to read the entire thing. but I don’t believe that gives them the right to be rude to me. The man clearly knew I was there and where I was trying to go and when he stopped he knew exactly what he had done.
Don’t you think you are taking your point too far? I don’t expect to be given presadence (sp?) over anyone else only to be given the same respect as everyone else.
Also, don’t forget the irresponsible parents who think a five year old can handle pushing a cart that is twice their size. You have no idea how many times I’ve been hit at the ankles because of those little brats. After that, the parents have the NERVE to glare at me like I’m the one who’s hurt their little brats.
And, don’t forget the seniors who think it’s their god given right to STEAL, yeah, that’s right STEAL shopping carts from the store. Yes, you put a quarter in there, but that doesn’t mean you’re allowed to take it outside of the parking lot and push it all the way home! And trust me when I say, once these seniors push the carts back home, there’s no way in hell they’re going to push it back to the store. They just leave them in a ditch somewhere.
Parkerz, Yes. I was using a literary device known as hyperbole. An obvious exaggeration used to make a point.
My point was (basically) roll with the punches, go with the flow. Just live by the one basic Doper rule: Try not to be a jerk.
It doesn’t always work out the way you want it, but you may be a little calmer over all.
Here’s one thing to consider: it may be a little intimidating for some seniors to have to shop in supermarkets. They dealt with neighborhood stores, Mom & Pop type things, where they were known, greeted, treated with courtesy, etc… So, cut them a little slack. It’s not that hard to do. And hope that good karma comes back to you in your old age.
Now, I do have to say, some seniors are jerks. But that could be said about any group we examine, don’t you think?
BTW… Welcome to The Dope! I think you’ll do just fine…
I always like (sarcasm) the two older ladies shopping together. Walking down the aisle side by side, parking side by side, too busy talking to each other and staring off into space to hear the people around them constantly saying “excuse me, excuse me”.
In the Cub frozen foods aisle a few months ago, two women doing this. As the person ahead of me tried to squeeze past them, the larger of the two ‘slyly’ (haha) jammed her cart sideways to ram the woman passing her into the freezer case.
As I followed through, I quietly and politely said “Ma’am, please don’t block the aisle.”
I get about 20 feet away when she goes ballistic. “Fuck You, Asshole!” (turns to her friend) “Did you hear what that asshole said to me?!?” Her friend asks “what?”. She tells her friend that I said not to block the aisle.
Now praise the gods, her friend had a brain. Calmly she says “Then maybe you shouldn’t”. The bitch was speechless. But she quickly moved her cart out of the way.
I’ve learned by experience not to shop the local store on Thursday mornings – that’s when they run free shuttle buses to several elderly housing areas in town.
It amazes me how two women who live in the same housing cluster, who probably see each a dozen times a week in the common areas, still need to stop side by side in the aisles while trading health trivia or recipes or gossip. Grrrrr!
You know the best time to shop? Evenings from about 10 p.m… on during the week. Okay, you don’t have the butchers around to do special cuts for you, but there are NEVER any clogs in the aisles, and as soon as you roll to the front a clerk hurries over from wherever he was restocking and checks you out, zip, zip, zip!
I’ve yet to see the shopping cart-derby mentioned above, but (as my brother works at a grocery store), I can say that yes, the baskarts (his word) are hundreds of dollars each. They also employ a guy with a pickup to cruise around the neighbourhood every few days to get their carts back. I think this is why downtown some stores have these locking wheels that freeze somehow when you go over a buried cable. Lets see granny push that 6 blocks.
Nope, didn’t repost. I don’t even remember clicking submit reply once. I typed up my reply, hit submit and headed off to lunch. I think it was during the peak hours and the server just went crazy.
