# People at the supermarket who bug you **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 17, 2001, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-at-the-supermarket-who-bug-you/87973 "2001-10-17T13:40:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![HelloKitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecccb3/32.png) [@HelloKitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelloKitty)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-at-the-supermarket-who-bug-you/87973/101 "2001-10-23T20:04:52Z")
I **abhor** grocery shopping, especially because the only store in our area is a classic example of all the pet peeves listed so far… Kids running rampant Not enough cashiers after 5:00 when EVERYBODY shops Old people Narrow aisles Shopping carts all over the parking lot Express checkouts that are the slowest lines in the store Credit card machines that are virtually impossible to figure out Cashiers come in 2 varieties: Rude as hell, or sickeningly nice chatterboxes This store features a few other peeves as well: A strange pervasive fishy smell that invades the papertowels or tissues that we buy there. I can’t stand it!Do they store the boxes next to the seafood or something? **The sample ladies** …you know, the ones that are trying to get you to taste the latest Toaster Strudel or frozen pizza. Then people leave their little plates or plastic cups sitting all over the store with half eaten samples. GROSS!!! The plate of free cookies for the kids. All this does is make them scream louder when they get to the other side of the store, the cookie is finished and Mom has to tell them they can’t have another. What a cruel torture device for the other shoppers! The checkout lane is so small and crammed with so many magazines and candy it is difficult to maneuver and extract my cash or credit cards from my purse to pay. Plus, they have those circular revolving things instead of a conveyor belt…it bugs me. You gotta pile stuff on top of each other and it just doesn’t run as smoothly as the linear belts. If I could have groceries delivered to my door I would do it in a heartbeat. Until that time, I usually send my SO to the store instead!! ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-at-the-supermarket-who-bug-you/87973/102 "2001-10-23T20:27:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mayflower \* > **In a similar vein, I remember once that I had a small purchase that totalled $5.14 (it’s branded in my memory!). I had $3 in bills and the rest I wanted to pay in change–$1.25 in quarters, the rest in nickels, dimes, and a VERY few pennies. This bitch behind the register REFUSED FLATLY to accept the money in this form,** I believe that it was not just rude for her to refuse, it was downright illegal… [as Cecil discusses here](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_330.html) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-at-the-supermarket-who-bug-you/87973/103 "2001-10-23T20:30:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by HelloKitty \* > **Not enough cashiers after 5:00 when EVERYBODY shops** There never seem to be enough cashiers. I wonder if they under staff dependng on the time; if they have the minimum there that is cost efficient for them. > [@](#): > > Old people I hope I live longer than you. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![sidle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@sidle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sidle)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-at-the-supermarket-who-bug-you/87973/104 "2001-10-23T21:05:46Z")
Incident #1: 2 weeks ago. A cashier opens a much-needed register. Those in the back of the line RACE to get there first, rather than backing up and allowing the next person in the original line to go first. Trashy assholes. My new heroine is the cashier at Marshall’s the other day who opened a new checkout and announced very loudly that she would be happy to take the VERY NEXT PERSON IN LINE. Yay! Good for her. Incident #2: I’ve blocked out exactly when. Anyway this guy at Harris Teeter is 2 people in front of me, and starts screaming at the poor cashier because she charges him the scanning price for something that should have been on special. He announces to everyone that she is running a scam, and is overcharging him to pocket the extra- I dont know-like 13 cents. I’m pretty shy, but I just let loose on him with a bloody cursing scolding about how SHE was not the problem. You can tell a lot about a person by how they treat those who work in service industries. Incident #3: Allow me to introduce you to Pat, the happiest-assed cashier you will ever go out of your way to avoid. Wants to know your name, etc, every time you’re in the store. She explains to everyone EACH AND EVERY TIME why their bonus card is so great, how many points they currently have, blah blah etc etc blah blah. I wont go through her line anymore, since last mid-December she stopped in the middle of checking MY items, picked up her store microphone, and announced that she would now like to sing a song for the shoppers. I shit you not. Here I am on my lunch break, in a hurry. Call me Scrooge, but damn if that woman didnt belt out ALL the verses of “O Come All Ye Faithful” before resuming my transation. What the??? I didnt even think store cashiers were even ALLOWED to pull stunts like that! ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-at-the-supermarket-who-bug-you/87973/105 "2001-10-23T23:13:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by carnivorousplant \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by HelloKitty \* > > **Not enough cashiers after 5:00 when EVERYBODY shops** > > There never seem to be enough cashiers. I wonder if they under staff dependng on the time; if they have the minimum there that is cost efficient for them.\*\* YES!!! That’s what they do at Kmart-purposely understaff to save themselves a few bucks. So PLEASE don’t get nasty with the help-I wish I had a quarter for everytime I’ve been reduced to tears because some shopper decided to vent their frustrations over only having two lines open on ME. I have NOTHING TO DO WITH IT!!! ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2001, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-at-the-supermarket-who-bug-you/87973/106 "2001-10-24T00:27:18Z")
I’ve heard that stores do this to save money, but I have to wonder whether it is a classic case of “penny wise, pound foolish.” I have been in Kmart and put down my purchases and walked out because the lines were too damn long. Do they think their customers don’t have options? I could just as easily go to Wal-Mart or Target if I wanted to shop in that type of store. I go the the Pathmark instead of the nicer Shop Rite because there’s never a line at the Pathmark. Really, if you have customers ready to pay you money, why would you make them wait?? ---
**Author:** ![babydrln](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b38774/32.png) [@babydrln](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/babydrln)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2001, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-at-the-supermarket-who-bug-you/87973/107 "2001-10-24T00:29:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Daikona \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Mayflower \* > > **So you tell me what a CONVENIENCE it is to me to scrounge $.71 from the bottom of my purse and that it’s being done for MY benefit** > > No, I don’t tell you it makes things easier for you. I tell you that at least in some stores, cashiers are told to do it. Don’t bitch at me because you don’t like the way the grocery store does things, I don’t make the rules.\*\* That’s it, Mayflower, you’ve had it! I’m reporting you for PERSONALLY bitching out another poster for the way “the grocery store does things!” ROTFL 😃 Two words…Puh LEEZE! We’re all bitching about our pet peeves here! One poster griped at employees who leap on you as soon as you enter the store to ask if you want any help. Another hates the way they have 50 registers, but only 2 open at a time. A third doesn’t like it when cashiers don’t enforce the posted express lane limits. It’s nothing personal, for crying out loud! It’s kinda like when you order a burger and the guy behind the counter automatically asks you if you want fries. His policy? No. Annoying as hell at times? YES! No one likes to be bitched out for something that isn’t their fault and we all know that store policy is not set by the employees; but your fault or not, certain store policies just naturally PISS PEOPLE OFF ANYWAY. It can’t be avoided! That’s what this board is about–stuff you can’t control that bugs the stew out of you. 🙂 (BTW: I know I’ll probably get beaten with the “cat-o-nine-tails” for this post, but I’m prepared to deal with the consequences! If anyone picks on me, I’ll just sic Mayflower on 'em! We all know how good he/she is at scathing personal remarks! LOL :D) PS Care for a hot apple pie with that? ---
**Author:** ![Chanteuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de053/32.png) [@Chanteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chanteuse)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2001, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-at-the-supermarket-who-bug-you/87973/108 "2001-10-24T01:34:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Daikona \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > _Originally posted by Mayflower \* > > \*\* So you tell me what a CONVENIENCE it is to me to scrounge $.71 from the bottom of my purse and that it’s being done for MY benefit_\* > > No, I don’t tell you it makes things easier for you. I tell you that at least in some stores, cashiers are told to do it. Don’t bitch at me because you don’t like the way the grocery store does things, I don’t make the rules.\*\* And don’t bitch at ME because I say that it sucks–“store policy” or not. IT SUCKS!!! IT SUCKS!!! IT SUCKS MAJOR LEAGUE ASS!!! ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2001, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-at-the-supermarket-who-bug-you/87973/109 "2001-10-24T06:28:22Z")
This is something that bugs me only slightly. Years ago, I saw someone put the groceries from their cart onto the conveyor belt in this position: ```auto bbb eee lll ttt cc woman aa rr tt ``` The woman reached into the cart with her right hand and then transferred an item from her right to left hand, and then to the belt. It was obvious this was a lot more convenient than standing behind the cart when reaching into it. I began doing it this way immediately. But I rarely see someone else do it like this. It’s so much easier that I wonder why everybody doesn’t do the same. Ideas? ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2001, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-at-the-supermarket-who-bug-you/87973/110 "2001-10-24T12:00:47Z")
People who leave their dog in the car in the summer while they do the shopping. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2001, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-at-the-supermarket-who-bug-you/87973/111 "2001-10-24T12:36:21Z")
I’d had enough! Enough of old people, exact change, children, SAMPLE LADIES! Abandoned carts, no place nearby to leave carts… I bought a two liter Coke, a bag of chips and a spiral notebook. I sat in the car and began writing down license numbers. The old people were easy. I KNEW all those little old ladies were going for the Buicks with ribbons on the radio antenna. Watch for VFW stickers. The checkers and slobbering bag boys required a little time. I discovered that it was best to observe near the hour and half hour. Now, I have all the license numbers! Each is cross indexed to the annoying bastard and what they do. Tomorrow, I begin leaving carts behind cars and diapers just under the car beside the driver’s door. Cheese on radiators! BWAHAHAHAHAHA! ---
**Author:** ![GlassGirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/91b2a8/32.png) [@GlassGirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GlassGirl)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2001, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-at-the-supermarket-who-bug-you/87973/112 "2001-10-24T14:21:48Z")
I would love to try standing behind the belt and offloading my cart in the sensible style suggested by rowrrbazzle, but at my grocery store they always have crap piled up there - gallon jugs of windshield cleaning fluid, bulk items, and yes, the inevitable scattering of discarded hand-baskets that people cannot seem to stack properly. What’s with that? grrrrr… ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2001, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-at-the-supermarket-who-bug-you/87973/113 "2001-10-24T15:26:29Z")
Hasn’t been mentioned for a while, but it really is a pain when you finally make it to the front with your purchases including ETOH and the checker shouts out “21.” Stupid law. My complaint with the sample ladies is that they use those teeny little shots when handling out samples of beer and wine. At least they allow copious refills. Hit the liquor section first on a Sat aft and it makes the rest of the trip much pleasanter. Why do they think it is a good idea to periodically reorganize the departments. It took me since the last reorg to figure out where to find the Cap’n Crunch. Now you hid em again. And supermarket aisles should not deadend or force flow. I demand a nice, open grid system. I hate it when people give me dirty looks when I put one foot on the back of the cart and drive it along like a scooter. Final observation, for which I will undoubtedly be flayed. I really support the hiring of “differently abled” individuals. But I really don’t care to subsidize those efforts through spending money on products that are damaged while bagged. ---
**Author:** ![lurkernomore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@lurkernomore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lurkernomore)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2001, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-at-the-supermarket-who-bug-you/87973/114 "2001-10-24T19:03:22Z")
This is more for the warehouse clubs, but I buy groceries there. The people who slowly unload a huge cart of food into their car in a very crowded lot while you wait, then walk away to another store. I hope all their milk turns sour. I don’t mean when people hang trying to get a prime spot (it wasn’t), or they see you and wave you away as soon as they do. Happened to me twice Friday. Felt like picking up their carts and throwing it at them. Pay some attention to others when you are in a crowded lot. That car waiting with the turn indicator on probably expcets you to leave. ---
**Author:** ![Dilbert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58f4c7/32.png) [@Dilbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dilbert)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2001, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-at-the-supermarket-who-bug-you/87973/115 "2001-10-24T19:16:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lurkernomore \* > **The people who slowly unload a huge cart of food into their car in a very crowded lot while you wait, then walk away to another store. I hope all their milk turns sour. I don’t mean when people hang trying to get a prime spot (it wasn’t), or they see you and wave you away as soon as they do. Happened to me twice Friday. Felt like picking up their carts and throwing it at them. Pay some attention to others when you are in a crowded lot. That car waiting with the turn indicator on probably expcets you to leave.** It drives me nuts when someone waits for my spot. Especially when I know there’s another spot 3 spaces farther away. If I’m not in a hurry I’ll take my time returning my cart and then take my sweet time getting ready to leave. Usually they don’t have a blinker on and they haven’t given me enough room to back out of my spot anyway. Usually I just want to circle around and get in the spot on the other side that I want. Then I have to sit for 5 minutes while some nitwit waits for a spot because the can’t walk two more spaces to the store. I don’t wait for spots. If I see someone trying to back out, I will let them go, regardless of wether I want to park there or not. Waiting for a spot is almost as bad as waiting in the fire lane to pick someone up or leaving your cart to crash into someone’s car. ---
**Author:** ![scampering\_gremlin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e56c9b/32.png) [@scampering\_gremlin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scampering_gremlin)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2001, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-at-the-supermarket-who-bug-you/87973/116 "2001-10-24T20:30:01Z")
This only applies to the able-bodied, of course… Would it really kill you to walk an extra thirty feet to the building door? Or do you have an instinctive urge to spend twice the time searching for that magical nonexistent space just a little closer to the entrance, meanwhile clogging the parking lot and slowing everyone else in your wake? And SUV owners: “compact” spaces do not accommodate Chevy Suburbans! ---
**Author:** ![FallFast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ba9def/32.png) [@FallFast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FallFast)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2001, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-at-the-supermarket-who-bug-you/87973/117 "2001-10-24T20:31:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mogwei22 \* > \*\*Well…I don’t know if this happens everywhere…but there is an older woman that shops in my neighborhood grocery store…she looks normal enough…I watched her one day shucking (I guess that’s the correct term) the corn in her carriage…in the middle of the produce aisle…and she was hiding all of her corn husks under the display of bagged potatoes…and she then proceeded to move about the grocery store opening packages and sampling items…I hate watching people open up the bakery containers just to get a cookie…I even saw someone take a bite then put the rest of the cookie back in the container…what the fu…?! > > The worst…the people with carriages (baby and grocery) who think it’s their own personal weapon and use it to nudge me out of there way…a simple “excuse me” would suffice… \*\* Oh my god, the baby carriage weapon is the worst. I was in a large grocery store standing there looking for something and this “lady”, okay a bitch with her weapon came up from beside me and bopped my leg with it quickly 3 or 4 times and in a rather annoying voice said “move I want were you are standing”. I almost went midevil on her, she was very lucky my wife was there with me to literaly hold me back. I just went off on her. I really hate those women that use the carriage as a way to move people out of there way like a battering ram. Sorry folks, usually I can take a lot of stuff and just brush it off but she got to me. ---
**Author:** ![DopeyDave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@DopeyDave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DopeyDave)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2001, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-at-the-supermarket-who-bug-you/87973/118 "2001-10-25T03:19:48Z")
Greetings, all. I just found this site last week, and have been going ga-ga reading the great rants. I can’t keep up! I hate stores that depend on the cash register working out your change by entering the amount tendered. This supposedly makes things easier and faster, but it is definitely not faster, and often is more complicated. For example, for a bill of $14.50, I might tender $15. The change is obviously $0.50 even to the slowest cashier. So they should just have to press the ‘Enter’ key and give me $0.50. But no, they think they have to enter $15 for amount tendered, and then check the screen to tell them to get 50 cents out for me. Worse, if the bill is $14.05 and I give them $15.05, they feel they must enter $15.05. I have queried this a couple of times and was told that they must do this so that there will be no dispute about the change, or about how much I tendered. I cannot see how it would stop a dispute if I said I had given them $20.05 for example. An even worse aspect is the note of triumph in their voice when they tell you how much change there is – which proves merely that they can read a display and take out the right money – even tho’ by giving them the extra cents I probably was capable of calculating the change myself. Some small shopkeepers, bless 'em (how old does that make me sound?), use the old-fashioned method of counting out the change ‘backwards’ to the original amount, with necessary modifications for odd amounts tendered. For example, with a bill of $24.05, if I tendered $40.05, they would think, ‘I must build $24 up to $40’, and ignore the five cents. Then they would pick out a $1, a $5 and a $10, and count them back to me: ‘25, 30, 40 dollars’. I would see the change as they counted it out, so I would not have to check it before putting it in my wallet, and they would not have to stare at a screen to get the change and then work out how to make up that amount. The only down side would be that they would not necessarily be able to subtract 24 from 40. A minor trade-off, and possibly there would be a subconscious learning since they had seen the notes build to the final amount. ---
**Author:** ![DopeyDave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@DopeyDave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DopeyDave)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2001, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-at-the-supermarket-who-bug-you/87973/119 "2001-10-25T07:01:59Z")
I stuffed up in my very first post, by not reading the faq! No big deal, but I did want my signature to appear. I suppose I am now eligible to appear in a thread about annoying netiquette violations. Cheers. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2001, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-at-the-supermarket-who-bug-you/87973/120 "2001-10-25T10:49:43Z")
DopeyDave– They do it that way for a reason: It prevents many more problems than it causes. Just about anyone who has ever worked in retail management will tell you that. If you require your cashier to type in the amount tendered: a) You minimize errors b) You minimize customer complaints. As to point b–your cashiers may be sharp as tacks, but some of your customers will be complete dum-dums. Ever tried to explain a transaction to a complete dum-dum? It’s a lot easier if all the numbers are there on the receipt. Plus, some customers complain if the cashier doesn’t put in the “right” amount. Anyway, on balance, it’s a good policy. And wecome to the boards. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-at-the-supermarket-who-bug-you/87973.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-at-the-supermarket-who-bug-you/87973.md?page=7)