People at the supermarket who bug you

In My Humble Opinion
41

Minor gripe the first
That lady ahead of me who has her cart behind her to unload. Okay, that makes sense. Unloads all her food. Then instead of moving her cart ahead of her so I can start unloading my shopping while she’s being checked out, lets the cashier scan all her groceries, lets the bagger bag all her groceries, pays for her groceries, and THEN AND ONLY THEN moves her cart forward so the bagger can put her groceries in. She annoys me.

Minor gripe the second
When I finally manage to wedge my way forward to the very back of the empty conveyor belt thingy, why does the cashier have to start it running right away? She’s still waiting for the previous customer to pay exact change in pennies. They still have to discuss the coupon situation. My groceries are being conveyed needless, all spread out on the conveyor belt. Then they’re going to end up all jumbly!
[sup]But I got cookies, so that’s okay[/sup]

42

Why am I always in the SLOWEST checkout lane? Why do I always get behind the old lady who wants to pay with a check? And finally, why do I always get behind someone who has an item without a price on it??

43

Sorry to hear that, lawoot.

The only reason this bugs me is that I don’t consider it professional behavior. If you deal with the public, then deal with the public in a way that makes your employer look good; don’t make others uncomfortable.

Robin

44

The deli clerk who groans or rolls her eyes when I ask for my order to be cut thin. Hey, you asked. Anyways, you get paid by the hour, not the pound or number of customers.

45

Yes. Even more odd/annoying is when they ask you “Did you find everything all right?” as you are checking out and leaving the store! Very hard to avoid them (legally) then.

I also don’t really like cashiers making a lot of comments about my groceries. OK, they’re not mean comments, but it still bugs me. Maybe it’s just me.

46

I’m not too fond of the teenaged checkout girl who feels the need to discuss (with the teenaged bagboy) her drunken escapades of the night before–or her planned drunkenness of the night to come–rather loudly and blatantly while there are customers standing right there. This is so incredibly trashy, but they do it all the time. Geez, talk about that later, would you? I have nothing against drunkenness, mind you, but at least be discreet when you’re underage and supposedly working in customer service.

47

The other week, in a slow-moving checkout queue, I met the rudest pair of women ever. And they weren’t even old, which is a normal excuse for rudeness…

First, they very stroppily told me to “move forward - you’re holding us up” - this was because there was a gap of 3 or 4 inches between the front of my trolley and the legs of the woman in front. Apparantly, me occupying this tiny gap would make the queue move quicker, even though there were half a dozen people still waiting in front of us.

This constant nagging continued every time the queue inched forwards - if I didn’t fill a microscopic gap in front instantly, the two witches would tut-tut behind me and push their trolley into the back of my legs.

Finally, after putting up with 20 minutes of this constant rudeness, it got to my turn at the checkout. As I was about to unload my groceries, one of the hags grabbed me and asked me to let her be served first.

Note - it was not a polite “Oh, would you mind if I cut in, I’m in a bit of a hurry”, or “Are you in a rush? If not, would you mind if we just nipped in front?”. Ordinarily, I would let someone in a hurry cut in front of me (providing of course they are not affecting anyone else).

No, not these goats - after 20 minutes of ramming my legs, the evil woman who grabbed me spat “Are you going to be quick? Because this queue is moving slowly, and if you’re going to be slow then we’d rather go first.”

Obviously I did not feel inclined to let her in, so I just said “It’s moving slowly for all of us, darling. Wait your turn.”

Anyway, the slow cashier processed my goods, and just as I was paying, one of the rude dogs behind announced loudly “Oh God, now I’ve missed my bus. That’s another 20 minutes I have to wait.”

“Good,” I called back, “It’ll give you both time to learn some manners.”

GRRRR - all I ask for are basic manners.

48

I had an annoying encounter at a grocery store recently.

Our local Kroger has an area where you can do the checkout yourself, with a scanner and a touch screen device. It has 4 stations on two tables, and one line forms behind them, whenever there is an open position the line moves forward. The fact that there is just one line is reinforced by the fact they have the entrance roped off so you CAN’T form two lines.

Well, I’m standing there with my milk and sandwich bags and this middle-aged lady comes up behind me and asks me which line I am in. I tell her I’m waiting for the next station to become available. She says with a tone in her voice ‘I don’t blame you, I guess that’s what I would do’, sounds like she’s appending in her mind ‘if I was a big asshole like you’. Anyway, while we are waiting for one of the four customers to finish ringing up their order she’s tapping her foot and sighing a lot. One of the customers finishes scanning her stuff and she says ‘Look, there’s one you can use’ and I tell her ‘Not yet, they are paying with a check’ (when you pay with a check you have to go forward to this guy who oversees the four checkouts and he gets your ID and all that stuff associated with checks, and the checkout has a ‘Please Wait’ screen come up until they are finished). Sure enough, one of the other customers pays with a credit card and their station opens up before the one with the person filling out a check.

Not worth a rant, but I thought I’d mention it since we were on the subject. It was only really notable because the grocery store is one of the few places where I very rarely experience any kind of unpleasantness, maybe because I usually go during the day when all the experienced people choose to work their shifts (as opposed to evenings/nights, which are busy and staffed by the newbies)…

49

Hey, nothing wrong with a bit of flirting. Just because I’m married doesn’t mean it’s not fun anymore, and it’s not like I’m going to pick up some cashier 10 years my junior at Kroger - if you’re going to cheat, you have to do it with mature women who understand the value of discretion, or at least with women who don’t know your name from your Kroger card and work somewhere that your wife is unlikely to go.

50

So I do my graocery shopping at Super Wal-Mart after I get off at 7, ostensibly because it’s less crowded then, but surprise! That’s the time they’re cleaning the floors, re-stocking, etc. So I have to dodge those folks as I shop.

I am almost certain they’re violating a fire code when I take my buggy down an aisle and see a pallet smack-dab in the way, and this is not just in the wee hours either!

Another is the LOL (little old lady) who decides in the check-out lane that several items she has purchased just cost too much and the poor checker has to void them out. (My Mom, God rest her soul, was the queen of that maneuver!)

Finally, you know those little shopping baskets that you can hand carry? Well, mt local Ingles has two entrances/exits, but they only put those baskets at one when they bother at all. Once I walked all the way over to the other door to find them stacked about 50 high directly in front (and hiding) a fire extinguisher.

Quasi

51

I know that scene all right - it seems a little thing, but GOD does it annoy. A similar “one queue - two tills” system works at our local corner shop. When I was waiting in the queue a little while ago, a little old lady (who, I might add, had already pushed in front of me in the Post Office next door) asked me “Which queue are you in?”.
I said, “I’m in the queue - there is only one.”
“I see,” she said, which was clearly old-lady-language for “you little a**hole.”
EVEN WORSE - when she got to a till, she moaned to the woman behind that counter that “That young man over there had a strange queueing system.” She decided to ignore the fact that there were four or five people in front of me when she asked which queue I was in.
The cashier said, “No, that’s the way the queue always works here. That’s why we’ve got the barriers set up like that. We find it’s fairer that way.”
“I see,” the little old woman growled again, shooting ME an evil stare!

I know things like this sound tiny, but what irritates about stories like this is that you just know that the old lady will be muttering to her friends about the “young man” who decided to deliberately start a “new” queueing system just to get at her! Actually, I’d better check that she hasn’t posted it in this thread already…:slight_smile:

52

I can agree that letting children stand in the shopping carts is a Very Bad Thing Indeed, but not because it’s unsanitary. Shopping carts are generally filthy anyway. On the other hand, imagine what happens if the kid slips or falls over…

Has nobody mentioned the minicarts or have I just overlooked it? Those dinky carts meant for little kids who want to “help” while Mom/Dad is shopping. When used properly, with a little kid closely supervised by a responsible adult, they’re kind of cute. Unfortunately most of the time the carts are in the hands of unsupervised little kids (brought to the store by a parent who figures as long as the kid is entertained, why bother keeping an eye on him?), or older kids/teens who think it’s funny to race them around. I saw a particularly annoying example a week ago. Three girls, about ten years old, were first just running up and down the aisles chasing each other and then using the carts as little luge sleds in some messy game. I ended up in the check-out line behind a woman who I guess was the mother of one of the girls. They started bugging her for gum and she said, and I quote, “Well, since you were all so patient while I got my shopping done, I’ll buy you some this time.” :mad:

53

I shop in a very modern grocery where the aisles are large enough for two shopping carts to pass each other with no trouble. Yet people still park their cart in the middle of the aisle. Why? I keep have to squeeze by them.

People with more items than allowed in the checkout lane. I once complained about such a bitch, and she started screaming at me so bad that the manager came over. She started in about how I was “running my filthy mouth” and she wasn’t going to stand behind a bunch of people for her items–17 of them. I know cause I counted them in front of her and the manager. She was furious!

Now I just say very loudly “It’s a pity that over half of the people in New Jersey can’t read or count…and they are all in the express line at this grocery.”

Once the checkout lady was flirting with the bag boy, and rang up my $10 as a $20. I took my change without a word and left. And let’s not forget baggers who accidently miss something. Our grocery has a sign to “make sure they bag your entire order.” Like that is MY job?

54

I hate the people who tell me about you “stupid young kids who think you know everything.” First off, fuck you. I’m 23.

And it’s not just customers - it’s COWORKERS!!!

Or people who complain because you’re closed and you’re going home, or going on a break. One guy told me, even though he was the last guy in my line - “You’re making yourself more important than the customers!” I said, “Sir, I haven’t eaten in five hours, and if I don’t take a break now, I’m going to pass out. And then who would ring you up?”

55

Confession:

I’m the anal sale price/couponer in front of you holding up the line. Meijer (kinda like a Super Wal-Mart) matches competitor prices if you bring their store ad. So I’m up there saying “… and if you turn to page 3 of the Cub’s ad you’ll see that Prego is on sale for 99 cents …”

And yes, I expect the scanner to ring up the exact sale price. And yes, I will argue with cashier so far as to walk to the front of the store and grab an ad, thus holding up the line for a few more seconds.
Peeves:

Stores now require those freakin’ cards to get the sale price on items. Marsh started this first and I would forget to give them the card to scan and of course end up paying double what I expected. At least now the cashier is required to ask you for your card.

Now Kroger has those cards and now uses them as a weapon to rip you off. The Kroger in my town is notorious for not programming their scanners with the sale price. Before when an item did not ring up the sale price, I brought it to the attention of the cashier right away. Now the sale price is calculated after everything is scanned and you give them the card, so you don’t realize you’ve been ripped off until you examine your receipt. I try not to go to Kroger anymore, thanks to price matching at other stores.

Kroger also had a promotion where if you transfered a prescription to their pharmacy, you got $10 off in groceries. I don’t care where I get my Prilosec refilled so I figured, “hey $10 in free groceries is nothing to sneeze at”. The coupons for this came in the mail. The pharmacist stamps the coupon when you get your meds. I go do my grocery shopping and check out, give the cashier the coupon.
The cashier has no clue how to process the coupon, calls the manager over. The manager gives me a look like I’m trying to rip off the store. Geez, you should know about your own promotions. Like I said, I don’t go to Kroger much any more.

As mentioned before, people who block aisles. I usually say “excuse me” in a cheerful, non-condescending way, but always get shot a look like I just pissed in their Cheerios.

Improperly rapped meat items: I buy ground beef and take it home, put it in fridge. Next day open fridge, it stinks to high heaven. Find the seal on the gb is not tight and the meat is no longer good and I got a bloody mess to clean up, too.

Nitpick: Meijer, wouldn’t it make more sense to have the frozen/refrigerated food section at the back of the store instead of the front? If I put the frozen stuff in the cart first it’ll be melted by the time I finish all my shopping. Yeah, I know I can start from the back work my way up to the front, but I think the store should be set up a little more logically.

Bagger: Do you want your milk in a bag?
Me: No, just leave it in the carton
Bagger: (confused look)

Bagger: Paper or plastic?
Me: Doesn’t matter
Bagger puts groceries in paper bag, puts paper bag in plastic.

Cashier: Do you have any coupons?
Me: Yes I do (hand over coupons)
Cashier not expecting to get them from a male in his twenties.

As you can see I have more beef (no pun intended) with the store and their employees than fellow customers.

56

I agree with Turd (love the name!) about the Meijer situation. I can’t get away from that store - there are three in my town alone - and (forgive me Father for I have sinned) I used to work for one. It wasn’t until I went through their training classes that I realized just how corrupt the whole supermarket business can be.

But enough on that rant; this post is supposed to be about people at the supermarket who bother me. Anyone who posted about the people who put an item back in the wrong spot should be given a medal. That is the single-most irritating thing for customers and employees alike. My girlfriend does that all the time and I generally tear her a new one, which has gotten her to the point where she won’t go shopping with me anymore. (My plan worked! Whoo-hoo!)

The shopping-cart-in-the-middle-of-the-aisle people piss me off and deserve to be dragged behind the penny horse at the front of the store, the assholes. But there was this one time when someone actually committed an act much more deserving of punishment and ridicule - if you are going to shoplift, do it off the racks at the store. Don’t take stuff out of my cart. I’ve had to deal with fighting my way through the store, so keep your filthy paws off my HoHo’s!

There are crosswalks leading into the parking lot for a reason. You slow down, but never EVER stop for me to come through with my cart. So if your car gets scratched and you get the bird for that one, don’t give me a dirty look. Just quit acting like a moron.

Wow, I feel better about getting that off my chest. Thank you for your time.

-Syko

“My cat’s breath smells like cat food.” - Ralph Wiggum

57

Oh, do tell!!

58

The problem with supermarkets is that they prevent stupid people from starving to death, thus hindering natural selection.

Consider the case of two teenagers who thought it would be funny to play catch. In the dairy section. With a gallon of milk.

And when, in the resulting mess they were splattered with milk, they ran off. LIKE ANYONE IS GOING TO MISS TWO TEENAGERS RUNNING AROUND IN FRIGHT WHILE DRENCHED IN MILK.

How about people who use their shopping cart to hold a freezer door open to take out multiple items, then wander off to get something from the bread section while leaving the freezer open?

Yesterday (Thursday), I encountered to the customer from hell. Not only did she use coupons that were for a different size of the product AND make a check, she sent her child off to grab various items that she missed. To top it off, the child was apparently illiterate, as he spent half an hour searching the frozen foods section for bread.

I actually found a creative thing to do with those people who park their carts in the middle of the aisle. I purchased a booklet of fake parking tickets. Endless fun, right? They’re even better when you put them on carts and check for reason “Illegally Parked.”

59

You know who I’ve got problems with at the grocery store? Whoever the heck designed the parking lots.

Who had the brilliant idea to incorporate big bushes into the end-of-lane landscaping? I mean, they’re nice and all, pleasant to look at, but impossible to see through. Which, when you’re looking to make a turn into intermittent traffic, is kind of an important thing.

If I ever get nailed while doing one of those “hope to god this works” turns out into the traffic lane of one of my local grocery stores (around here, they’re all designed like this), you bet your butt I’m gonna find out who designed this lot, and give them a piece of my mind. And get a whole chunk of theirs in return.

Argh.

And everything everyone else has said, too.

60

Well you see Green Bean, I could tell you but then I’d have to kill you. I signed an oath in blood that the important information would never … oh hell, I can’t lie.

Basically they will just do anything to get your money, and their promos are all LIES! LIES I TELL YOU!! Plus the staff is overworked, underpaid, treated like garbage and generally disrespected by management unless the employee is a total kiss-ass. I suppose the same could be said about any other big corporation (or in the case of Meijer, any expanding buisiness), but in the end, “customer satisfaction” is just another ploy to get your money.

I guess that counts as another thing that bothers me about supermarkets, huh? Horrible Satan people who run them…

-Syko

“My cat’s breath smells like cat food.” - Ralph Wiggum