If I buy six or eight cans of something in one aisle, I can’t carry them back to the cart. Lots of cans are hard to carry. Generally, when I have something on list, it is time to stock up on it. I don’t buy one can of beans at a time.
Quite honestly, I don’t have any problen getting my cart through the asle. I think that would be easier than trying to get around parked carts up at the end of the aisle, unattended by anyone to move them if politely asked. I usually walk through ahead, pulling my cart behind, so I can clear the way if I need to.
I’ll get in line behind a lady who has two children and a partially-full cart. It should only take a few minutes, right?
Wrong. First, some of the items have to be rung up using a WIC card (or equivalent). Next, the stuff that doesn’t qualify has to be rung up and paid for separately. Then, there’s a separate set of groceries to be rung up and paid for on behalf of the woman’s mother, who is waiting out in the car. Finally, each child makes a separate small purchase using his/her own money.
Seriously. I’ve waited on FIVE different ring-outs (along with price-checks and having to put one or more items back because the $20 bill from the mother wouldn’t cover what she asked for) on more than one occasion.
I do this. I’d prefer to use baskets but they seem to have disappeared from most stores. So I end up just carrying things in my hands. Last week, after not being able to find 1/2 the things I wanted at the overpriced store with 8 managers walking around ignoring people, I just left the contents of my arm-cart in a random place and walked out.
Most women never will, because they have their purses in the cart, so it must be with them every step of the way. If they could lean into the freezer case with the cart, they would.
That reminds me: what kind of a moron leaves her open purse in plain sight, in her unattended cart, with her wallet sitting right on top? I see this all the time, and it baffles me.
I’ve heard of parents of young children doing this when their kids got fussy. C’mon, why did you waste your trip? If you know the kid’s going to have a full-fledged meltdown, take what you have and check out! The other shoppers will live, and they won’t remember you 5 minutes later.
One grocery store in my old town hired a mentally challenged woman to bag groceries. The problem was, she wasn’t capable of doing that either. She was pleasant but I would always use another cashier if I saw her working, because she just plain old did not know what she was doing.
How about people who want the cashier to price-match EVERY.SINGLE.ITEM with the Aldi’s ad? I once got behind a woman who was doing that, and I said, “Why didn’t you just go to Aldi’s in the first place?” She replied, “It’s too far.” :smack: Srsly, it would have taken her less time to drive there than she spent doing this.
I also cannot stand people who do half their shopping WHILE THEY ARE CHECKING OUT. :mad: RRRRGGHHH
I sometimes leave my cart at the end of an aisle and walk down to get the item I want, if it’s exceptionally busy. There’s often no place anywhere in any aisle though, to park it without it being in the way of something.
However, park-and-walk becomes a slight risk at busy times.
In the lead-up to Christmas one year, I was lucky enough to get the last piece of smoked gammon on the shelf. I left my cart at the end of another aisle later to grab a jar of mustard and when I came back, someone had taken the gammon out of my cart.
Another time I did this right near the end of an hour of shopping and I returned to find my whole cart was gone. I scoured the whole store in case someone else had mistakenly taken it, but could not find it anywhere. I guess a staff member must have thought it was abandoned and taken it away.
I had to repeat the whole shopping list (and some of the items on my list were now sold out).
It’s been years since I used a cart. I only enter the store if the parking lot is less than half-full. I walk in, grab a basket, and get what I need. Hit the self checkout (which is usually empty) and get out of there.
I do 99% of my grocery store shopping between 10 pm and midnight.
I had a woman who asked me to price check every freaking item and then insisted I ring it up on the bar code. She had more than one of some items, but still insisted on doing a price check, an then ringing it up on the bar code.
She the proceeded to take 7 minutes checking the register slip against her items, individually. Didn’t just check the total amount of items and then count what she had, but took every item out and checked it against the slip. And made me do a price check on four items.
Which led me to this rule, mostly at places like Sam’s: NEVER get behind two women shopping together. Even if they have five items, it will be two transactions they will argue over, if not a third for one or the other’s mama, babysitter or sister.
I’ve mentioned this to checkers. They look at me, go blank, then laugh. “Yup.”
I don’t mind the person who has to run back for one item… been there myself. As long as they don’t wait until the last minute and don’t drag ass about it, I don’t mind.
What does drive me crazy are people - usually old women and very young ones, college students it often seems - who wait until the cart is bagged and packed before even pulling out their wallet. As if it’s a surprise they have to pay. And then fumble slowly with the transaction as if they’ve never done it before. argh.
The behavior that most mystifies is to drive around and around in the parking lot, looking for a slightly closer parking spot. My policy is to park plenty far away, out of range of car doors and shopping carts, and leave the closer spots for people who need them
The problem I have in a grocery store are the elderly zombies that come out of retirement to study soup ingredients like they’re part of a book club or purchase deli items one slice at a time (after sampling each one). And they all suffer from credit card groundhog day where they forget how to use a chipped card.
Not to pile on but your method seems less efficient. It’s more walking. It runs the risk of people taking things out of your cart or the store assuming your cart was abandoned. Also having an empty cart taking up space somewhere is an inconvenience to other shoppers. There isn’t even anyone to say “Excuse me” to if your cart is in the way of something they need.
That said, I tend to use hand baskets. The store I frequent used to have a great hybrid of carts and baskets. It had a arcing handle like a hand basket but was deeper and larger but also had a small extending handle and wheels like luggage so you can drag it behind you. They were great for heavier things like soda. I noticed over time they were harder to find and eventually disappeared. When I asked why, they told me people would steal them.
She replied, “It’s too far.” :smack: Srsly, it would have taken her less time to drive there than she spent doing this.