Friday, July 22, 2011

Pet Peeves: The Grocery Store

Ah yes. The grocery store. If driving there doesn't get your pet peeve ire up, then an hour of shopping will.

Janet's Top 5 Grocery Store Pet Peeves

Parking the cart. Why oh why do people stop their carts in the middle of the aisle (usually at an angle so I can't get around them) and then either just stand there for no reason at all or float off to browse the shelves?


Samples. The sample table is the bane of my grocery store existence. Especially at Costco, where people abandon their double-wide carts anywhere and stand there, waiting for those chicken nuggets to be done so they can eat half of one for free. If they were selling them for 5 cents each, I guarantee nobody would buy one.

Cutting the line. This one is courtesy of my friend Macie, who hates nothing more than when she's standing in line, a new checkstand opens up, and the people behind her rush over to get in first. A little consideration, people!


Standing too close. And speaking of standing in line, do not breathe down my neck and do not bump the back of my legs with your cart. Standing closer does not mean you will be done faster. As my daughter says, "Respect the bubble!"

Be ready.
When the checker has completed your order, that is not the time to start rummaging in your purse for your store card and then start thinking about how you'd like to pay. This sounds sexist, but when choosing a line I try to pick the one with the most men in it, because they rarely have a store card and they nearly always pay in cash.

I know I said 5 things, but I just remembered one more that I really hate:

Checker and clerk social hour. I don't mind if you guys chat a little, but when you completely ignore me to have an entire conversation about what you did last night, how tired you are, or worst of all, how disgruntled you are at your job, it's completely rude.


Have I covered them all? Do you have others to add?

15 comments:

  1. Amen sister! Especially to the standing too close thing...especially odd when you are paying and they are RIGHT next to you!

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  2. Ahh!! These drive me nuts as well... ESPECIALLY employees talking and talking and talking while I just want to pay and get out of there.... rah! -- Sea Marie

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  3. Aaah, when the cart has a messed up wheel!

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  4. Haha.... now I'm going to feel really bad the next time I have to rummage for that gift card I just know I left in my purse SOMEWHERE... :-D

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  5. Hilarious!!! I hate the grocery store too! I tried once to survive the week based only on what I got at the farmer's market, but I just couldn't make it happen...

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  6. Now, I do love a good Costco sample, but I am much more conscious of my cart (not that I wasn't before) now that I have someone riding in the front of it. I agree with all the things you have listed here, and I will add stocking shelves when the store is open. Isn't that what after-hours workers are for? Or, like 10 pm at least?

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  7. Oh yes, the whole sample thing really creeps me out. The free food is not all that good for the most part.

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  8. My biggest pet peeve is when they do a horrible job of bagging in the bags we bring. It's a big issue because we walk, so when they overload one bag and make it too heavy it's hard to carry the half mile or so back to our building. I usually try to jump in and bag myself, but sometimes they won't let me.

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  9. I believe you've covered them all! My biggest pet peeve is the standing too close, it freaks me out.

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  10. You've got some of mine as well. I always have to watch the cashier because a couple weeks ago she put my bananas in the same bag as the canned goods! Not very bright!

    Then there is the parking lot pet peeve. When you are driving through the parking lot why do people have to walk slowly at an angle in front of you instead of just crossing the aisle? I want to run them over!!!!

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  11. All of the above and I'll add one. Why can't items be stocked where we would expect to find them? One time I was looking for canned pumpkin and after walking all over the store several times I found it on the JELLO AISLE! Now how could I have missed it? Doesn't everybody put canned pumpkin in their jello?
    Laura

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  12. I'm SO with you on the Costco samples... could they place the carts to make more of a cart jam??? It's almost like they are doing it on purpose.
    When my Brian was in the military I shopped on base and they had these little cart parking spaces for when you walked along the meat aisle... genius!

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  13. Too true! My biggest pet peeve doesn't even happen in the store - I can't believe the amount of people that are too lazy to walk the cart back to its home! Leaving carts to take up parking spaces and roll into other cars is just rude.

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  14. What aggravates me is when you're next in line and the person at the check out has either items that require a price check (because of some flub in the computer), their card refuses to scan, or there's some glitch with the register that requires the attention of a supervisor or manager and wastes an extra 20 minutes of your time spent waiting. And of course you can’t just go to another check out line as that’s what everybody behind you has already done !

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  15. Hahaha, that was quite an educational post! Things are slightly different in Europe, at least as far as the sample table is concerned. People taste casually, almost like they are not doing it, no lines or anything. But I can imagine a line for tasting half a nugget haha, that would fill me up with many negative thoughts!

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