Supermarket etiquette

Depends which town/city/village. The smaller the more likely to wait in my experience.

It depends. If they are attention seeking and trying to control strangers by meticulously selecting their mundane tomatoes, definitely B

A

Obviously B. I've never been in any supermarket where two people can't easily pick tomatoes/potatoes/ broccoli out of the container at the same time. Its never occurred to me that this could be a queueing situation.
I wonder if the a vs b divide depends on your regular supermarket or type of shop though? The one I use the most is right by a tube station. Most people just want to get what they need and get home. Very little vague browsing going on, very efficient and very few trolleys. I can't imagine many a type shoppers in there. But if it was a doing The Big Shop, with a full trolley and the family with you, kind of supermarket then I can see why people would be more a about things.

Really? Of course I may be too IRL

B, though in practice I've never known anyone get huffy over sharing the space to grab the same veg so not sure what my reaction would be to that, probably to just ignore them and grab what i needed. All the crates are easily big enough for 2 side by side.

I'd not want someone hovering around waiting behind me, find that far more uncomfortable than them just coming over and grabbing what they need!

If you want to avoid Dithery McFaff-face then you are better buying your tomatoes from Aldl instead of Tescburys as the worst culprits tend to stay away from Aldl coz they can't cope with the check out experience

How is it possible to tell if someone is disabled? I am. No one would guess by just looking at me because I’m only out in public when well enough.

I could easily see myself doing what that woman did, but only if you'd chosen the only 'green' tomatoes in the crate.

However, on this ocassion, I'm willing to take you at your word i.e. all of the tomatoes in said crate were uniform! 😛

I was considering a part time job in a supermarket post retirement for something to keep me busy. I might have to think again. Not sure I have the patience for that shit.

@LadyOfTheCanyon is accurate and I can confirm that everybody should do a customer service role as part of national service, it would make for a world full of better behaving customers.

There is a special place in hell reserved for those who bruise all the sodding fruit and veg while deciding which to buy, only to end up buying fucking none of the shit they've fucked up

@Floofydawg

I do have very dark thoughts sometimes about pushing these people headfirst into a chest freezer.

Literally😂 I’m standing waiting around for the person to pick what they like. I’ll take my tomatoes and go thanks

OMG @LadyOfTheCanyon how have you not killed someone?!

I work in retail and can confirm that there are far more ditherers than decisive people out there.

What should happen is this:
1/ Make a decision about what you want to buy
2/ Take to appropriate till
3/ Pay.
4/ Leave swiftly.

What does happen though is usually:
1/ Pick up several tomatoes, put them back in the wrong place, drop some, squash some beyond even the dreams of passata., leave some in random places round the shop to be discovered two days later.

2/ Find a member of staff and ask penetrating questions about how much tomatoes are when the price is clearly and repeatedly advertised next to them.

3/ Ask member of staff which tomatoes they think are the best thing to buy, given that tomatoes are identical. This is sometimes bookended by irrelevant anecdotes about tomatoes, and sometimes potatoes.

4/ Take to till

5/ Lose ability to locate purse/ decide that there's something they've forgotten and set off at great haste back to the vegetation section, probably to repeat points 1-3 again with another unsuspecting member of staff. Return, forgot where they put purse. Forget how to use contactless. Repeatedly ask if we take Amex. Insist on paying the whole amount in shrapnel.

6/ Upon completion of sale, produce a 10p off coupon and then insist on seeing a supervisor as I now cannot do anything about it.

The upshot of all this is that so am an absolute DREAM customer.

If the crate is big enough to reach in quickly to grab what I want then B but if not then always A.

@PocketBattleship Why do you, the person who got there later, get to decide what's an appropriate amount of time?
Why do you as the first person to get there, get to determine that it's a one person activity? If my getting tomatoes does not stop you getting tomatoes and the only issue you have is that you don't like sharing space then that's on you I'm afraid

No I don't. I say 'Excuse me please, I'm in a hurry' flash a smile, grab the tomatoes (I feel no need to examine each one individually) and say 'Thank you' then leave.

You may have time to dither and faff when shopping, I don't.

Or it could be more like using the next cubical or waiting for the first cubicle to be free even though there are other cubicles.

It's just not a great analogy. Cubicles and vege troughs are nothing like each other.

Totally

Well, yes you did. You said if you can't wait, you're rude. I put forward a different perspective on the situation.

PS you might want to ask your self why you dilberately ask questions like that.

Does if make you feel good?

Nothing 'good' about it. Just a different view. Can you not accept views different from your own?

I have been known to swoop in to get the last of an item off the shelf when someone was dithering over whether they wanted it. So B for me.

Do none of you ever speak to other shoppers as if they were , you know, human beings? Like politely saying, can I just grab a few… .

Why? If a stranger in a supermarket asked me if they could take the produce which is clearly on display waiting to be taken, I'd think they were bonkers.

Not comparable.

I don't think I've ever seen a veg container in a supermarket that is so small that two people can't comfortably reach into it at the same time if each of them stands slightly to the side. It wouldn't bother me in the least if someone else was trying to pick out tomatoes at the same time as me.

C) smile and say hello then squeeze in and carry on with my shopping. You don't own the tomato's or exclusive rights to them until you have paid for them.