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Original poster

Checkout line-when you know the person in front...

48 replies

BigMy · 15/09/2019 02:48

Just want to guage opinion on this really as I would avoid getting in the same supermarket checkout queue as someone I know. However, today I had a friend (opposite sex) who queued behind me and I didnt notice until they had unpacked everything and I was mostly finished repacking up my stuff. He even made a joke about looking at my stuff.
It did feel a bit odd actually and made me realise that I would have avoided going behind someone I know in order to give them (and myself) privacy. AIBU?!

OP posts:

Biancadelrioisback · 15/09/2019 08:37

If I'm doing a small shop, sometimes I grab combinations of things that make me look like a crazy women. Cucumber, bottle of wine and condoms made for a good laugh

MsAwesomeDragon · 15/09/2019 08:40

You only need privacy when you're buying something embarrassing. I would have been horrified if anyone I knew was behind me when buying a pregnancy test, or thrush treatment, or condoms, or anything else that's really personal or intimate.

Luckily, my weekly shop mostly consists of boring old fruit, veg, etc. Normal groceries.

I buy the embarrassing stuff in small transactions at the self check outs, so not even the cashier gets to quiz me about it. Not that I buy embarrassing stuff very often.

BeingATwatItsABingThing · 15/09/2019 08:44

Self checkout is a godsend for me and my social anxieties!

Ginfordinner · 15/09/2019 08:47

Do you suffer from anxiety in general?
TBH this is rather an extreme reaction. Honestly, people don't care.

isabellerossignol · 15/09/2019 08:48

I think that thinking anyone else is interested in what you're buying is a touch self absorbed. Why would you think you are so interesting that everyone else is watching your every move?

BeingATwatItsABingThing · 15/09/2019 08:56

My issue isn’t that I think people are judging my shop. I don’t want people to see me buying OPKs or HPTs because it would be a massive insight into my life that I wouldn’t normally be willing to share.

My issue is that I really struggle to talk to people out of their normal context.

Ginfordinner · 15/09/2019 09:03

Can you order them online instead? Being?
TBH I don't think I would even be able to recognise those things on a supermarket conveyor belt unless I was closely scrutinising someone's shopping.

ChangeItChild · 15/09/2019 09:04

If you're so sensitive about people you may know seeing your shopping you should shop online.

It's a bit strange really.

HorseradishSnowflake · 15/09/2019 09:07

I'm really surprised so many people think this is weird! If it's a good friend I'd join their queue so we could chat but a colleague or acquaintance I would avoid. Partly because of privacy and also so I don't have to make small talk.

BeingATwatItsABingThing · 15/09/2019 09:13

Ginfordinner

I buy pregnancy tests online but I like the Asda OPKs so have to go in to get them. The thought of someone putting them into the crate for my home delivery makes me feel uncomfortable (I know they really couldn’t care less) so I have to buy them myself. I love that Asda have self service for trolley loads now.

Ginfordinner · 15/09/2019 09:17

I'm not surprised, because most people really don't care. I don't think I have ever cared what people thought about my shopping, even when I was buying condoms. I am a friendly, chatty sort so I love having a good catch up with friends and acquaintances, so it really wouldn't bother me.

Your post just tells me that you aren't very confident or outgoing, and there is nothing wrong with that. I used to be like you until I had the realisation that people aren't as interested in me as I thought they were.

BlythesEyes · 15/09/2019 11:05

My friend put 3 tubes of vagisil in my basket as a joke whilst shopping recently. I only realised when I was at the checkout.
If another friend had noticed I'd had been embarrassed.
The young girl at the checkout was trying not to chortle as I questioned how they got there....whilst my friend was curled up in a corner in hysterics

Choice4567 · 15/09/2019 11:45

Hadn’t even occurred to me. I’d see someone I know and deliberately choose that queue so that I’d have someone to chat to

GlamGiraffe · 15/09/2019 11:49

OP. What supermarket are you shopping at that sells such embarrassing items?

Maybe other MSs are too, if not maybe we all need to check it out!

Maybe he is buying the same embarrassing items! In aforementioned embarrassing supermarket

HOME DELIVERY!!

ChopinIn10Minuets · 15/09/2019 12:08

How old are you and your friend BlythesEyes????

flowery · 15/09/2019 12:12

“Friend” or “person I know”?

Those are very different. I’d probably avoid small talk with a person I know, but an actual friend I’d deliberately go and see them.

I would not be concerned about either of those groups seeing my shopping!

Oakandlove · 15/09/2019 12:16

why didn't he say hello, that is the weird part, he stood there silently watching you.

1066vegan · 15/09/2019 12:38

If I saw someone I knew in a queue I'd definitely join a different queue. Not out of embarrassment. Just to avoid having to make small talk.

If I see someone I know when I'm still going round the supermarket then I tend to go in a different aisle for the same reason.

I'm an introvert with ASD so probably should do my supermarket shop online. 😁

dudsville · 15/09/2019 12:43

But what on earth,it's not as if the shop has a secret room full of forbidden things for sale. Everything is out on the shelves. Out there. Already on display. Can't stress this enough.

TheCanterburyWhales · 15/09/2019 12:47

Whether the trolley was full of lube or pot noodles or whatever, the other weird thing (and I agree this op is one of the weirdest and I've been here since 2003) is that the OP would avoid a supermarket queue if someone she knew was in it.
Easiest way to lose friends I ever saw...oh there's Deirdre, I won't wave and say hi like a normal human being! Not me! I'll slink off furtively to the end checkout with my head down so a) she'll think I'm a nasty fucker b) she'll tell everyone in the staffroom I've got a trolley full of cheese strings c) she'll think the bloke behind me is my lunchtime lover and both the lube and the strings of cheese are to enhance the moment.

FatAndFurious7 · 15/09/2019 13:03

This is a bizarre question. Personally I love bumping into people I know when out running errands, I'm a chatter box and anything to make the weekly shop more interesting. If you're buying particularly secretive things why dont you go to a pharmacy or order online or something.. or just give people some credit and realise they dont give teo shits what you're buying.
I realised a few weeks ago after I'd happily stood for a few minutes talking to one of my friends that I was stood with prenatal pills in my basket in clear view and we havent even told anyone we're TTC!

flowery · 15/09/2019 14:13

”Personally I love bumping into people I know when out running errands, I'm a chatter box and anything to make the weekly shop more interesting”

For an introvert like me, bumping into people would make the whole shopping exercise draining. I can be very chatty and sociable, interested in people, make small talk, I can press that ‘switch’ and be the life and soul! But that takes a toll so I’d rather confine all that to occasions/situations where it is either necessary, expected or beneficial (to me or other people).

MardyLardy · 15/09/2019 14:19

Munster makes me realise that to some people I must be some horrific intrusive pirate as I yell and chat my way through life making random comments to strangers and springing visits on friends.

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