Tesco social distance guidelines in store

[Wieas]

If you turn in to an aisle and there's, say, several people already in that aisle do I have to stay back at a safe distance and allow them to do their shopping first or can I overtake them staying as far away as possible from them?

I was in Tesco earlier today and a woman already in the aisle kept stopping and starting, picking up various items from different shelves and reading whatever was written on the packaging. I thought if I stay behind her and let her finish browsing and have to do the same in the other aisles every time somebody is already in front of me it's going to take me all flipping day to do my shopping.

I decided to overtake her and get out of the aisle and she turned round saying "6 feet, 6 feet".

What's the correct way? What does everybody else do?

Well if she's putting stuff back on the shelf after reading it she's putting herself at more risk that you being within 6 feet of her.

I've been waiting to go down aisles or coming back to an aisle if it's too full.

Mind you, my local Sainsbury's has staff who seem they are exempt from the 2 metre rule.

You have to wait in mine. There is tape across the whole aisle separating it into rectangles and you can’t be in the same rectangle as someone else.

I shopped this morning, anyone in an aisle turned their trolley sideways and we all passes each other with 2 trolleys between us, smiling and saying thank you.

Mind you there are big signs about shopping with a list and not browsing... Picking things up and putting them back would irritate many people, me included.

I suppose some people just don't cope well.

In our local shops (two equidistant), the shoppers generally follow in a queue - you get the odd person who doesn’t think the rules apply to them.

It’s the retail staff that don’t seem to bother - squeezing past and leaning over. Coming right up to you at the till. I don’t understand it. Outside of the NHS, retail staff and transport workers must be at the highest risk with the number of people they are coming in to contact with.

What’s the point of the shops applying all the rules, when staff don’t follow them?

Mind you, my local Sainsbury's has staff who seem they are exempt from the 2 metre rule.

Fromage Think about it from the staffs point of view.

You may only be going out for a special shopping trip once a week or two seeing very few people, but they’re there every single day coming into contact with lots of people.

So to them the 2m probably seems pointless, and it will also make it very hard for them to do their jobs.

It sounds much more organised than Sainsbury's. They had a queue to get in and then a free for all inside. People were just wandering around as usual. Will definitely head to Tesco next time.

So to them the 2m probably seems pointless, and it will also make it very hard for them to do their jobs.

Except to keep themselves safe (and everyone else they then come into contact with) it’s far more important to keep the 2m distance rule.

Hard, but not impossible.

Except to keep themselves safe (and everyone else they then come into contact with) it’s far more important to keep the 2m distance rule.

Right, but considering the amount of people they’re in contact with, everything they’re touching and breathing in, it probably seems fruitless to them. So of course they’ll be more casual about it because they’re there every single day.

I agree you should pick things up as little as possible but if shopping for someone with allergies you sometimes need to check the back of the packaging (which you can't do without picking it up) and secondly supermarkets (deliberately) hide the decent dates at the back - I don't want all my fresh shopping to expire the day after I have bought it some things must be a few days hence - we are only shopping once a week. In that case you must move things at the front to get the sensible dates at the back.
But I agree people doing it without a good reason are annoying as are people that spend hours looking as they don't know what they want - especially if you need something out of that cabinet so have to stand and wait.

Right, but considering the amount of people they’re in contact with, everything they’re touching and breathing in, it probably seems fruitless to them. So of course they’ll be more casual about it because they’re there every single day.

It’s irrelevant whether it seems fruitless. It’s ridiculous that there’s such stringent rules to even get into the shop when the people who are both more at risk of contracting the virus and more at risk, therefore, of spreading it do not seem to think (on the whole) that the rules apply to them.

I seemed to be on the same shopping path with someone this morning. She was stood inspecting 2 identical packs of ham for bloody ages and then proceeded to do the same with all her frigging shopping, completely oblivious to those waiting behind her. All the packs of ham had the same date

Well they say you should only pick up what you intend to buy so she shouldn't be fingering all the food . I would have passed her as wide as possible. I wouldn't have stuck behind her reading something because if someone reads anything like my partner I'd be there all day!