Overheard in Waitrose

[Clockwatching54321]

Overheard in Waitrose today a couple talking about how they coped with the mortgage rates being 15% and that people are over reacting about the percentage creeping up. I was really trying not to say anything but loads of people lost their houses when the rates where are 15% in the 90s and I don’t think the rates need to even reach 5-10% now days before we see people loosing their house.

i just looked and our mortgage of just over £200k would be nearly £3k a month at 15%.

just to add fuel the fire they talked about the line up for strictly saying theirs someone disabled who will end up winning as they will get all the sympathy votes, if disabled people want to take part it should be against other disabled people so it fair. 🤯🤯🤯

Any other overheard in Waitrose stories?

Interest rates rose to 15% shortly after I bought my first flat.

It was bad, but then I had bought on a rate if 9%, and mortgages were typically 2.5 times your income.

Now mortgages are relatively much bigger. So in absolute terms a 15% rate on current high borrowing is much worse.

But the point some people have missed is although interest rates were higher in the 80s house prices were lower.
You could get a house in the late 80s for under £50k.

Exactly. These people completely miss the point that they bought their house with a 2.5x income multiple, rather than 4 to 5x which is the norm today.

I remember when the interest rates hit 15 %. I had ten bricklayers working for me and had a lot of money invested out on several jobs. The companies we sub contracted for just stopped building over night. I had to pay all the guys their wages that month. I was so close to going bankrupt and losing my house. I had to leave and work in France & Germany to keep a roof over my family's heads. Very tough times....I'm solvent now but I can see some impossible times ahead for homebuyers. Especially those that have bought over inflated property in the last 6/12 months are going to find themselves in negative in the next 12 months.
If you're a cash buyer hang on until the middle of next year, there will be bargains to be had!

A couple of months ago i dropped my mobile in Waitrose car park. It had my credit cards and £10 in it. Didn’t miss it till I reached home, went back and was told a man had handed it in (all intact) but not left his name. Some very honest people in Waitrose.

Where I am Waitrose is where all the 'characters' hang out. Without fail every time we go we have some sort of interaction- I must have a come speak to me face.

Last time I was in i was accosted by a lady who wanted to rant at me about a government policy- I actually used the Mn phrase- "I'm sorry, do I know you" but she just brushed that aside and it ended up being a long tricky escape.

My dc refuse to come to Waitrose with me now as they say they don't need the inevitable stess associated with a Waitrose shopping trip!

Of course, but other people are also allowed to have an opinion, which might be that their expressed opinion was mean and stupid.

Had similar in Morrisons car park, not just Waitrose customers that are honest.

On their first point, from an Economist article I’ve just read:

“An interest rate of just 3% today results in mortgages that absorb the same share of income as a rate of 14% did in 1980, after adjusting for the fact that mortgages are bigger and mortgage interest is no longer tax-deductible, calculates Neal Hudson of BuiltPlace, a housing website.”

www.economist.com/britain/2022/09/23/britains-chancellor-offers-up-a-reckless-budget-fiscally-and-politically?utm_content=article-link-1&etear=nl_today_1&utm_campaign=a.the-economist-today&utm_medium=email.internal-newsletter.np&utm_source=salesforce-marketing-cloud&utm_term=9/23/2022&utm_id=1329652

And Tescos!

I haven't but I did see a guy whip his sweatshirt up in the middle of Booth's to show another guy his hernia. It looked like Alien. The other bloke couldn't get away fast enough.

If I were you, OP, I’d have sited this imaginary conversation next to the Waitrose Essentials range, so you could have fitted in a crack about Waitrose Essential Quail Eggs along with the cod-economics and ableism.

I once saw an actual fistfight over discounted selection boxes in an aisle at Tesco’s, but am not (a) assuming all Tesco customers are violent thugs obsessed with getting cheap Curly-Wurlies or (b) inviting other people’s stories of Tesco bad behaviour.

Ha, I had my purse stolen in M&S! Someone found it in the car park, all my money and cards had been taken.

Only thing I remember ever over hearing in aldi was an elderly woman giving out her husband (I'm assuming) that the Bananas he choose were bad, "squishy and old like you" he put them back ... I nearly suffocated trying not to laugh 😅

The prices in those mini Waitrose are shocking ! I was eyeing up an apple pie until I noticed the price tag was £6 !

This idea that only wealthy right wingers shop at Waitrose is silly and a lazy stereotype. If you go to my local Waitrose in London you will see all sorts of people there. Lots of their basic staples are not more expensive than elsewhere.

Not all Waitrose shoppers are the same

"Sparklingbrook How did you get to hear all of that conversation without lingering next to them for quite a while."

"She was the wife 😂"

@UWhatNow 🤣🤣🤣🤣

I work at Waitrose on the tills, the amount of premium booze that is bought is just amazing and a lot of overpriced branded convenience food too, but the basics are cheap enough, plenty of offers and discounts to pick up too.
Customers are generally good , you get the odd difficult one just like anywhere, it’s a nice place to work, wages are not great but staff discount good, it’s walking distance from home so suits me well.

Why wouldn't someone shop in Waitrose, a partnership owned by its employees and which treats its employees well?

I agree - it's actually good value for money if you shop well and the discounts are good.

As pp have said, there's a whole "overheard in Waitrose" thing going, just poking fun at the English middle class.
Some remarks are more probable than others though.

Hahahahaha 🤣😂

I was in the cafe waiting for a very small toddler to eat a sandwich