What’s the most annoying thing people do in supermarkets?

[purpledaze24]

LIGHTHEARTED. Don’t need any “well you should keep your child on a leash in the supermarket” responses 🤣

When I’m in the supermarket with my 4 yo he usually walks beside me while I push the trolley. Sometimes he does a little run in front of the trolley. I’ve noticed when he does this, sometimes someone further down the aisle will freeze and do this passive aggressive look as if to say, “well which way are you going, make up your mind!” He is nowhere near them and not affecting the direction they’re going in whatsoever! I’m talking 20+ feet away. Sometimes it’s this look of faux panic on their face as if they’ve just seen a bus that‘s about to hit them. He’s not a toddler and is fully aware of where he’s going but it’s like they think he’s going to roll into a ball like sonic the hedgehog, roll down the aisle and smash into their trolley. It’s so annoying!

Anywaaay, got me thinking, what’s the most annoying thing people do in supermarkets?

I feel like it’s only been since lockdown you see all this more and more . Coz theyve stopped paying for night staff .

B&M they bring out the stock and take up a whole aisle you can’t get to anything if it’s in that aisle and it’s late on the night .

I honestly feel like it’s no wonder people don’t shop in actual shops anymore coz it’s so bloody stressful . How many times you have the move cages or boxes in shops now just to get to what you want . And our local Range is an absolute mess permanently. It’s like they are using stores now as stockrooms coz they carry so much stock . But never anything you want …

People who get almost to the front of the queue before realising they have forgotten an item, and then leave their trolley in the queue while they scurry off to find the item. Sometimes leads to hold-ups if they don't return quickly enough and the queue moves along.

People who let their kids sit inside the trolley so their shoes, that have walked on pavements etc, are touching where the food/clothes go.

Kids running - I have dodgy knees and dodgy back and find it hard to push a trolley. If I suddenly have to change direction, I will be completely out of action for a week.

People who start loading their stuff onto the belt before I've finished unloading my trolley - especially when I've still got half a trolley left and they leave me 6" on the belt.

Those who dither when it comes to paying - surely they knew you have to pay for all that food!

People who don't wait for a nano second as you're picking something out from a shelf or a freezer unit. I call out the rudeness every time. Mainly happens in Waitrose.

At the self checkout in Lidl. People bringing the whole bloody family in to an area which barely has enough space for one person to scan and pack. There is no space to the side. There is no space behind. But they still do it.

At the moment people being in there at the same time as me!

Hover about choosing stuff. You’re in Aldi, there isn’t that many choices and you’re blocking the whole shelf

When two groups of people bump into each other and take up the entirety of an entrance of an aisle catching up! This actually happened to me last week whilst I was there with my double buggy. No one moved out the way until I said politely (and loudly) “excuse me please”!

People who leave their trolley at the checkout then go back for more shopping ... I don't mean if they've just forgotten toothpaste ...... but people who carry on shopping and dropping into the trolley and going back for more.

I think it's a french thing ....

Family outing shoppers. Why?

The ditherers who pick up every packet before they chose, especially now everything is behind closed fridge doors.

OMG this! I had to resist the urge to shove past a lady the other day as she took her sweet time deciding which butter she wanted. Either decide or get out the way!

Stand in front of one of the fruit or veg displays and pick up numerous ones to examine before choosing. Just get on with it 🤦‍♀️

I was going to say this one, it's like they send their shopping on a mini holiday.

@swashbucklecheer Yes! Yesterday there were three of them all bunched up in the same place - one of them was literally leaning on her ‘cart’ drinking a can of monster and chatting to the other two. I thought they were on time limits?

The family outings do my head in. If you’ve got both parents available, one could take the kids somewhere else while the other does the shopping! Or entertain them at home.

Indecisive couples - ‘I don’t mind, what do you want?’ ‘I don’t mind..’ Just bloody pick!

People who lay bottles sideways on the conveyor belt at the till so they roll about all over the place. Just put them lengthways ffs.

I think most irritating things are just people being people and often there are legitimate reasons for why they behave they do - sometimes people aren't dithering, because they need to check the ingredients very closely or they can't recall what it is that they need (stressed, meno, other medical reasons...)

But two things that absolutely can be avoided are:

1. People who treat the supermarket at their own personal bin - I hate seeing disposable takeaway cups littering the shelves, and before anyone says that maybe someone has put their cup down and forgotten to pick it up, they are always empty! It's so arrogant. Not just supermarkets either - it's an issue in most shops and it's incredibly rude, not least because there are inevitably bins available close by. Put your own rubbish in the bin, don't make someone else do it for you.
2. People who decide they don't want a chilled item and put it on non-chilled shelf so that the product ruins and no one else can buy it - even if your time is so bloody important that you can't be arsed to return it to the section you got it from, at least hang on to it until you get to the tills and ask a staff member nicely if they can return it for you because you've changed your mind. There is never an excuse for wasting food, it's so selfish and entirely avoidable.

1. People who bring the entire family with them to do a big shop on a Saturday afternoon.
2. The online order pickers blocking the aisles
3. Little kids riding scooters down the aisles.

Another one that drives me insane - not shoppers but the supermarkets - moving the products around to different locations every few months. Tesco is the worst offender. Just when I’ve got used to where everything is they bloody move it! To keep people there longer (and therefore buying more stuff) I assume..

Also, having essentials like milk and bread right at the very back of a giant superstore is very annoying

Also, having essentials like milk and bread right at the very back of a giant superstore is very annoying

They do that on purpose so that you have to walk past loads of other stuff and get tempted.

Performance parents who let their kids "pay" or weigh veg holding the rest of us up, usually while talking to them in a faux cool way like "grab the label, mate". It doesn't make you look together and like a great parent. It makes you look like a bit of a twat!

Oh and I know IABU but....
Posh people in the reduced section. You just know its so they can bargain brag later, but there will be someone else who really needs that reduction

When you complain about families shopping someone will complain that some people don’t have childcare (even though both parents are there) and children need to be taught to shop from a young age.
When I didn’t drive, DH took DD to the cafe and they had a snack, played games.
I grew up in a large family and never ever went shopping, I manage perfectly fine as an adult.

BRING THEIR ENTIRE MULTIGENERATIONAL FAMILY TO CROWD AROUND ONE TROLLEY! AND LOADS OF CHILDREN DURING SCHOOL HOURS! THEY CAN’T ALL BE HOME EDUCATED AND IF THEY’RE OF SICK DON’T SPREAD IT!
and standing on shelves to reach upper shelves I actually said “that’s unhygienic” to the last person I saw doing it, it’s also dangerous, ask for help 🤷🏽‍♀️

Yes this!. As someone who works in a Supermarket, this drives me crazy. Trying to find where the stock goes after the whole aisle has been moved around grrr, unless your the one whos had to move it all and then it just feels like a waste of time. I know the psychology behind it but it's more work for both staff and customers!