Home bargains hell.

[ilovepixie]

Just visited Home Bargains for the first time. What a horrible shop. Full of the great unwashed and plastic tat! People standing around talking, you can’t get past them. The queuing system is mad! Everyone stands up one aisle and then goes to a till when it’s free. What wrong with queuing normally behind each individual till.
You may save a few pence but you’ll loose your sanity!

I am assuming you know what it refers to? The Pale was the area of Ireland under English (Norman, in fact) control from the Middle Ages. Colloquially in English culture (but the OED is a bit dubious) it means 'beyond what is civilized'. I daresay it might be offensive to some Irish (but you should see my surname! - not that I agree that you must be a member of a group to comment on that group!) might dislike it (possibly Sinn Fein). It is not about colour, if that's what you meant, and has as much relationship to colour as 'niggard' (e.g. 'No niggard are you Eomer' LOTR) has to the 'N' word.
'pale' - a boundary - is derived from 'palus'. (niggard is Scandinavian c. 8th century).
That 'the pale' also refers to the area in Imperial Russia where Jews were allowed to reside is not part of my culture and we cannot go round not using expressions that are hoary with age because they might offend someone.
(I am offended by people in keffiyas marching in support of Hamas and tearing down pictures of the Oct 7th hostages, personally. I am not in favour of stopping them, however, as a matter of freedom of speech - when someone shows you who they are, believe them.)
I suppose the expression might offend the French since 'the pale' also refers to the area around Calais in English control till the 1550s.

Morning pixielover.
Initially you slated HB then argued you were tongue in cheek before slating it again. At least be consistent.
Furthermore plenty on this thread have demonstrated their lighthearted sense of humour. Like the value to be had in HB, sadly it’s passed you by.

I was in our local one yesterday. I did forget it was half term and also near the end of the month but once inside it was awful.

I quite like Home Bargains, they sell a lot of branded stuff and also a bit of cold/frozen as well, however, yesterday, you couldn't move for kids and buggies, it was difficult to get to anything and there is always that one kid that screams.

I did manage to get a glue gun though, I fancy having a go at some Christmas decorations as a friend gave me a bag of fir cones. I'm not artistic but £2.99 for a glue gun, well who could resist.

I'm not sure what you mean by that. I am not using the expression. And if you mean 'beyond the pale' it refers in England to the area of Ireland ruled by the Normans in the Middle Ages - I don't agree that you can only use expressions/comment on a group if you identify with that group but as it happens, you are right, my ancestors were 'beyond the pale' though a raven describes them - though there is some evidence the expression really refers to the French who were beyond the pale of Calais. Nevertheless I will not have speech policed because it offends someone - there is no right not to be offended and many expressions have origins we might not like.
The OP was offensive about working class people but that doesn't seem to both everyone on here.

Well, probably, since my ancestors were indeed 'beyond the pale' (from the Norman's pov) though a raven describes them and maybe they fought in Brian Boru's army (though another lot possibly fought for Alfred earlier). But in English culture it refers either to the area of Ireland ruled by the Normas in the Middle Ages, or to the area around Calais ruled by the English till c.1554. Whether the expression referst to the Irish, the English or the French as being uncivilized is unclear. I choose to use it from the perspective of where my ancestors came, so that the Normans were 'beyond the pale' - a fence has two sides, after all.

You nailed it. My DD shops in B and M - she lives in a conservation area and is as m/c as all get-out and not at all poor. She uses The Range, too, as it is dog-friendly.

Ooo! Hands up. I shop in M and S, Aldi, B and M, Next, Primark and any well-stocked charity shop. I'd say Flannels but I'm not keen.

Yes, for things like bins you buy once every 50 years. But I’m not sure it’s a good thing for Halloween decorations and kids toys that break after 5 mins of use or fashionable home decor or polyester cushions.

In fact I’d be astounded if many of the items in HB were being used daily in even 5 years, never mind 50.

Funny that, because The Home Bargains in my local town is on the same retail park as Waitrose. 2 shops away actually.

Kinda smashed the idea out of the water that The Home Bargains stores are all put with shops for 'common' people.

All the ones I've been to have been fine. Maybe it's just the areas you visit. (And where you live.)

And as I said above, the Home Bargains in my local town is 2 shops away from a Waitrose, so that's THAT theory blown out of the water, that they're only put in places where there's no 'posh' shops.

Waitrose is an overated, over-priced place anyway. People only shop there because they thinks it makes them posh. 😂 Many middle class/upper middle class/well off people I know shop at Aldi or Lidl. Sometimes Morrisons or Sainsbury's. Many well off people like to keep hold of their money, and not give it to an overated place like Waitrose, whose stock/food etc is no better than Aldi or Lidl.

.

My local Home Bargains is nothing like this. I love Home Bargains. It has some great offers and I always seem to come out with umpteen cleaning products whenever I go in. The cleaning isle just draws me in by some magnetic force!

The staff are always friendly and the customers very polite and abide by all ‘queuing rules!’

No, I think we’ve got a different definition of ‘fine’. And do you realise how daft and ignorant you sound about why you believe people shop at Waitrose?

A Waitrose two doors down from a Home Bargains? That’s very…unusual.

I too am a M&S regular customer. Buy lots of things from M&S. I also shop in Boots which lots of people class as expensive.
I guess the main things I buy in Hone Bargains are cleaning products! Plus the odd bar of chocolate and milk for work.
I don’t buy clothes or anything like that from there.

Poundland: chance of a kicking 9/10
Wilko: 9.5/10

🤣🤣absolutely

I give you Foss Islands Road, York: Waitrose, Kwik Fit, B&M, HB, Pets at Home and Iceland Food Warehouse. So 3 doors down

This post made me chuckle.
Tbh it's not a great shopping environment, much like B&M and the Range - bad lighting, run down, untidy and cluttered.
They kind of merge into almost the same shop in my mind.
I do have friends that absolutely love it.
Is home bargains the one where you have to walk round the whole shop to get out?
Don't mind the single queue thing, that's actually very efficient.
Think it's also the type of shop that doesn't trust its customers with self check outs?
Wouldn't specifically drive there, if I'm passing, have time to kill I might pop in, particularly now I know they do a good deal on bird food.
But yeah not my favourite shopping environment either.

the type of shop that doesn't trust its customers with self check outs

True but HB employs window stickers of policemen. Plastic ones…😁

Maybe read it properly?

No need to splain

I wouldnt have raised the issue if I didnt know what it refers to

What idea?

So I am not sure what your objection is. That it demeans the Irish? But I am thinking of the Normans who were beyond the pale from the pov of the Irish. Maybe the French? Possibly the Russians?

Ours is huge and even has a cafe in it! So I can spend hours in there now.... yeee ha! 🕺💃

I don't go to HB often because the car park is awful to get on or off but its not dirty or badly lit. It's actually quite bright and predominantly pink.

Home Bargains Bullying Staff

My Partner returned home yesterday in floods of tears after a visit to the Home Bargains in Llandudno.

She was treated like a thief for using a shopping bag, whilst pushing our newborn around in a Doona. The pop up pram does not have a basket underneath.

For two months she has used a shopping bag avoid pushing any heavy weight, post c-section. If life isn't hard enough post surgery, baby blues, new baby in tow and being sleep deprived.

A bonnie women with bright pink hair, tattoos and various piercings decided to put my wife down even further. Telling her off at the till, degrading in front of other customers and taking pride in doing it.

Shame on Home bargains for employing such a degrading creature.

No one deserves to be bullied at the till.

Has anyone else experienced this?