People who spend ages at the checkout because they are so slow rearranging their bags, putting change away, putting their...

[belledechocchipcookie]

purse in their bag, zipping their bag up, faffing around really annoy me. Can't they just move to the side so someone else can get served. AIBU to be pissed off with them? (Yes, I do have PMT)

I have dyspraxia so tend to panic at the till as I am wired that people like the op are tut tut tutting. Instead of getting pissed off offer to help

I think Tchootnika is right - you may be suffering from PTSD

With you completely OP.
Can I add people who let their children type in their pin numbers, with said children needing to be lifted up, can't read pin pad properly, put in wrong number, etc etc.
I don't care if this gets me flamed to buggery, it's indulgent and annoying as hell.

Do you not get out much?

I think several posters are wondering the same abut you, belle.

Hands up who's got PMT today?

I have MS Ghostie. I get the money out/card out before I get to the till though and don't stand there searching my pockets for a tissue that I'll probably not need!

Oh, that's alright then Hecate, fast= good! My neighbour puts the things on the belt in the order that she packs. I can see why, it helps when she gets home. I just shove them in the bag because I don't want to hold the person behind me up any more then I have to.

choc chip you are not coming across well.

I mean it is annoying if someone holds you up in a shop, but in these situations I try and remember that I don't know what's going on that persons life, they might look healthy, but anything could be going on with them; a bereavement, the flu, mental illness, I don't know, so I try not to judge.

Did you win any awards for customer service in your time at Superdrug?

The bikini question's not that daft given that the shop sells lots of other holiday things.

And what's so time consuming about answering the question: 'Do you sell bikinis/gin/conger eels?' with 'No, we don't, madam.'

Yes, they were gutted to see me go.

Maybe there was nothing wrong with her, schroeder.

Some of you would hate our town. The supermarket is a real hub for socialising, and there are always people chatting in the street. I would challenge anyone to take a walk or shop here without being subjected to 'inane prattle' (we call it 'the crack') from strangers. Having dogs or children mean that you attract double the number of people.

I love it, I'd hate to live where everyone ignores people, wishes they'd all hurry up, and thinks other people are intent on annoying them.

Conger eels

"Do you seriously suppose that people deliberately hold others up on purpose?"

Yes. Yes I do. As some lovely posters have said, if they feel they are being hurried, they deliberately take longer.

It is this type of thing that will one day lead to me doing a very good re-enactment of the film Falling Down featuring Michael Douglas.

And to the people saying "Why not offer to help?" Offer to help her do what? Check for her tissue? To see if her pockets were zipped? Yeah right.

Bupcakes

I'm with you.

We could offer to hold their wallets for them, and perhaps enter their PIN. That'd go down a treat.

I ought to add that I have every sympathy with those who struggle for whatever reason. But I reckon most of them are just being a PITA.

Like the people who wait until the light goes green before removing the handbrake and pulling away at a gently pace. There's an amber light people - use it.

I mean, help them do what?! Help them faff? "Do you need any help checking through your bag to make sure you have everything?" If someone was struggling to pack or lift something, I'm sure that even the most misanthropic of us would help. But offer to help them do tasks superfluous to their packing and paying? Really?

Personally I think there should be designated shopping days for anyone over the age of 60 or infirm -

This isn't the only time on Mumsnet I've seen this sort of comment. Some of us old biddies are busy working I'll have you know. I saw a similar remark by a doctor who was complaining that people assumed she was a nurse, which she could understand if they were elderly. Well bollox.

Anyway you should see me at a checkout - well over your age of crumblydom and my goods are swept through, parceled instantly, money or card in hand and I am in and outta there like a dose of salts. Far quicker than a lot of the youngsters clacking on mobiles or yacking to the next mum in the queue about their toddlers' latest achievements.

Seems ageism is the last respectable prejudice on Mumsnet

I protest - strongly

how can you tell the young woman was perfectly healthy, belle? I look totally fit and healthy and I'm 25. What you can't see is the chronic pain in my back, the dyspraxia and suspected AS. People think I'm slow on purpose but i'm not. I feel things have to packed in a certain way and can't move fast due to the pain in my back. I wait till everything is through so I can get it in the right bags and have the bags evenly weighted and in most shops, especially where I live, there is nowhere to move to.

I'm not ageist, I hate everbody equally!

Have any of you thought that the person behind you may be disabled? Maybe your 'slowness' affects them because they are being kept waiting longer then necessary. They could be diabetic for all you know and the drink that they are buying could mean the difference between them slipping into a coma or not. The longer they are made to wait...

I didn't really feel like offering to help her search her pockets for a snotty tissue.

Thank goodness I've given up shopping in supermarkets and any delays in shops are as much caused by the baker who wants to cluck over ds3 or the butcher who likes to natter about whats going on locally than my speed of packing. I am always very polite but even I would be tempted to take my time if I had the op tutting behind me.

Go self service. You;re annoying me.

belle - most diabetics have learnt to be far more organised than that, so you needn't worry yourself unduly...

Ooof, blimey, though, just imagine if there was someone behind you who had the nerve to ASK IF THEY COULD GO IN FRONT OF YOU!

Do you still carry the cattle prod, belle - if another person was so grossly offensive as to ask you to do a small favour like this, WHATEVER WOULD YOU DO?

I have no problem waiting patiently for the person in front of me to complete their transaction at whatever speed they choose.

But there are two things which really bust my boiler.

1. When the person in front of you only has a few items in their basket and you think 'Aha! A speedy one.' Then their partner starts pitching up with extra items. No probs, you think, is still not too bad. Then you hear 'Oh! I forgot the milk/chocolates/orange juice. Just pop and get it darling'. Partner trots off and returns with yet more items. Eventually they end up with a trolley-full.

and

2. the man in front of me recently who refused to move away from the checkout until he'd very carefully folded his receipt several times and then equally carefully unzipped a special compartment in his wallet and gently stowed the receipt in it, before zipping it back up and putting the allet in his pocket. Only then would he deign to move away. I got a bit cross and told him to stop faffing around and move away from the checkout and do his receipt-stowing there.

Mind you, it was DH and he has heard it before and still won't change.

Can't believe you think that, dotty...

So those of us who are not young/superfast at packing/sociable in any way should not shop at certain times?

OK, thanks. Yet another way people who are disabled are made to feel marginalised. Super.

I can look pretty healthy too but can be slow at the till due to shakiness from meds etc and pain. I don't faff though and fully understand that annoyance :)

Everyone's in too much of a hurry nowadays....slow down people, enjoy the moment, smile at someone.

Well I used to be impatient like that, but I've had too many people piss about at the tills, so now I do it too. Unless I'm in a rush, I calmly take my card/money out, and calmly put the shopping in the bags, and calmly move out of the way. If you're in a rush, you should be using self-checkout or something. Also, I lost some money once rushing, so that's another incentive not to rush anymore.

I do actually let people go in front of me if they have a couple of items and I have a lot.

The woman did pretty much exactly that Shodan, very annoying.