Oh dear, now you all have me questioning the moralities of what I thought was a fairly amusing anecdote about 'supermarket rage'.
Was it right for the student to hog all the bargains? To have his trolley parked so close to the yellow sticker trolley and be so full of yellow stickers (in fact it was just yellow stickers) that another shopper genuienly thought it was all to go back on shelves? Were the students actions much different from the tagteam who frequent Asda and block anyone else accessing the bargains? It was a genuine mistake on behalf of my DP that could have been easily resolved with a polite but firm 'scuse me pal, thats actually my trolley and my shopping I think you have taken, could I have it back please?'.
Did my DP over react? Should he have meekly passed over the shopping when effed and jeffed at? I didn't hear this bit as was still deciding whether we had a block of butter in the fridge at home or not but the staff member with the stickers (seems a bit derogatory now to call him stickerman) certainly told the manager that the student was rude and aggressive to DP.
Would the anecdote have been less amusing if DP was not in actual fact a big, burly builder but a more vulnerable OAP or someone else who may not be as unflappable when confronted with an irrate student effing over his effing duck?
Should my DP have reacted to the 'I'm a poor student on a budget' comment the way he did? Should the student rely on being a student to justify hogging the bargains if we decide that in actual fact no, one shopper alone shouldn't benefit from M & S over ordering that particular week on chicken breats and ducks? And if the student really was on such a strict budget should he be in M & S anyway or stick with a discount supermarket. No problem with discount supermarkets BTW. I use Aldi as much as M & S.
Was it right for the manager to reduce further items to pacify 2 irrate shoppers? Or is that being unfair to those shoppers that day that paid full price for the same item with the same 'use by' date on it? Incidently, we only had 1 duck in our trolley (that originally came from students trolley that was masquerading as a reduced to go back on the shelf items trolley) and we only took 1 duck home. The student took the other 2 so actually benefited by an extra duck.
Its a tough one. And it did shock me actually. You usually see a certain element of teamwork between the bargain shoppers in M & S (though I agree Asda can be a bit 'every man for himself). One bargain hunter will check out the fresh meat, whilst another does the chiller cabinet. And if someone spots something in your trolley that is reduced and enquires whether there were anymore they usually get told if there is. And to hurry if there was only 1 left when you spotted it.
So now I'm unsure if Dp is an actual prick or not? And whether we should eat the duck with pancakes and hoisin sauce or simply sacrifice it at some alter dedicated to bargain hunters around the country.