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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

people who split their food shopping into 'batches' to pay for separately

266 replies

BooCanary · 22/09/2013 21:25

How annoying is that?
Today I went to Asda and BOTH people in front of me at the till did this.

Person one paid THREE different times, one for the majority of the shop, one for a few essentials ( milk, bread etc) and a third time for an item of clothing.

Person two then proceeded to pay for their shopping in two sections.

I was waiting bloody ages, fuming and wondering why these people can't just pay once and then divide it up later based on the receipt if they happen to be buying for other people.

OP posts:
KirstyJC · 22/09/2013 21:40

I do this when Tesco have their vouchers for £5 off a shop of £40, if I have more than one voucher - I ask the cashier to stop when it gets to £40 and then I pay and get my £5 off. Then I carry on and do it again so I get £10 off an £80 shop instead of only £5.

It might piss people off, but I don't care. My saving a fiver is more important than making a random stranger wait about 30 secs longer for their shopping.

3birthdaybunnies · 22/09/2013 21:40

Actually I found, many moons ago, when I worked on a checkout that the number of objects (within reason)is not the main factor, it is the number of transactions. A decent checkout person will zoom through a conveyor belt of shopping fairly quickly - it is the waiting for the person to pay which takes the time. It tends to be quicker to go to a till with just one person buying 50 objects (as long as not splitting bill) than a till with 5 people buying 5 objects. This is just based on my months of tedious work in my gap year but I always avoid the basket queue if possible if more than a few people waiting. It might be slightly quicker if it is the same person and paying cash, but it still takes time to print out the receipt etc. Having said that I wouldn't loose sleep over it.

Sparklingbrook · 22/09/2013 21:40

It's like when you want to buy a newspaper at the kiosk and the person in front is doing a bajillion complicated transactions involving the Idiot Tax National Lottery. With millions of envelopes, coins and scribbly bits of paper. Hmm

Holliewantstobehot · 22/09/2013 21:40

I used to shop for my housebound mum and myself and always put it through separately as i was on a very low income and couldn't have afforded to pay for all the shopping and then get the money back. It is stressful enough doing two lots of shopping with a baby and a toddler, followed by two lots of unloading and putting away without going through a receipt.

HoneyDragon · 22/09/2013 21:42

I put everything in my trolley in two groups. All the full price stuff together. Then all the discounted. I pay for all the full price then get my price match voucher.

Then I pay for all the cheap stuff.

I could give a fuck I'm annoying someone, but as I usually save a good £5 on a £40-£50 shop I'm to happy to give a shit Grin

Trills · 22/09/2013 21:42

Sometimes people do things that are perfectly reasonable, even admirable (e.g. getting shopping for elderly neighbours, and getting separate receipts) but they are still really bloody annoying to be behind in a queue.

It's like letting people out at junctions when driving. It's kind to let people out at junctions. It's a very lovely thing to do. But if I am in the car behind you, and you continually let people out, and I am in a rush, I am going to find it annoying because now I am 4 cars further back than I would have been.

RabbitFromAHat · 22/09/2013 21:43

Wow, I've never see anyone do this - do people really do three separate transactions, holding people up for longer? That's incredibly, incredibly rude. OP, YANBU.

MrsCakesPremonition · 22/09/2013 21:43

Top tip - don't look at the number of people in the queue, look at the number of dividers separating the shopping.

morethanpotatoprints · 22/09/2013 21:44

Was it staff double discount day?
My ds does this for me, you get different discount from different departments and it all needs to be tilled separately.
Or it could have been carers shopping for their patients, my ds says this is really taking off atm.

SkinnybitchWannabe · 22/09/2013 21:44

Im a cashier and this is quite common.
Like the above have said I see alot of carers paying for items seperately because they have three different purses/envelopes of money.
I also get people wanting to pay for things with different cards or part cash part card.
It doesnt take that much longer to split, maybe a few minutes...Wow.

HoneyDragon · 22/09/2013 21:44

I also shop for my neighbours too. And do their lottery. But I make a special trip just for them for the lottery.

southeastastra · 22/09/2013 21:44

i wouldn't let it bother me really, don't sweat the small stuff people

exexpat · 22/09/2013 21:45

YABU. I don't think anyone chooses to split their shop into three chunks just for the fun of it, or even as a deliberate attempt to piss people off. I would assume they're buying stuff for someone else (I shop for my elderly parents and sometimes do it).

SkinnybitchWannabe · 22/09/2013 21:45

Honeydragon that is a brilliant idea..going to try that Smile

GemmaTeller · 22/09/2013 21:46

YABU

You chose the wrong till.

I buy shopping groceries out of the joint account and clothing and make-up for myself out of my personal account, and I use money off vouchers...

...and if you were standing behind me tutting and drumming your fingers in a 'I'm so busy and too important to be standing here' kind of way I'd be making sure I was going even slower.

HerrenaHarridan · 22/09/2013 21:46

Yes I have had a bad night actually and im not usually one to flame someone.

As someone who picks up shopping for others on a regular basis I know what a difference it makes to just pay with the recipients money and hand them receipt and change, if its for two people should I nip to the library and photocopy the receipt?

chances are if someone is splitting a shop not just into two but 3 they are going well out of their way to help others. And yet you grudge them the 30 secs it takes to process separate payments.

CeliaLytton · 22/09/2013 21:47

YANBU to have been a bit fed up at spending longer in the queue but YABU to think that they were unreasonable to split the shop.

I shop for my very elderly neighbour occasionally. She likes to have a receipt and I like to give her exact change. Should I go to the back of the queue after my shop in order to pay for hers?

Way to make a favour seem like a big bloody hassle, and these are the people who need looking after/help and only wish they could get as far as the shop on their own to be held up for 5 mins.

So sigh deeply and then get over it.

ICameOnTheJitney · 22/09/2013 21:48

My next door neighbour likes her own receipt...she's 87 and I'm not going to argue! YABU

Original poster
BooCanary · 22/09/2013 21:50

It really grips me that people would go deliberately slower just if they felt that the person behind them was a bit fed up. Thats a very me me me attitude.

And I wasn't drumming my fingers, I was trying to wrangle my feral child!!

f we didn't sweat the small stuff, half of MN would disappear Grin

OP posts:
LondonNinja · 22/09/2013 21:51

I do this. It's pretty blooming clear from the divider that I've got two lots: one lot for me; the other for my parents.

I'm pretty swift and don't faff, so don't see the problem.

HerrenaHarridan · 22/09/2013 21:53

And huffing and harrumphing to try and make the person in the q ahead of you feel rushed is somehow very selfless?

CaptainSweatPants · 22/09/2013 21:54

Don't go shopping on a Sunday afternoon with two small children

Do online shopping

Like someone says dont sweat the small stuff

Annunziata · 22/09/2013 21:54

No, a me me me attitude is letting the person in front of you know that you have decided they are taking up too much time.

HoneyDragon · 22/09/2013 21:56

Skinnybitch it works, the major supermarkets still can't price fix everything each day. Wink

ELR · 22/09/2013 21:56

I do this all the time, I run my own business teaching cooking classes and workshops and often have to buy various ingredients. At the same time I pick up a few bits for home but I need to pay for my ingredients on my business account, so pay separately.