Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
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:
QuintessentialShadows · 22/09/2013 23:52

It is a total faff, but somebody has to bring groceries to the home and bed bound. I have to do this when I am shopping for my dad. His shopping is usually too big to filter out from mine afterwards, plus I sometimes forget what goes where. Confused And he is very particular, worried that I would "cheat him" Angry I dont have time to shop twice! But hey, there you go. I usually manage to get it separate in the bags too, to make it easier and more exact for later.

I dont feel guilty for holding up the queue. I feel pissed off that my dad is in a wheelchair paralyzed after his stroke and unable to shop, and my mum is in a care home with dementia and does not remember me. This is really on the forefront of my mind every time I do my dads shopping. Not the impatient people behind me rolling their eyes because they have to wait while I pay twice, because that is their only delay. Me paying one extra time. Otherwise, it would have been the same.

giraffescantdanceallnight · 22/09/2013 23:53

I think home helps do this.

I do it if I am buying stuff for work and don't really want to have to hand over a list of MY shopping too...one time it was a multipack of preg tests

RhondaJean · 22/09/2013 23:54

I do this shopping splitting.

It's just to piss people like you off op.

Nah seriously, today, I had three lots in tesco. I had the food shop which is on a credit card DH pays for, some candles n shizzle which I paid for myself and some sweets which dd1 paid for in cash herself.

I did feel embarassed when one of the million coupons I had didn't go through, the cashier buzzed for help, the guy went to swap my item and it took ages. If you were behind me, sorry, but there were other tills that were moving and tbh unless you are actually on your way to deliver a transplant organ or to perform the transplant op, you don't have anything that urgent that requires you to be a twat about people in front of you.

Oh, that message also goes to teh arsehole in the red Peugeot who beeped me cos I wouldn't undertake a car turning right when I would quite obivously have required me to put wheels upon the pavement in the main street this afternoon.

GET A FUCKING GRIP.

TedMoseby · 22/09/2013 23:56

Boo, I wouldn't be suprised as I've worked on a checkout myself. I tend to have a little compassion for people if they're faffing.

I've had people reveal to me when they were getting flustered (because of tutters like you) that it was their first time out shopping since having a stroke, an elderly woman tell me that it was her first time shopping since she lost her husband of 50 years the week before and people with various other health issues that you wouldn't necessarily know were there.

You're probably the people who tut at me when I spend an extra minute passing the time of day with elderly people. You may be in a rush, but I appreciated that I was sometimes the only people that they had spoken to all week.

Have a little compassion.

Goldmandra · 22/09/2013 23:56

Maybe it would help the OP to think about the fact that these people aren't generally splitting their food into batches.

How about thinking of it like this?

SCENARIO ONE

Mary's food is scanned and she pays for it from her account/money.

Beryl's food is scanned and she pays for it from her account/money.

Janice's food is scanned and she pays for it from her account/money.

That causes you no problem.

SCENARIO TWO

Mary's food is scanned and she pays for it from her account/money.

Beryl's food is scanned and Mary pays for it from Beryl's account/money.

Janice's food is scanned and Mary pays for it from Janice's account/money.

This winds you up.

The same three people's food is being purchased. The only difference is that in the second scenario the same person is paying for it each time. It takes no longer and is possibly slightly quicker.

You would prefer that Mary checks out all of the shopping together, causing extra work to herself, complications if there are 3 for 2 offers etc, and possible confusion to probably vulnerable people who are unable to be there and do the paying themselves. All this should be imposed on them in order to make Mary quicker because you think your time is more important than hers.

YAB massively U.

If you are thinking more of people saving themselves money by splitting their shopping into batches to hit spending targets you should address this with the management as it is the poor design of their systems which necessitate the palaver in order to save the maximum amount of money on shopping.

BeCool · 22/09/2013 23:57

It's amazing the tensions and annoyances you can add to your own day by focusing on minor matters like this.

People do this for lots of different reasons, often because they are helping someone else out.

But continue to degrade your own day by getting all twitchy about it, by all means. Just realise you are free to choose to act differently. You can make it a non issue really quite simply.

QuintessentialShadows · 23/09/2013 00:10

You should really try do your shopping with an open mind and an open heart. All sort of stuff unfolds in shops.

I recently spent 10 minutes chatting with an elderly lady while choosing pastries. She looked a little lost, dithered and looked uncertain. So I smiled at her. She looked ever so grateful at being noticed, being smiled at. She asked me where to find ice cream, I pointed to the ice cream. She said, maybe she rather have a pastry and could I recommend some. We measured the merit of pastries up against each other. She told me she had just moved in across the road, into sheltered housing. Her husband had passed away. She was originally from Finland and without her husband, she realized she had so few people. She felt so alone in foreign lands, even if this had been her home country for over 40 years. Her children had grown up and lived elsewhere. She missed them, her house and her husband. She wanted to cheer herself up by buying something nice to eat, like an ice cream or a pastry.

Sometimes people are vulnerable. Sometimes people dither, and faff. They may have their minds elsewhere.

I often end up behind somebody who struggles with their purse, hold up the queue, and I can see their frustration. The check out assistant apologizing to me for the delay. I normally just smile and say "thats allright, I am not in a hurry". I prefer to seethe inwards, as pointedly tapping my fingers on the counter or shooting daggers with my eyes is not going to help anybody. Just make everybodys day a little bit more unpleasant. Mine included.

StuntGirl · 23/09/2013 00:44

Aww quint that's really sweet :)

MrsKoala · 23/09/2013 00:53

aaah Quint that made me cry.

LadyBigtoes · 23/09/2013 01:08

I do it if I am buying a significant amount of stuff for myself (like nice shampoo, make-up, magazine, socks etc) from the supermarket - too much to shove in the joint account food shop with a clear conscience!

So I am tolerant of people in front of me doing it - though one person doing three separate shops might be slightly annoying.

I was once behind this (normal-looking, 40-something like me) lady who put each item on the conveyor belt then gave it a little pat as if to comfort it as it went on its way towards the scanner.

I started off thinking Hmm wtf you daft woman but after a minute I stared actually really liking it, it was so sweet. I do it myself now

Bogeyface · 23/09/2013 01:10

People don't go about looking for ways to inconvenience other people.

This, couple with what Quint said.

Be grateful that the only thing you have in your life that pisses you off is someone taking their time in the supermarket queue.

cumfy · 23/09/2013 01:57

Surely as long as they put the requisite number of dividers down it's OK ?

expatbrat · 23/09/2013 02:06

YABVU My Mum is housebound and very ill. I live 1000's of miles away and if it wasn't for the kindness of her neighbour bringing her shopping (and a cooked meal every day) She would never be able to live in her own home.
It's the difference between her living in her own home and living in a 12 x 12 room in a care home.
Hope you're as lucky when you're her age Angry

Notafoodbabyanymore · 23/09/2013 02:07

I used to do my FIL's weekly shop with mine when he was housebound with emphysema. Mine was paid for on a card, his with cash. Please explain to me how it would be easier to put his through with mine and for us both to end up with the right money? I would have had to get cash out myself, then have it split into small change so that I could then sit with a receipt, work out how much change he was owed and give him the right change.

Or I could spend less than 30 seconds paying seperately.

YABU.

Also, I used to have my 1 year old in tow and managed to keep her entertained if there was a hold up.

garlicbaguette · 23/09/2013 02:26

This is bonkers! Grin

What the bloody hell do you want the person to do - carry three baskets to the till, check one out, then go to the back of the queue with the remaining two, rinse and repeat all over again?

It'd be a teensy bit inefficient, don't you think?

LaGuardia · 23/09/2013 02:49

Never happens in Waitrose.

HicDraconis · 23/09/2013 03:56

YABU. We do this every week - because "personal" groceries go on the credit card (to get the airmiles) but "business" groceries have to go through the business account. So we have to pay with 2 separate cards.

We're still scanning through the same amount of shopping, takes about 2.5 mins to slide card into reader, enter PIN, smile and say "thanks, the next few bits are ours too" and pack bags into trolley while next lot of groceries are scanned and packed.

And we're not even shopping for other people, just us :) is it really worth getting so hot under the collar for an extra 2.5 minutes?

(Love the stories of random shop encounters. Will look out for someone to smile at next week!)

loveblackcats · 23/09/2013 04:07

FFS if it bothers you that much OP, simply shop online, or suck it up. YABU

loveblackcats · 23/09/2013 04:20

You appear incredibly selfish

Twiddlebum · 23/09/2013 04:27

You would hate me then because I use the self service tills so I can pay using all my small change!!! (I have been tutted at many times!!

Crowler · 23/09/2013 06:03

I find it frustrating to be in line behind the scratch ticket people. Otherwise, I have patience. But I can certainly appreciate that 1 minute feels like 10 when you've got toddlers in a supermarket.

hobnobsaremyfavourite · 23/09/2013 06:23

try shopping with students , one trolley and I haven seen 6 seperate transactions out of that one troleey. OP I suspect you would have spontaneously combusted.

CairngormsClydesdale · 23/09/2013 06:40

YABU. But next time someone does this, explain that it's all well and good them picking up a few bits for an elderly neighbour, but that they should wear a sign around their necks reading "BEWARE - SLOW SHOPPER".

Shop on the internet then you impatient twat.

Misspixietrix · 23/09/2013 06:45

I just cant get worked up about having to wait a new minutes longer for my turn to be served. Confused

Sparklingbrook · 23/09/2013 06:45

If this was in Chat it would be a completely different thread. Some on here are far more arsey than the OP.