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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to expect Sainsburys staff to know what mincemeat is?

175 replies

trinity0097 · 19/12/2013 19:56

Hubby was directed to beef section when he asked for 'mincemeat, the sweet type for mince-pies'. Surely at this time of year grown up staff should know what this is and where it is in the store?!

OP posts:
Loopylouu · 19/12/2013 19:58

My dh had the same thing in Tesco when he asked for mincemeat!

Original poster
trinity0097 · 19/12/2013 20:00

He made a point of asking a middle aged woman, not young person, too!

OP posts:
Shinyshoes1 · 19/12/2013 20:01

Lol ...

But why is it called minceMEAT

MummyofIsla · 19/12/2013 20:01

Hmm doesn't surprise me in the slightest, some people can be so thick! And no YANBU, they are being eejits!

TheMuppetsSingChristmas · 19/12/2013 20:02

I asked a young spotty assistant in our Sainsburys where the children's Christmas annuals were. Her face was utterly and totally blank. "Wos zat den?" came the reply...

MurielHeslopp · 19/12/2013 20:02

To be fair an easy mistake to make. I would have made a point of saying ''for mince pies''.

They usually overworked and underpaid. Mistakes happen.

guanosoup · 19/12/2013 20:02

I was putting my shopping through once, the lad on the till picked up a vegetable, and asked if it was a carrot.

It was not... Hmm

Food identification skills do not appear to be a priority Grin

TheMuppetsSingChristmas · 19/12/2013 20:03

Because hundreds of years ago it was minced meat. The only remnant of that these days is the suet in most pies.

EdieWilliams · 19/12/2013 20:04

I once asked a lad in Tesco's for doilies....he had no idea what they were....when I explained he had a light bulb moment and said "Is that what they're called?" Hmm

I think supermarket staff are over worked and over stressed at this time of year.

Original poster
trinity0097 · 19/12/2013 20:04

He did, see my OP, he asked for 'mincemeat, the sweet type for mince pies', so no excuse really!

OP posts:
Nancy66 · 19/12/2013 20:04

I emailed Sainsbury's head office a couple of years ago suggesting they send their staff on 'fruit and veg identity training' due to fact none of them seemed to recognise anything more exotic than an apple or a spud.

EdieWilliams · 19/12/2013 20:06

And a bloke in Lidle thought a melon was a grapefruit the other day. Hmm

I wasn't buying the grapefruit, but then realise, as we never eat the foul things in our house, my DC probably wouldn't recognise one either. Cue me picking up one the next time we were in a supermarket and informing all of my DC "This is a grapefruit!"

VampyreofTimeandMemory · 19/12/2013 20:06

bunch of charmers, you lot. 'Spotty' and 'thick'? Nice!

Greydog · 19/12/2013 20:06

In Tescos once looking for Rosewater (I had got it there before) The young lady at inforamtion helpfully told me that they didn't sell roses in water....

Greydog · 19/12/2013 20:06

I mean information! Sorry!

eddiemairswife · 19/12/2013 20:07

It's called mincemeat because it used to have meat in as well as dried fruit and brandy.

CrohnicallySick · 19/12/2013 20:10

Edie- I can see that happening in our house. Though I now make a point of occasionally buying something for Dd that I don't like, just in case she does.

Usually she doesn't though!

ImpatientOne · 19/12/2013 20:10

I remember when I worked in a supermarket as a teenager and a girl (about 8/9) came to the fresh meat counter asking for mincemeat - it took ages to establish what she'd been sent out for...

My favourite thing working on the meat & deli was a man who came and asked for half a pint of cheddar Xmas Grin -it was Friday evening and obviously wishful thinking that he was in the pub already!

WhispersOfWickedness · 19/12/2013 20:11

Edie - our local Lidl recently had a fruit which was a grapefruit crossed with a melon, so maybe that's where his confusion began Grin

OP, YANBU, especially since he specified what kind!

MurielHeslopp · 19/12/2013 20:11

Oops, sorry OP
Blush

dontcallmemam · 19/12/2013 20:13

I asked for orzo.
They looked it up & sent me to the soup aisle, soup with orzo in it.

EdieWilliams · 19/12/2013 20:20

Orzo? I'm guessing that is rice??? In which case you should have asked for rice. Grin

Or is it past? Hmm

Anyway, it's not indiginous to the UK....unlike mincemeat.... Grin

ladypete · 19/12/2013 20:21

I have an American friend who discovered aged 27 what mince meat actually was! She thought we sat round putting brandy butter and cream on beef pastries Grin

I also have to agree that I don't see how a girl being "spotty" has anything to do with it...

NadiaWadia · 19/12/2013 20:22

what is orzo?

Gruntfuttock · 19/12/2013 20:22

My daughter's a 'young person' who works in Sainsburys and she would've known exactly what you wanted. That's probably because I love mince pies, but I can understand someone young who lives in a family who don't like them - hence never have them in the house - not knowing that someone asking for mincemeat wasn't asking for minced meat. We've all said silly things when we were young that we cringe about when we're older and wiser, haven't we?

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