To hate faffers everywhere!

[Freshlysqueezed]

Why are there so many faffers -buying cinema tickets, going to the Post office etc - someone in front always has to have an issue and take twice as long as they should, drivers taking 10 minutes to get in a space 4 times the size of their car, people taking forever over a simple food order - I could go on!

I do agree there, Choccy - that is definitely a faff worth complaining about. Those are members of staff (or actually, sometimes, volunteers, who are doing the job for the love of it, and not being paid at all), not general members of the public, getting in one's way. If you've paid for a plate of food, then that is exactly what you should get.

It's important to decide which groceries go into which bags! I find self check outs a faff but the wrong kind of faff. So I wait for the one open proper check out where I have a nice chat with the operator. The people using the self check outs are the faff-haters, so we are conveniently divided and they are not behind me huffing.
Faffer and Huffers. Ha!
sometimes I am a Huffer, but only when late for work.

I hear you, OP. I seem to attract professional faffers...the people who block the aisle drooling over biscuit packets in the grocery store, the slow (young, able) walkers, the people in line who will argue for fifteen minutes with a teenage cashier about some complicated points scheme. Come ON! I have places to go and people to see! I don't have Jeffing time for your 'hobby'.

Evans - 'not everyone is fortunate enough to have their wits about them at all times, nor be aware of others.'

No they are incredibly selfish and stupid in my opinion and shows they lack common sense and intelligence.

Well - at the moment I am probably looking like a faffer in the supermarket. My MIL is terminally ill, not expected to last more than a few days, and I am not coping with the stress of knowing I am about to lose someone I love, of trying to support dh and the dses and dbil, of having dh away so much, because he is having to travel a lot for work, and is spending every moment he can with his mum, and of being left to cope with the dog, who has ruptured both anterior cruciate ligaments and needs two lots of surgery with a total recovery of 6 months and the fact I am probably going to be diagnosed type 2 diabetic.

In recent days, I have found myself in the supermarket, wandering round completely unable to fathom what I need to buy, and desperately trying not to burst into tears. But I am sure I look like a stereotypical faffer, and it is not nice to think that people might be judging me as being selfish, stupid and lacking in common sense, when in reality I am barely functioning in a horrible limbo.

Oh, SDTG - so sorry to hear this. Exactly the point I was trying to make.
I was behind a lady in the supermarket a while ago who burst into tears whilst going to pay. Turns out, her husband had just died, he was the one who always did the shopping and she had a huge wobble and fell to pieces, as she was completely out of her comfort zone and grieving at the same time. The shop assistant was lovely, and then I loaded her shopping into my car and drove her home. Someone else might have seen this as "faffing".

My heart goes out to you, SDTG, really it does. Not everyone is impatient.

Mostly I hate it but keep my gob shut as there might be something more important than my shopping etc going on. My mum is bloody terrible at getting ready to go out, she wears old clothes for loafing about the house and has to get changed and straighten her hair to go to Morrisons.

This morning she got out my toddler drawings to show me just as I was wanting to give my toddler his lunch then catch a train! Not something I could complain about really!

Thank-you, Evans.

SDTG and Evan's those scenarios are hardly faffing. You walking around a supermarket isn't faffing unless you are aimlessly standing in the middle and blocking the entire aisle and not moving to let anyone pass by. Someone suddenly bursting into tears isn't faffing either. There have been countless examples of what people see as faffing and no-one has mentioned these scenarios at all.

Evan not Evan's

Oh! you're welcome, SDTG - hope things look up for you soon. Such a lot to worry about

Other people would see my Mum as a faffer. She suffers most dreadfully from depression. She rarely leaves the house, but when she is persuaded to, it takes an age to get her ready and out.

Last Christmas, my Dad took her out to choose the "Special" family Christmas cards. He took her to the card shop, then went off to run some errands, arranging to meet Mum at a certain place at such-and-such a time. He got there, waited, waited, waited. Mum didn't turn up. He wandered off to the card shop (he himself has difficulty in walking, so when I said "run" some errands, I didn't literally mean "run"!!). Mum had had a panic attack, and found herself unable to leave the shop. It was an awful situation, and to think that someone might have just dismissively judged either of them as "faffing" absolutely makes my blood boil.

Actually Li'lMiss - standing 'aimlessly' in the middle of an aisle can be a sign of many other things, quite clearly beyond your comprehension. If you have many, worrying and distressing things going on in your life, sometimes your mind can just go completely blank, so you are not aware of what is going on around you.

National Trust tea rooms seem to be the natural home of Faffers. I mean how long does it take to decide between a plain or a fruited scone. I think people become FAffier when they retire and have endless time to FAff about.

My DPs can turn a supermarket shop that will take me half an hour to to do into a whole day expedition just by faffing about.

PILS have endless discussions when eating out. They will both look at the menu for ages then MIL will ask FIL what's he's having and have a discussion about everything on offer and the pros and cons of all the choices eventually they will to decide to have what they always have anyway. WHY???

Look there have been clear examples of what is considered faffing, I hardly think standing looking for a card is considered faffing and then for someone to suddenly fall ill is hardly faffing either. There is no need to start putting in scenarios like this and then saying 'well you would call that faffing' when clearly no-one would because if they did they would of posted about it well before you did but they haven't.

As for standing in the aisle aimlessly and blocking it whilst deciding what to buy could mean something serious, well guess what there is no mind reading ability that I know of and the usual reaction upon seeing what looks like a normal healthy person blocking an aisle is how inconsiderate that person is. move the trolley to the side whilst you decide or continue to just stand there aimlessly for as long as you want to.

I agree, standing in supermarket aisles does sometimes happen for no reason other than stresses and strains of life. It can be quite disorienting.

So sorry to hear you are going through this STDG, sounds like a lot on your plate. please do try and take care of yourself. Enlist help if you can.

Faffing happens to us all you know. It really does, and yes, it's humbling, especially in the modern technologised world where we maybe think we are on top of things.

I don't have too many puzzled "what did i just read?" moments now or much vertigo, but having those did teach me to be aware of others who may have hidden abilities and disabilities, not to judge and to be a kinder person.

Of course we all like to be early for things, and to shoot through our shopping etc there is an addictive pleasure in dong something competently and quickly, but we are all different and it's better to be late than be late, iykwim.

Take a breath, and be kind in your thoughts: some people really are stressed out, and sleep deprived, and just about able to be upright!

Oh dear. I'm a faffer. I'll get me coat.

You might come up with a gazillion reasons why we shouldn't be annoyed with people driving at 40mph on the motorway in the middle lane, but most of us have told you about our husbands' (or other family members') faffing. We know that they have no special circumstance; they're just irritating faffers. The people behind them in the queue are right.

I agree. The vast majority of faffers faf for no other reason other than that they are irritating pain in the arses

The thing is, Lilmiss - at the points where I have been wandering round the supermarket, trying not to cry, and unable to work out what I wanted or needed, there were no outward signs of what was going on in my head - I wasn't actually crying or obviously distressed - I am sure you would have looked at me and seen a classic faffer, but you would have had no idea why I was being so aimless.

argh what part of my post do you not understand SDTG - I clearly said I don't think people wandering around a supermarket are faffers. Walk around a supermarket all you fecking like for hours and hours I couldn't really care how long you are in their for its not my business. BUT the moment someone blocks an aisle for whatever reason and doesn't move or makes tutting noises cos they have to move to allow people through then they are selfish and inconsiderate.

Lilmiss I think what you are saying is perfectly clear. However, there are always those who willfully misunderstand in order to make a thread in to something it is not

I think you should have to do a test and get a licence before you use the self service machines in the supermarket. They're supposed to make things quicker, if you're going to take 20 minutes to buy 4 items just go to the feckin cashier checkout.

And yes, agree with PPs, most of us are talking about people we know who do the same faffing all the time, not just people who may be experiencing difficulties or are elderly or have lds.

It's the same on the threads asking what takes people so long in the loo. Someone always comes on talking about how some people have illnesses eg IBS and we shouldn't be judging them. Well yes, but most people don't and are just faffing about in the cubicle!!

If you are stressed about other people faffing, the problem is... YOU

try to adopt a more tolerant, zen like approach to life.

I live close to a garden centre and as a consequence, the road by my house (a 60MpH) is often slowed down by a tiny elderly person in a tiny old car on the way to the garden centre at 20MpH, and too fearful to pull out at the junction.

This slows down most of my journeys, so I leave 5 mins early to accommodate the faffers.

It has done wonders for my blood pressure when driving

Recommend a more tolerant approach to others, it will benefit your health and happiness.

Peace

If you are stressed about other people faffing, the problem is... YOU

No the problem is the faffers!

try to adopt a more tolerant, zen like approach to life.

No I think I will go and live on an island itstead

I have IBS by the way, and sometimes need to get to the loo pretty sharpish when I'm out in public. I don't take an age in the actual toilet though. I think most of the time the people who do, are just inconsiderate..