to think eating products before you pay for them at the till is uncouth?

[lastfanjoinparis]

OH and I disagree. He thinks eating a packet of crisps then handing the empty packet over at checkout to scan is perfectly acceptable but I think this is a no-no.

Where do you guys sit on this matter?

I think it only seems outdated to those people eating their way around the supermarket. There's plenty people on this thread alone who think it's bad etiquette. There's a certain kind of obnoxiousness to it IMO.

I can eat in a perfectly polite and clean way whilst going at a normal speed

Not while walking around the supermarket though. Out of interest is there anything you wouldn't eat while shopping, if you fancied a nice glass of wine to wash down your meal, that's OK as well?

Lying, you're probably right!

YANBU. I have never understood why people do it. I have been ravenously hungry while shopping, but never to the point where I simply can't wait till I have left the supermarket!
I would personally accept two exceptions:

• a diabetic who finds themselves having a hypo halfway round the aisles
• a baby who is due to be fed and the parent has either run out of (hence shopping) or has forgotten to bring milk.

Everyone else can bloody well wait; you won't faint with hunger if you go without food for an hour...

Whatthefuck... So the chicken wing bones then, the checkout operator disposes of them at their till bin? Grim, grim, grim...

Or does your husband taken them home and put them in your bin?

fortunately noones barfed in our trolley yet :) but I shall warn him that it's a potential unexpected side affect!
I think there is touch of over reaction on this thread though, I mean really, you can presumably walk past him whilst he carries the hot chicken in his hand (whilst heading to the till) but if he raises his hand to his mouth then the smell suddenly becomes vomit inducing? I think it smells just as strong when it's in the paper bag as if the paper bag is opened. It's not like it was sealed in an airtight box before he ate it.

Oh no Lying, we wouldn't leave them with the rubbish, that would be rude! We would put it in the bin outside the shop usually. But occasionally the person on the checkout has said can I bin that for you, in which case we would probably say yes please.

One time he did it with a samosa too.

Isn't it sealed? I thought it was, in a foil bag and firmly stuck down. It's quite a strong smell and it depends how sensitive you are to the smell of food.

At least you don't leave them with the rubbish.

Eating hot chicken wings whilst doing your food shopping...

So revolting and unneccessary.

Yeah look on the bright side
You might be right re the bag, it might be foil on the inside and paper on the outside.

I vividly remember sitting in the trolley scoffing a bag of Skips while my mum wheeled me around Hillards in about 1982. I'll let her know how uncouth she was being!

Grapes come in big open bags here and are not priced by weight, so my 2 year old usually eats a few while we're shopping. I wouldn't open anything packaged or eat while shopping myself, but I wouldn't be bothered by other people doing it. As long as they paid.

Also the grocery store we frequent is big on handing out free samples in the aisles, so the children usually pick up cubes of fancy cheese, slices of apple or tortilla chips smothered in salsa anyway. We don't really need to open packets!

Mrsfrumble... the grapes aren't washed though?

Samples at the deli counter are not for sale though are they? They're samples, free of charge.

It's unusual for me to be in the minority, but I am this time. When my DC were pre-school age (DC3 still is), I gave them a banana from a bar coded pack to eat as we went round. It kept them quiet for a bit, avoided the pestering when we got to sweets/chocolate aisles and was always paid for. Once they've got to school age, they've stopped coming shopping with me and on the rare occasions they do come now, there's no food on offer as no distraction is needed.

No the grapes aren't washed. God, am I going to get my arse handed to me for feeding my child a few unwashed grapes now?

Is letting the children eat free samples to keep them entertained during a shop less uncouth than opening, eating, then paying for a bag of crisps? I mentioned it because that's probably the reason why I've never felt the need to open packaged produce, rather than a commitment to good manners and self control.

aha so this is why my family got funny looks in sainsbos earlier . We were eating slices of pizza, four of us nomming down the aisles.

It was a freebie though, from the pizza counter, offered to us by pizza counter lady so am I excused

we must have looked so uncouth though!

Just told DH there are 18 pages of comments on whether it's uncouth to eat in a supermarket. He's in stitches

Im shocked that there are so many people that feel so strongly about this. Someone mentioned free samples - what do all the people that are upset by people eating in supermarkets think about that? Is it disgusting to eat them too?

Don't get the logic that if you eat in a supermarket it's cos you can't control yourself or make yourself wait. I could easily wait if i wanted to, but i don't want to. I specifically go to the deli counter to get something to munch on while I'm walking round the shop. If my daughter is with me, I'll get something for her too. It would be rude not to.

I give the barcode stickers to the till person to scan with the rest of the shopping. I'll take the empty bag home with me unless they offer to bin it for me.

Can't for the life of me fathom why so many people are so upset by this. Ridiculous. I really wonder what sort of people you are!

Mrsfumble... no, you'll be alright, I think... that is, unless you allowed one of them to drop one on the floor, creating a slip hazard... in which case, you will be handed your arse, washed or not (the grape, that is).

blackheartsgirl... I expect you did look very uncouth. The only couth thing to do, if you must eat pizza without napkins, is to stand upright by the counter, cocktail-bar-like.

LittleFluffyMoo... Mine thinks it's funny too. I don't let him eat in supermarkets and never in my car... the crumbs, you know.

... I've just remembered that I almost, not quite but almost, ate two paracetamols in the checkout queue when I had a blinding headache. Remembered just in time.

McColonel... and that's where you and your 'friends' get too personal and it's unnecessary and blisteringly rude.

My curiosity is picqued on the issue of free samples. Where do those who are so disgusted by supermarket scoffers stand on the issue? Do they decline on the basis they might be mistaken for slobs who are lacking in self control, even if the proffered sample looks really delicious? Or do they accept, wrap the freebie neatly in a hankie and excersize their awesome control all the way home until they are in the more suitable environs of their own dining table?

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe

McColonel... and that's where you and your 'friends' get too personal and it's unnecessary and blisteringly rude.

Sorry, you've lost me! What are you trying to say?

Mrsfumble... I don't eat samples. I don't think there's anything wrong with eating those though, just stand still at the counter, for Pete's sake!

On the rare occasion I have a free sample, I eat at the counter.