To be so frustrated at the supermarket

[MinnieAnonyMouse]

I'm just so fed up. We've been observing lockdown really carefully but going to the supermarket just makes me despair.

DH is a nurse but I work from home so to try and keep delivery slots for those who really need them I go and shop once a week. There are so many people either trying to cheat the system or just ignoring it completely. A shop assistant was periodically shouting that only one person could come in per trolley / household but so many couples / families were there. These people then stood separately, got two trollies and walked round together. I completely understand about single parents etc. but there was a family behind me with both parents and three kids. Why on earth would you drag your kids round? There was also a woman who had apparently arranged to meet a friend or family member - they got out of their cars and queued up together for a good old natter. No thought to distance.

Likewise, the shop has put a one way system in place with arrows but the vast majority seemed to ignore totally, wander where they want and if you were where they wanted to be, no matter, just lean across you rather than wait.

I'm worried about DH given his work and this total lack of thought just makes me so cross.

I know IABU for being angry about something I can do nothing about but AIBU to hope that people would have more bloody sense

You are right OP... I feel sorry for the poor Staff out there in front of the Stores trying to Manage/Control this.. some people are getting aggressive with them .. the Staff are not there to be abused or threatened because you cannot listen or work within the governing rules.... if this has shown us anything.. it has shown how horrible selfish some people truly are...

Thank you supermarkets

@DartmoorChef if I’d of realised this I would of given him a list. He gets frustrated by the 10 year olds behaviour so can lash out. He won’t shop for more than 5-6 items either.

I don’t know what I would of done if he hadn’t of met us back at the shops. Probably cry.

I got shouted at by a sour-faced mare hard-working staff member for taking a trolley to the baskets-only checkout. What pissed me off was that the sign was only at the far end of the queue - so when you joined the queue there was no way of knowing this. (First time in shop since they introduced the rule.)

I think that shop staff are as much to blame as customers for the rule breakages. In Morrison's it was a complete shambles. Lots of staff shouting, because someone wasn't standing behind an imaginary line, for example. I went into Waitrose the other day, a huge but well-marshalled queue snaking round the carpark. Nearly an hour to get in but everyone was patient and polite because it was clear where you should/shouldn't stand.

There was absolutely no social distancing going on in our Tesco the other day. It's a superstore so it's huge, I queued for 20 mins to get in, it was pot luck if you were in front of someone who was observing the rules. Some had trolleys right up to other people's backsides, some distanced appropriately. Only immediately outside the shop were there actual markings showing where to stand.

There must have been more than 500 people in the shop at the same time. The one way was a joke as if you didn't need that aisle you still had to walk down it despite people on either side browsing, so you couldn't maintain a distance. It was too busy to wait at the end for the aisle to clear.

I only wanted a few things but had to go up and down each aisle. The queue was up one side of the Easter egg aisle (worst place to put it as loads of people were browsing) then looped around the deli counter area.

I got told off a few times for overstepping lines and going the wrong way, which was all done totally by accident because these new rules go against everything we are used to doing in supermarkets. It took me almost 2.5 hours to buy a small trolley full of shopping and I needed to lie down in a darkened room at the end of it!

My mum has been shopping in Sainsbury's and reckons they do it a lot better so I'll be going there next time. I just didn't feel safe at Tesco at all. Credit to the staff though they were fantastic and did their best to keep everyone in line, they just let too many people in for it to be effective.

I go to Morrisons at 7am NHS hour. There were lots of people pretending to be NHS "left my card at home" and sent packing.
There is hardly anyone in there at that hour, shelves are stocked.
So far I've not seen whole families but then it's fairly rural, I expect the big towns are busier.
It's very clear which way shoppers should go and thank goodness the staff have platic screens now. They didn't have them for ages.

If you can afford it and there is one close by then go to M&S. I went to my local earlier as it’s a fairly small food hall and there was only one other person in there. No number limit on the amount of people either and you can take children in. Most people avoid it and go to Tesco and the like as it’s cheaper for stockpiling. In my town anyway!

I have no issue at all with queuing up outside and then queuing again to pay. However the one way system is a complete nightmare. All its doing is causing bottlenecks of people being stuck cause they have to follow the one way system round the entire shop. I ended up completely stuck (2m behind) a couple this morning (who told the security guard they were on their own) all the way round the shop whilst they debated which sort of bloody cheese to buy. Then I finally managed to get some food and then couldn't find the other bit I needed to go with it so had to go all the way to the start of the one way system to go again to look for something else. I was in there way over an hour and I only 5 mins was for queuing and paying...complete madness.

If you're shopping once a week for three households, and you send one person in with one trolley, surely you're going to fall foul of the item limits at the check-out?

As an aside (and in general I absolutely think people should follow the rules) but I'm absolutely shocked at one tesco stores system. I'm not sure if it's all stores or just this one. But they have you queue in the alcohol aisle, and depending on the queue you could be stuck there some time.

I do na online and a guy shared in our chat around this. He's11 days clean and very new to recovery. He had to wait in the alcohol aisle 15mins to get served. 15 mins surrounded by a drug he knew would kill him but was so tempted. By. Surrounded by people discussing which bottle they're getting and how they're going to get smashed this evening etc. He couldn't just leave and go elsewhere as was shopping for his elderly dad.

Nke I understand one aisle has to be the checkout aisle. But you'd think tesco would use common sense. Ordinarily this guy wouldn't. Go dlem. That aisle. There's alcohol all about shops these days - but you can walk straight past crates of beer. Onto the cheese aisle. Not the same as being stuck next to a bottle of whisky for 15mins is it. Why not put the checkout aisle in a non offensive aisle like the toiletries or pop aisle.

Myself and many other people advised him to complain and quite rightly he has

My local Tesco was a disaster this week. Far too many customers allowed in. Too many customers browsing blocking the aisle. Massive queue to pay. Horrible

I went to Tesco for the first time today (stuck to co-op up till now) and it was awful.

A couple in their 60s both with trolleys stood for ages discussing how to get around the minimum allowed for canned tomatoes. Ringing what I can only assume was family members and discussing at length. Meanwhile we're all stuck behind them. I ended up holding my breath and darting past them.

People just dithering over what to buy, one lady stood for ages in front of the bread picking up a loaf, looking, putting it back. Picking up a different loaf, looking, putting it back.

People in masks oblivious as they push past, lean over me, and generally totally ignoring social distancing.

By the time I got home I was an anxious mess & raced straight to the soap and I'm not an anxious person! Disnt end up getting half the stuff I wanted to either.

Our local Sainsburys didn't seem to have any system in place this morning. There was a queue but inside no markings and people going in all directions, not really possible to maintain distance reliably which is shit.

I'm probably at either Waitrose or Sainsbury's every other day (I'm shopping for a few people at the moment). Everyone queues nicely, keeps a decent distance away from each other (doing a sort of trolley dance around each other) and I've only seen one child all week.

A couple in their 60s both with trolleys stood for ages discussing how to get around the minimum allowed for canned tomatoes.

They insist on you buying a minimum number of canned tomatoes? No wonder everywhere else is short!

This is why I now do online food shopping and have it delivered instead.

It all seems to be going ok in our local mini Waitrose and the big one . One in , one out for those in their cars and on foot . People shopping by themselves . Doesn't appear to be any limits to what you can buy but cursory glances at the checkout / baskets and trolleys looks pretty much people buying just what they need .

Completely agree that masks seem to make people think they're invincible! And gloves as well. To the pp who asked, our shop has a sort of loop system so it is one way apart from the wider central aisle which is two ways (split into lanes) so you can loop back. In theory, it should work easily!

denty that's awful. Are you in UK as the children limited rule isn't actually law?
That's what the frothers fail to see
That not every 15yo can be left at home. That not every 14yo can mind a younger sibling in the car.

Personally I wouldn't return to that brand again. Many supermarkets are being semsible. Perhaps. Ring in advance, explain your circs re special needs and ask if it is allowed.

But I certainly wouldn't be returning to that shop again, I'd go. Elsewhere even if. It was. Further away. I wouldn't be sending teen to. Do a weeks shopping. And it might be an idea emailing cuduomer services avtuallt
Tjeur ridiculous policy is actually putting single parents in a disadvantaged position.

@MinnieAnonyMouse maybe this is something you need to address with the store manager by email or phone?

I have only had one supermarket shop since this began and found it not too bad.

At Waitrose they had one male member of staff managing the queue and allowed one person per trolley.

The trolleys are cleaned between use so you have to wait for your trolley to be brought to the door. There are no trolleys in the trolley parking bay now.

They had managed numbers so it was a case of waiting for one out- one in.

In store, I found many older people not aware of keeping their distance and not even looking around when they were delving into a freezer to see how they could 'exit' the aisle safely.

There was no one way system in place then- not sure if there is now.
I did get frustrated at how some people couldn't predict a 'crush factor' in aisles if two of us were walking in opposite directions. Just like bad driving, really.

I hope that when I go back these issues have been ironed out.

They do close alternate check outs and as I use scan and pack, I was able to whizz out not standing near anyone.

I still think you ought to speak to the store and give feedback.

They insist on you buying a minimum number of canned tomatoes? No wonder everywhere else is short!

I think the poster here made an error.
They surely mean get round the maximum cans of toms.

I'm too scared to go because I worry about people coming too close to me... am I within my rights to ask for space if they do? I don't know , it's all too much !

YANBU
This crisis has absolutely highlighted the stupidity/ignorance/entitlement/selfishness of some people.

I fell foul of the Tesco one way system because of the 'end shelves'. I had batteries on my list, followed the snake, got to one aisle and realised I'd missed the batteries because they were on the end of the left shelving stake and the one way system went right.

So I had to ask a member of staff to get a pack for me (which is what the sign said to do). I wanted a pack of 8 - which I told her - and she brought back a pack of 4 as she'd forgotten if I'd said 4 or 8. TBH I was so tired of waiting in the aisle, with people stacking up behind me because there's nowhere to wait if you forget something, that I just thanked her and added another pack to the shopping list for the next time. I actually would have been safer, because I'd have kept moving, if I'd have dumped my trolley and gone to get them myself rather than me standing bang in the way of everyone.

And I will put my hands up to being a ditherer on one occasion. My sister asked me to get her some gluten free bits (her boys are ceoliac). She'd given me a couple of alternatives for what she needed. Now I don't usually buy gluten free so I was faced with the shelf, not knowing where anything was on it AND they didn't have either of the two alternatives she'd mentioned. I knew what she needed - one of her son's is also allergic to corn so she has to be careful to avoid corn syrup and maize) so I will admit I spent time looking at the labels.

It's not easy shopping at the moment - I tend to just go round people if they're 'dithering' because they could be in the same position I was in. Trying to buy for someone who has an allergy when brands have disappeared or different brands are being sourced is hard.

Perhaps if the 24hr supermarkets stopped closing at 10pm there wouldn't be quite the density of shoppers in the daytime.

Do there seem to be any times that are generally quieter or worse/better stocked? Not so much over Easter but in general. We seem to have long queues at opening time here.