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

Yes customers are stressed and it's understandable but so are retail staff who did not sign up to work in these circumstances (at least not the ones who have been there a while). Unfortunately the shelves need to be filled in the day sometimes unless you'd prefer they didn't bother and your unable to get your shopping.
I honestly wouldn't waste your time complaining. Retail staff and managers are snowed under, managers know the stress their staff are under so aren't going to discipline them, even if they say they will.

It's pretty hard at the moment, and reading the comments even the same brand of store in different places seem to have different rules and procedures. We live in a small town of about 5k people and when I go out to do food shopping - my DH can't do this as he is vulnerable due to pre-existing medical conditions - it's been very civilised as far as I can see and everybody trying their hardest to do the social distancing etc. I've found mornings to be very busy, afternoons less so, but I now go at about 6pm to our local Co-op, Sainsburys Metro or Marks & Spencer and they're all pretty deserted by then. All of these shops count customers in and out. Maybe try smaller shops?

It is very stressful. My neighbour works for the nhs but it's currently doing admin from home. She's constantly on social media and tells me she has very little to do. She also posted some Instagram stories yesterday saying she went to Aldi midday, saw the queue was huge and walked to the front where she explained to the guy at the entrance that she was an nhs worker and needed to get back to the ward. She was ushered straight in. It's infuriating but people do flout the rules, or use them in their favour and it's unfair in everyone else in the bloody queue.

The big supermarkets are a nightmare at the moment - even without the worry of being around lots of people, trying to follow the one way system while making sure you don't forget anything as you go past, while not blocking the aisles, while being careful not to touch anything you're not buying, while trying to be quick because you know there's a huge queue outside, while also trying to dodge the people doing none of the above is ridiculously stressful. I'm only going to the smaller local shops now - it means I have to go to two as neither sells everything i need, but I'm probably still crossing paths with fewer people overall and it's far less anxiety-inducing.

Everytime I go to the supermarket nowadays my blood pressure soars. Yesterday I stopped at the freezer and within seconds some ignorant moron had come right up on top of me, slid the door open and grabbed a bag of ice.

Between eejits like that, couples going around with kids or bringing big buggies into small shops, and people who can't seem to grasp the whole concept of social distancing, shopping is a nightmare nowadays.
Someone in my household has cancer and these thoughtless people are mak8life very stressful for people like me at the moment.

Yep, as usual, ignorant morons who think they're more important than everyone else.

Even in our local, small Spar shop, they're a nightmare. There's a sign saying only 3 customers at once, there's one way markings on the floor, there are lines on the floor every 2 metres. Yet, there's always some moron just flouting it all - usually 20 or 30 somethings, just pushing past ignoring it all and nearly always not doing anything like a proper shop - just for a bottle of wine or a few bags of crisps, or yesterday, some ignorant yob who ignored the queue and just barged to the counter asking for lottery scratchcards - luckily the shop assistant had the balls to tell him to go to the back of the queue!

In my Tescos, we got to ailse 14, the queing ailse for the tills, everyone 2 metres apart and along comes the shop assistant doing the online shopping for people walking right past us all dead slow and stopping to put stuff in the trolley. Just couldnt avoid her.

Also, while I appreciate families who wait outside our small local Centra while one goes inside, please don't all hover around the doorway forcing people to squeeze past you.

Not a dig at anyone on this thread but it just shows why people are so loathe to let go of their delivery slots!

What else did you expect the person doing the online shopping to do? Magic herself past while picking the shopping?

What else did you expect the person doing the online shopping to do? Magic herself past while picking the shopping?

How about the pickers go around when the shop is closed to the public, especially now that most stores have reduced their opening hours, or at least at quieter times?

"What else did you expect the person doing the online shopping to do? Magic herself past while picking the shopping?"

I expected her to not walk right past me. Sort of defeats the object of everyone keeping 2 metre distance in the queue outside and inside, if they are just going to walk right next to you. They could move the stuff from that side so as they dont have to go down it. They could do any number of things. For all we know, that person could have covid and just infected 20 people.

I am responsible for 3 different family shops. I’m shopping to feed and supply a total of 10 people per shop. Other than actual volume of goods it’s the searching out of products I don’t normally buy that takes time, and gets a bit stressful. So last time both DH and I went. Took a trolly each but stayed together so we could help each other with choosing what to sub etc. He also lifted the heavier stuff ( beer ) . So we looked liked we were breaking the guidelines to any one who was watching. The alternative would be to do smaller more frequent shops. Spare a thought for those trying to stick to guidelines whilst shopping for multiple families.

I’m avoiding the big supermarkets completely and doing the same as @psychomath - small local shops only. We have both a Tesco express and a Sainsbury’s local fairly near us and if I get there early enough (they open at 7am, I’m in by 7.15) they are very quiet. Three or four other customers, max, and well stocked with fresh stuff as they’ve just received their morning delivery. It’s calm, no one is stressed or rude, there’s no queue. Only downsides are a more limited range available (but you can get all essentials) and you can only use baskets so it’s tiring on the arms, but it’s doable.

Generally I can get most of what I want between the two and I’m home by 8, job done.

It does mean I generally need to go twice a week, for a family of 5. But I figure that exposure risk increases based on the number of people (and therefore the number of potentially infected people) you come across when you go out. So on that basis I am probably less at risk by going out twice a week and being in a shop with three or four others at a time than going once a fortnight and being exposed to hundreds in a massive queue for a prolonged period. Maybe that’s daft logic? but it makes sense to me anyway.

and to all supermarket workers.

Pickers have thousands of items to pick when I did it last monday 25,000 items and start at 4am and some still there at 5pm picking shopping. They cant just magic themselves away and have timers going to when they should be done

I'm going to complain when staff ignore social distancing. Every time. If I can be warned by staff and police for ignoring social distancing then staff should too.

The fact is staff ignoring it and continuing as before means customers are ignoring it too.

Between seriously restricted opening hours now and no taxis here anymore I must go shopping much more at busy times (there are no quiet times anymore) so I don't expect to have staff leaning over me and squeezing past me.

There's no deliveries here so it's not pickers its staff stacking shelves/grabbing food for themselves causing the problem.

The times have reduced by over 50%, all the quieter times have now gone. They'd be better staying open regular times so those who need quieter times could go. I don't know how keyworkers get food, they must be sending others out as the opening hours are so severely restricted.

"Pickers have thousands of items to pick when I did it last monday 25,000 items and start at 4am and some still there at 5pm picking shopping. They cant just magic themselves away and have timers going to when they should be done"

Tell the Government that then, who set the 2m rule. Pickers arent exempt from it, so, yes, they do need to magic themselves away. No good getting half your supermarket staff to shout at customers not adhering to it, if you arent going to adhere to it yourselves. That's how covid travels...by people not adhering to it.

tabby quite.

Ah well you can explain to the vulnerable why we can't deliver their food. Can tell the people who only think of themselves and don't work in retail.

@Becca19962014 I understand your frustration but many people who are shielding work full time, including myself

"Ah well you can explain to the vulnerable why we can't deliver their food. Can tell the people who only think of themselves and don't work in retail."
You are indirectly affecting the vulnerable. I'm not sure you are understanding either the covid rules or how covid spreads. I do the shopping for my vulnerable family members, as do many others. If you pass covid to me by walking right past me, which is in contravention of the rules, I then pass it to my vulnerable family member...all so as you can walk down the pop ailse and pick lemonade for people.

"Can tell the people who only think of themselves and don't work in retail."

So only people who work in retail think of others?! Yeah right. Clearly the people who are walking right past people in ailses, in contravention of the rules arent actually thinking of anyone but themselves?

This is just like the staff at aldi's door, policing people who go in, but stand right in the doorway, so you have to virtually touch them to get in. No brains whatsoever.

Oh no of course I'm so thick I don't understand. You don't understand the pressure we are under. We're picking thousands of items a day for customers and don't unfortunately have the time to walk all the way round another aisle. If you have a problem with it I suggest writing to the supermarket with your suggestion of how to pick thousands of items while avoiding customers at all times.