To have bought some clothes from Tesco to cheer myself up?

[paradisefalls]

Went to Tesco this morning to do the food shopping, it's the first time I've been out other than going to work in two weeks. Whilst I was there I thought I'd grab myself some clothes because with all this warm weather we've had I don't own any summer clothes and sandals. I picked up quite a bit (£180 worth) for myself and got a couple of dresses for DD's aswell. People were giving me some right weird looks and the lady behind me at the check out kept tutting. The cashier was admiring the clothes and saying that she needed to grab some bits for her Dd before she left work today. Aibu to think there's nothing wrong with picking up other essentials while your already there anyway? Aren't clothes essentials? I haven't ordered anything online since this all started because I don't want to add pressure to delivery drivers. I'm a key worker myself (royal mail) and know how worrying it is to still be working under these circumstances. After years of being a stay at home mum in a financially abusive relationship, buying clothes makes me happy because for years I've had nothing. Buying those bits today has really lifted my mood aibu?

Ahh jealous I'd love some new summer clothes but DH does the supermarket shop, I only trust him with socks and pants

Although, he's been quite good at choosing nice designs for the DC (essential purchases as they keep growing)

You don't get much for £180, floatyboat.

Oh for goodness sake. This is driving me crazy. We are in the middle of a flipping pandemic! Everyone is struggling with trying to cope with lockdown and all these restrictions, not being able to see loved ones for weeks on end etc etc.

What harm is it doing by simply buying some clothing. The shops are displaying them, therefore they are there to buy.

OP enjoy your purchases. First of all it has made you happy. Secondly, by buying the clothing you are surely contributing to the manufacturers that have made that clothing, therefore keeping the economy going, at a time when the economy is crashing right now. I know it is hard but try and ignore the tutters.

So sorry that incident and thoughtless of a minority took away your shopping experience. At times like this we have to take pleasure where we can, however small. Carry on love! xxx

YANBU, I’ve bought and ordered tons of “non essentials”. If it’s available to buy then it’s OK to actually buy it!

Just scrolled back at the previous postings and seen the photo of your outfit. Wow! That is lovely and so what I would wear. I am going to look out for that outfit the next time I am at Tesco's!!

FGS all this 'essential ' shit gets my goat. It clearly says in the guidelines that if the shop is open you can go and buy stuff. End of story.
But clothes, garden compost anything you like that is for sale and don't feel you have to buy a bottle of milk at the same time to justify it

@springcatkin Totally agree. I find myself buying milk or bread just to justify being in the store. It is madness! What is essential to one person is not to another.

If we are not to buy certain items, then the store should remove them. I don't tend to look at what customers are buying as I too busy trying to stick to the 2 metre ruling.

I find shopping now so stressful. It's like getting through an assault course with no browsing. If I stop to look at something I am aware of people waiting behind me. It is a case of grab and go!

I don't take a delivery slot. I go shopping in person. Slightly off topic, but related all the same. I am not getting this 80 items only. I understand it is to get more on the lorry, therefore being able to deliver to more people. It should go on volume and not the number of items. If someone buys 3 (the limit) boxes of a 12 pack cans of lager, 3 9 roll packs of toilet paper and then 3 huge boxes of washing powder, then that is only classed as 9 items out of a possible 80 yet all bulky items so taking a lot of space up on the lorry!

"If we are not to buy certain items, then the store should remove them."

Jesus. Can you not take responsibility for your own decisions. Buying a couple of essential clothes is fine. Buying loads of clothes just to make you feel happy clearly isn't. The shop can't police that, it is down to individuals and their conscience.

Also, does this pandemic mean we forget about all other ethical issues? Splurging on fast fashion has a lot of harms at the best of times.

@Floatyboat Why can't the store police that? They police the food items and restrict customers to no more than 3 items of any one thing. They could easily apply this to clothing should they want to.

Floatyboat didn't OP say she had left a financially abusive relationship in which she didn't have - wasn't allowed - any new clothes? So she actually had no summer clothes. You're coming across as really judgemental, which isn't a nice trait at all, or else you don't read posts properly and still judge...

YANBU OP, it's not like you made a special trip to get them and I wouldn't care if you did, people need clothes

@Lou670

Because different people need different clothes. It is not a hoarding/supply issue like some food items.

@thenoodlesincident

Sorry didn't notice that. If it is genuinely the case the op had no clothes suitable for warmer weather then it may be appropriate. £180 still seems a lot, but depends what she bought I guess.

Thanks guys for the compliments on the pic

Just to clarify there wasn't much of a queue when I got there ( 3 people infront of me) and I was in there just over an hour getting 2 weeks worth of food shopping aswell as the clothes. I didn't try on the clothes just picked them up in my size and put them in my trolly.

£180 doesn't buy you a lot.

1x dress
1x lounge set
2x t-shirts
2x shorts
2x outfits
1x trousers
1x pair of sandals
4x summer dresses for DD's
2x sandals for DD's

I buy a lot of there clothes even in normal times because there nice, wash well and for the club card points.

For those saying how did I hear her if she was standing 2m away. It wasn't hard because every time I looked at her she was doing it while looking at the clothes going through. She obviously wanted to be heard so was doing it loud enough for me to hear her.

That's quite a lot.

It’s fine. You were in there anyway. What are you supposed to do, walk around in 20 degrees in uggs and jeans ?

@Floatyboat not everyone can afford hand grown hand sown organic cotton tunics from some ethical website at £150 a pop. ‘Fast fashion’ is how some people have to live.

I work in a supermarket and of course picking up a few bits of non essential things is fine. The problems come when you are browsing. So you say you had a lot, how long did it take you to select it all? I am assuming you didn't go in pick up the first few things you spotted in your size? Did you wander around looking, picking things up putting them against you to see how they look, putting them back and selecting something else? All whilst other people are stood outside waiting to come in? That is what irritates people, one dress yeah ok half a new wardrobe not ok.

The point is that the long term costs are actually more than buying and repairing

@floatyboat so how was OP supposed to invest in these clothes she can repair over and over again when she was in aN abusive relationship with no access to money ?

Buying a couple of essential clothes is fine. Buying loads of clothes just to make you feel happy clearly isn't. The shop can't police that, it is down to individuals and their conscience

Not ‘clearly ‘ at all.

Why is it morally wrong to buy some clothes to make someone happy ? People buy alcohol or junk food snacks when buying their main shop to make them happy - there isn’t any prohibition against that and if the argument is that putting the clothes through the till takes extra time, then so does putting through nutritionally unnecessary food. ( not suggesting that shops start policing people’s food buying habits except for supply issues )

@sweeneytoddsrazor I'd say I was browsing for maybe 20mins? It was just a case of "ooo that's nice" and in the trolley.

Like I said there wasn't much of a queue outside ( 3 people infront of me) and when I left there was made 5 people queue to get in. The pharmacy queue was huge though.

It's the time choosing the clothes not putting them through the till. When you buy your non essential alcohol you know yiu want gin or wine and go there and select it. Clothes takes far longer. You wander around looking at what you like, see if its in your size, see if you like something else better, go back to original choice. If you happen to be stood outside a supermarket waiting to come in are you going to be happy you have to wait an extra 30 minutes whilst someone strolls around choosing loads of clothes as opposed to 2 minute extra whilst someone picks up a bottle of vodka.

Maybe 5 people queueing*

Not all supermarkets have massive queues, where I live there’s only a queue in the morning, anytime after about 11 you just walk in

So that is still an extra 20 mins on top of how long they had to wait. And if 2 people have done it there is 40 mins extra. This is where the problem lies.

I might not want to spend all that in Tesco when you could buy other things elsewhere surely getting what she needs from one place is much better than her traipsing around half a dozen places to get essentially the same stuff??