Re people loitering and dithering in shoos

[Carbosug]

With one way systems, social distancing, people queuing outside AIBU to wish people would make an effort to move as quickly as possible up and down the aisles.

Standing for ages deliberating between products, phoning your oh to check what brand of marmalade they prefer, or standing for ages checking a shopping list in a narrow aisle where people need to pass is inconsiderate.

These aren't normal times and most people have adjusted the way they shop accordingly.
But you still get the oblivious faffers and delayers.

🤷‍♀️ The staff are worse. In every shop I have been in, they are just walking around right next to people as normal, and there are so many more of them out stocking shelves, can't avoid them.

Oh forgot to mention dh being on his phone wasnt blocking the aisle because there was a woman at the end dithering doing that ...

I set aside a whole morning when i'm going to Tesco. Ours is massive, lots of room to pass, big central aisle so you can go back on yourself without flouting any arrows.

I know i'm going to spend 20 mins in the Xfactor style queue. I know my mums list is going to contain weird stuff. I have to rewrite it to get it in order. I do that in the car. I know my meal plan list is going to go to pot and i'm going to have to keep doubling back but i try not to.

Juggling 2 shoppings and trying to keep my 2m distance does my head in and i put my hands up to being an occasional Lock Down Ditherer! :)

But nothing will happen if you get slightly closer than 2m. There's no risk at all in simply walking past someone.

So why have the government even bothered with the rule "If you go out, stay 2 metres (6ft) away from other people at all times"? Why don't they just tell us that we mustn't stand 2 metres from anyone, but that if we are walking past them less than 2 metres is ok? And what if the person you are passing coughs or sneezes as you pass them?

'But having said that, we’re a month into lockdown, it’s bloody ridiculous if people are still phoning from the aisles to consult about shopping choices- just have a conversation beforehand with whoever you’re shopping for- ‘what do you want if that product isn’t available?’ ‘Do you want a different brand?’'

Not always as simple as this though. We do exactly what you said for everything and dh has only ever rang me quickly about flour one time and was blocked in the aisle by a woman so was waiting for her to move anyway at the time and not holding anybody up. This kind of flour I couldnt gave told him to get instead as I had never heard of it and had no idea what could make with it so told him to leave it as didnt want to google it and keep him on his phone long!

Yeah that’s me. Reading shopping lists for three different people and ringing to see if I’m getting the correct thing because one of the people I’m buying for won’t pay me if the item is wrong. Soooooo sorry for annoying you🤣🤣

I must say our big two floor Tesco has a really nice atmos. going on. The music is on (club anthems mostly) and the staff are cheerful. 99% of other shoppers in there are pretty smiley and resigned to how it is and there's always lots of apologising and ''no! it's fine you first!'' going on.

However - I don't know who sorted the arrows out on the floor! You go up and down snake like ok for the first few aisles and then it goes to pot. It's almost a physical impossibility to enter the crisp aisle correctly without a bit of jiggery pokery round the meat aisles to adjust your flow, and you HAVE to go the right way down the crisp aisle to be pointing down the right way for entering aisle 19 which is the where they they like you to stand to be called to the till. However - that is also where anyone who wanted Coke or cordial is spat out of their arrow system so it's a bottle neck! It's crackers in there i tell you Strange times. But everyone's in the same boat so ..... peeps just make allowances for each other.

Shopping at present can be very difficult and stressful. My nephew has residual physical effects from a stroke and cannot do bending or heavy lifting and his physical coordination is poor. But he is mentally ok and plans the shopping. He son is his carer - physically strong but he has ADHD and is bipolar. So the lad would probably forget half of the shopping if he went in alone. Nephew says that together they make one competent individual. So they shop as a pair.

Security guard tried to stop son going in with him bt nephew said he is my carer and if you prevent him coming in with me you are breaking the law and discriminating against me. He knows the Equality Act chapter and verse. He also carries a DWP letter showing he is on PIP for mobility. Security guard let him in but some people in the queue behind moaned about him getting special treatment. Nephew ignored them because he is never going to meet those people again in his life.

He says if people want to whizz around him because they are slower then thats ok. A little patience and tolerance goes both ways.

Yes I had this the other day in Tesco. A bloke stood in the middle of the aisle twiddling with his phone totally oblivious. I was trapped and just had to go for it.

Again, why not just say "excuse me"?

If I get distracted or don't notice that someone is waiting for me to move, I'd far rather they attracted my attention than stressed about it or took a risk they're not comfortable with.

I don't know how many times it needs saying.
You don't have to suffer in silence. You don't have to be rude. Just say something to let them know you're there, and smile. We're in this together.

So why have the government even bothered with the rule "If you go out, stay 2 metres (6ft) away from other people at all times"?

Because there's a risk of transmission if you are in close proximity to a person with the virus for a period of time. Simply walking past someone isn't risky as you're not near them for long enough.

"COVID-19 spreads through close sustained contact with someone who has the virus (for instance being within 2 metres of someone for longer than 15 minutes)."

publichealthmatters.blog.gov.uk/2020/03/04/coronavirus-covid-19-what-is-social-distancing/

what if the person you are passing coughs or sneezes as you pass them?

There's some evidence to suggest sneezes can travel much further than 2 meters, so distance alone isn't a guarantee you'll be ok. Also the likelihood of them coughing or sneezing at the exact moment you hurry past is obviously minimal.

There’s lots of reasons people just can’t stride in at a pace you approve of, grab everything they need without even stopping to look, pack their bags and get out in 15 minutes.

Have even considered the potentially hundreds of reasons that might not be possible ? Or are you just soooo efficient and can’t be doing with the non efficient plebs that are so beneath you?

YANBU OP, yes there might be a few shopping for unfamiliar stuff for others, but mostly it's just selfish twats, who treat this as an 'outing' to be dithered over, who have no rush to be elsewhere.

Yabu

Some people may have learning difficulties, cognitive problems etc. Just move past. Simple.

saraclara Sun 26-Apr-20 11:31:38 - Again, why not just say "excuse me"?

Because a lot of people seem to think that speaking (or smiling) across the 2 meter distance to another human will render you immediately highly vulnerable to virus particles

The weather is going to turn tomorrow, I wonder whether that will mean shorter queues and less shoppers? No standing in the nice sunshine for 20 minutes to go in and get a bottle of wine and some ice lollies, and a browse in homeware?

@MigginsMs

I’m half convinced you might’ve been in the same Morrison’s as me. I had this exact issue with a couple in front of the spices!

It was the one and only time I’ve been since this kicked off and it will be the last. LOTS of dithering and it was absolutely rammed! Security guard too busy chatting to his colleague to worry about how many people were going in and out which explains why there wasn’t a massive queue outside for once (you live and learn) and a stupid man wandering around with his wife coughing his lungs up while not covering his mouth. WHY DID YOU BRING HIM!???

Chilli

The 15 mins is under 2m not the entire shop so you can pass someone in less than 15 mins!

God I am so tired of this certain section of people with too-tight briefs ticking everyone else off. Get. A. Life.

This definitely 100% & 😂 at the too tight briefs 😄

Know what I'm really sick of? The daily gripes from people determined to police the behaviour of other people down to the most minute detail.

saraclara Sun 26-Apr-20 11:31:38 - Again, why not just say "excuse me"?

Because a lot of people seem to think that speaking (or smiling) across the 2 meter distance to another human will render you immediately highly vulnerable to virus particles hmm grin

Ha! Nah. It's just that if that few seconds of interaction solved the problem, they'd have nothing to moan about @laiste

I really, genuinely, don't know why people want things to be worse than they need to be. Why do they want to make themselves MORE stressed, MORE unhappy, MORE angry? Personally the only thing that's getting me through this is the increase in pleasant interactions with strangers when I'm on my walks or shopping. I'm looking for good stuff, not things to make me miserable.

@Sunshine1239 huh ?

I could have said 'excuse me' to the lady deliberating and faffing over the ice pops/wafers fixture next to the freezer but she would have had literally nowhere to go that was 2 metres from me so I could get past. I just waited. She picked the cola triangular ones in the end. Excellent choice. I should have given her a round of applause

Ah, the Mumsnet empathy bypass rises again...

I went shopping this week for the first time since lockdown.
I never shop - always order online because shopping really, really stresses me.
Online deliveries are impossible now - I have been staying up to 2.00 every night to try to get one.
I had nothing so had to go the supermarket
Pretty sure I was useless - completely freaked out. Despite list and everything. - even thought of phoning my daughter to ask what people bought in supermarkets because I couldn't think (I didn't)
So judge me
The very nice young man who helped me so kindly get through checkout didn't, though

Sparklingbrook - Jubblys!! I'd forgotten all about them! Thank you. Oooh the cola ones ....

will put them on my next essentials list