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AIBU?

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Original poster

Customers in supermarket queues buying 2 items

774 replies

justasking111 · 06/05/2020 14:13

After a week of emptying cupboards reluctantly went out this morning. Standing in Tesco queue, two over 70s ladies behind me. one had given the other a lift. What do you need the driver said, oh just some cheese and a newspaper. They were not switched on by social distancing either despite the clear marks on the pavement.

Now I do think if you are over 70 and determined to get out well on your head be it. But for two items, for christs sake.

AIBU I being unreasonable to think that if you go to a supermarket it is to seriously stock up not for 2 items?

OP posts:
Maybelatte · 07/05/2020 08:42

They’re only risking their own lives so I wouldn’t stress about it too much.

SudokuBook · 07/05/2020 08:45

Someone going to the shops for a block of cheese and a paper is not potentially killing someone ffs. Open your eyes and look at the bloody government and the shit show they’ve created instead of policing people’s shopping baskets.

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 07/05/2020 08:48

Everyone is missing the point that the 2 people should not have been in the car together as they're not from the sane household.

Unless you know them personally you don't know that

People judging OP don't realise that a lot of over 70s have always ignored advice and are still going to shops every single day just for the newspaper as it's their daily routine.

It's advice, simply that. We haven't reached the stage of locking people in their homes 'for their own good*

When did the government say 'only go shopping for essentials but it's OK to nip out for a newspaper and lottery'

Someone posted a link confirming it is ok to buy a newspaper. You do realise the guidelines don't actually specify how often people can shop? For some people shopping daily may be necessary.

I work in a small supermarket so I have seen regular customers carrying on as normal.

See above

If it's OK to go out for a newspaper I'll make a special journey to get long life Hazelnut milk. I've gone without since lockdown. My local supermarkets don't stock it.

No one is stopping you. You don't have to only go to one supermarket, you can do your shopping elsewhere.

VeganCow · 07/05/2020 08:50

Agree with the fact they shouldnt have been in the car together- 2 households. I am self employed and have stopped the jobs that involve me taking someone with me in the car.
As for what they are getting from the shop- mind your own business. They can buy what they want, as often as they want. Their choice, until or unless they are told otherwise.
I went to the shop just for caster and icing sugar, because my delivered shop didnt have them yet again.
On that note, why cant we get icing sugar or caster sugar. People who never baked before, what are you doing with it all?!

Drivingdownthe101 · 07/05/2020 08:53

People who never baked before, what are you doing with it all?!

Baking, I imagine! They probably didn’t do it before because they were at work all day, getting home and feeding the kids and doing homework etc with them, putting them to bed then conking out themselves, then spending the weekend ferrying children to activities. They’ve actually got time to bake now.
Or if it’s like our household, I’ve got a 6, 4 and 1 year old to keep amused 7 days a week and baking is an ‘activity’ that both kills some time and provides some of the endless snacks they ask for.

SudokuBook · 07/05/2020 08:53

Maybe they shouldn’t have been in the car together but it’s probably less risky than one of them being on public transport

Drivingdownthe101 · 07/05/2020 08:54

Our local shop has never ran short of flour, caster sugar or icing sugar though!

HowCowBrownNow · 07/05/2020 08:56

@Mgby1
I'm really sorry to hear that, hope you make a swift recovery. Flowers

It is scary working on the till feeling exposed, I don't always work the till but when I do I feel anxious at the end of my shift .
The screens in the store where I work aren't adequate at all, the temporary cardboard ones where much better!

HowCowBrownNow · 07/05/2020 08:56

*were

rainbowcat11 · 07/05/2020 09:00

What I find annoying about this is the more often people go shopping = more queues. I am leaving shopping until the cupboards are bare because I hate queues. If people went out less and got more when they're out, there would be less people so less queues.

catinasplat · 07/05/2020 09:05

Maybe they shouldn’t have been in the car together but it’s probably less risky than one of them being on public transport

Maybe they are part of the same household. They could be a couple and live together, for example. This is why people shouldn't judge other's shopping actions at face value.

FiveEyes · 07/05/2020 09:17

If people went out less and got more when they're out, there would be less people so less queues The queues would be shorter but they would take longer - hence why 10 items or fewer queues move quicker.

FiveEyes · 07/05/2020 09:20

I'll make a special journey to get long life Hazelnut milk. I've gone without since lockdown. Yep, that's your choice.

FiveEyes · 07/05/2020 09:25

On that note, why cant we get icing sugar or caster sugar. People who never baked before, what are you doing with it all?! Because if 50% of people decided they needed one more than normal - that would be 50% increase in demand - the just in time nature of stocking supermarket shelves can't cope. As to what they are doing with it? I expect they are baking because it's a brilliant thing to do with kids - it practices an enormous number of skills they should be focusing on for home schooling and kids love it - it's a brilliant activity for them!

Namechangex10000 · 07/05/2020 09:29

I bought what would have looked like 3 completely random, pointless items in Tesco yesterday, however, they did not have what I went there for! I felt a bit stupid as though I was going to be judged (by people like you?)

amicissimma · 07/05/2020 09:55

We are told that it seems that Covid is passed by being within 2metres (or 1.5 or 1, according to which 'expert') of an infected person for at least 15 minutes.

It takes me 30-45 minutes to do a big shop (according to how many people are perusing each section and how slowly). If I pop into a shop for a few items I can get in and out in under 10 minutes. Say I have Covid but am unaware of it, I'm more likely to pass it on by being in an enclosed area for 30-45 minutes once than by being in an enclosed area for 10 minutes, even several times.

And if touching things is the issue, why not address that? I touch only what I buy, use contactless payment and the trolley or basket is cleaned between customers. I also wear gloves which I wash thoroughly between outings.

midnightstar66 · 07/05/2020 09:58

They shouldn't have been in the car together but the one not driving, the other alternative could be to take a taxi - but that's ok?.
I thought these ridiculous threads had stopped now. People really can buy what they want. Op if someone stands to close be a little assertive and ask them politely to stand back, it more effective than moaning about it anonymously later.

midnightstar66 · 07/05/2020 10:08

You know the guidelines are lifted and the lockdown is over on Monday don't you? So all of this is a bit pointless. We can go back to normal as if nothing happens.

Bless!

Xenia · 07/05/2020 10:14

amici, it is a bit unpredictable. Most people seem to get it from living with someone who has it or being with them for a longish while eg a patient in a doctor's surgery might well infect a doctor. One reason I cancelled my early March dental appointment (before lock down) was the close proximity issue; whereas you are less likely to get it in a shop but not impossible. Even with chickenpox if someone has it on a supermarket aisle the next one over the virus (chickenpox) can spread and with CV the 2 meters was just invented without any proper basis for it other than the closer you are the more likely someone coughing is going to get you.

BarbaraofSeville · 07/05/2020 10:21

You know the guidelines are lifted and the lockdown is over on Monday don't you? So all of this is a bit pointless. We can go back to normal as if nothing happens

Well that statement is so far from reality that it must be sarcasm. No-one could possibly think that we're going back to normal in the UK next Monday.

1forsorrow · 07/05/2020 10:51

They shouldn't have been in the car together but the one not driving, the other alternative could be to take a taxi - but that's ok?. They might live together permanently or just decided to move in during lockdown, if they do there is no problem with them being in a car together.

Smilethoyourheartisbreaking · 07/05/2020 11:05

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

HowCowBrownNow · 07/05/2020 11:21

Not many of you defended the person who visited 6 supermarkets to buy a bottle of hand sanitizer but now it's apparently OK shop as often as we like for what we like. Mumsnet logic 🤷🏽‍♀️

TeensArghhhh · 07/05/2020 11:22

You know the guidelines are lifted and the lockdown is over on Monday don't you? So all of this is a bit pointless. We can go back to normal as if nothing happens

Somebody is going to be very disappointed on Monday 😬

OneandTwenty · 07/05/2020 11:24

TeensArghhhh

Somebody is going to be very disappointed on Monday
Who? Shops are already reopening right now, schools being sent instructions about reopening end of May, people are back at work. What's left of a so-called lockdown?

No one can seriously expect people not to go to big family events when kids are back in a school with hundred of pupils and their parents in public transports which are pretty crowded already.

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