Arrows -simple or not?

[SummerDayWinterEvenings]

I would have thought they are universal in language - no? Supermarket near me has a one way system with huge arrows on the floor. Today a woman comes towards me, you are going the wrong way I pointed out as she came steaming towards me. I just need to get this -she says. I said the rules are clear -if you follow them they help everyone. She then launched into a rant about how she was a nurse and knew everything about the virus and pointing out I was spreading the virus as I was wearing gloves. She was shouting I'm a Nurse -you need to look the NHS website -and stop wearing gloves and spreading the virus. I asked her to move further away and a member of staff asked her to move on. Why is it so hard for people to follow arrow in a supermarket which are huge and clear.

People with eyesight problems
People with learning disabilities
People with mobility issues - they may be able to walk into the shop, get the milk and walk to the checkout, but walking up one aisle and down the next doubles the distance

She was probably right about the gloves.

I went to a big Tesco for the first time since all this yesterday. They had the arrows, and I have only been in supermarkets without so far.

It was weird and confusing, I grabbed three things I needed and left. I didn't even notice what anyone else was doing or comment on it.

The arrow system isn't particularly effective really. I understand what they're trying to do but if you just want to get (for example) milk or bread or dog food, having to navigate every single aisle and dodge four times as many people, it doesn't really make a huge amount of sense.

People forget things and have to go back sometimes too.

I think Tesco is the only supermarket I feel safe in atm.

She's right about the gloves, what's the point of you being bang on with the arrows if you're going to wear disposable gloves, to cross contaminate everywhere and add to plastic pollution?

I am sticking with Waitrose, there's no arrows but lots of considerate staff and customers.

My nearest Waitrose is like 9 miles away.... Its a bit far to travel to pay through the nose for food thats also made for Aldi but costs less there.

ASDA, Lidl and Morrisons is gibbering wreck territory. I would say Aldi but each one is different.

My nearest Waitrose is like 9 miles away.... Its a bit far to travel to pay through the nose for food thats also made for Aldi but costs less there

I get that. Mine's only up the road and at the moment it's worth any extra cost to feel safe, and my local Aldi is horrible which is a shame.

YABVU. They are not simple for all of us and I think they are anything but helpful. Why force people to come into contact with people in every single aisle when they might only need items from 5 of them? It makes no sense to me.

They aren't always simple either. In a local Supermarket they suddenly stop so that you can't access the frozen aisles. Likewise I was in another supermarket yesterday and again they just suddenly stopped.

I ended up having a bloody breakdown in the store yesterday because it was so confusing and making shopping much more difficult for me. I have Autism and a neurological problem that means that my brain processes things more slowly. Shopping can be overwhelming enough for me with lights, music and people and trying to do follow a list, while obeying stupid arrows and looking out for items in an aisle full of goods is too much. It takes me more time to process my list and find the item I need so some nosy fucker telling me not to go back a few steps would certainly send me over the edge.

And no I don't want to do online shopping because I find that worse. I have to get out(in public places) as part of my mental health therapy and I enjoy shopping and trying new things when I'm having a good day.

YABU. I hate the arrows. Its nigh impossible to remain 2m apart in Tesco aisles, even if we are all walking one direction. I'm quite capable of shopping without being in someone else's personal space, without having to traipse up and down following arrows to do so.
If someone moaned at me about not following the arrows I wouldn't be best pleased either. They are not obligatory, and they cant be enforced. You are not the Arrow Police; leave people to make their own decisions.

I'm actually really fucking angry about the one way system and other measures that have been introduced to supposedly protect people but which actually discriminate against many people with disabilities.

I went into a bit supermarket that had the arrows for the first time recently. Without a doubt I breathed over more of the shop than I would have if the arrows hadn't been there, because I had to go down all sorts of aisles that I didn't need anything from. Plus every time I realised I'd forgotten something and had to go back for it I had to go a roundabout route instead of just going directly there.
She was BU to talk as though being a nurse gives her impunity, but if she only needed a couple things she was probably doing less to spread the virus than those of us who traipse up and down every aisle mindlessly following the arrows especially whilst wearing gloves

I find the arrow system really idiotic. You are made to walk huge rounds, thus bumping into more people than under normal circumstances. I wanted to get a trolley from the Tesco but because of the arrow system, I couldn't simply turn around and walk back the 20 feet to where I came from. I had to walk pass the queues for other 3 shops, pass people going to the Tesco too to get back. Out of all systems for safe distance, the one-way arrow system is the most moronic one as the shopping centres were not setup for one way walks.

@DesmondTheMoonbear just popping by to say that it isn't just you. I've had to stop doing the food shop in person as I can't cope with it. Being assessed for ASD but no diagnosis yet. I'm doing small visits instead as I need to feel like I've got some form of control and normality, while oh or my mum do the main food shop! The number of times I've ended up overloaded in supermarkets in lockdown is horrendous and I've got physical disabilities too which make the arrows more difficult to follow! There's been no thought to the disabled in any of it. My local Asda's even closed the lifts (underground car park) as they have a ramp, but it's too steep a ramp to be able to push a manual wheelchair up or down yourself, and I can't push a trolley down it without dislocating my knees. There's no perfect solution but the new methods aren't working for those of us with additional needs! Not much purpose to this, just sending solidarity in the idea that it isn't just you struggling with it!

My mum really struggled doing her shopping because of this and the nasty staff at her local Asda. She has RA and struggles to walk far so being forced around the entire (massive) supermarket is really hard on her. She wanted one thing from the bottom of an aisle and the shop assistant shouted at her like she was a naughty schoolkid.

Luckily the entire experience has put her off shopping for now so I've actually managed to take over.

I swear it's so that you have to wander up every single aisle! If I go down one, but don't need anything in the next, I can't jsut go down the next as that is then an 'out'... So I either have to go down the one I don't need anything in so I can access the next, or I miss 2, then have to come back on myself. How many of us them 'find' stuff that looks interesting, or on offer, and just chuck that in too?

The local Morrison is even worse tho; each aisle is split down the middle, each side one way. So if you want something down the aisle, you head down one side, then if you need something from the other side of the aisle, you can't just cross, you need to get to the end then turn your trolley round and head up the other side. And with shoppers stopping and browsing the shelves, and the shelf filling cages in the aisles, it's almost impossible to get it done in less that half a lifetime...

I hate it. Can't just 'pop to the shops' any more, got to factor in the 20 minutes queue first, then the one-way system, then the queue to pay.

I'm spending loads less, and the supermarkets are shooting themselves in the foot.

She was completely right about the gloves. Makes me fucking cringe to see people touching everything with the same filthy pair of gloves 🤢

But to answer your question, OP - you come across as one of the little clipboard wielders that have multiplied in the past few months. Not following the 'Arrows'? Not clapping on thursdays (No longer TG)? Going out during daylight hours? More than once? Not sitting in a darkened room crying? Shame on you!

FFS can we get back to somewhere near normal? And leave each others' lives alone?

I get that. Mine's only up the road and at the moment it's worth any extra cost to feel safe, and my local Aldi is horrible which is a shame

Definitely! It's costing a bomb just to feel safe. Usually I do a tour of a few, to bag offers but haven't got the nerves or the full day to put aside for it.

Quick question - Gloves!

What's the issue with them? I always wear a pair in a shop, disposable, put them on before handling the basket then take off before getting back in the car. Obviously wash my hands as soon as home. Is that worse than using bare hands?

She didn't ask why I was wearing gloves.She ranted at me for wearing them. And this shouldn't have been up for discussion. But it is because I have absolutely horrendous ezcema on my hands -open weeping oozing ezcema and sores. Gloves are better in this set of circumstances for everyone. Clean before I went in etc. She just kept shouting she was nurse -as if that made her higher up than anyone else and entitled to do as she wished.

This is not a case of her not understanding the system or not being able to follow it -this was a choice. She knew she was doing the wrong thing. The store wasn't amazingly busy -no queue to get in etc.

In this store both the top and bottom of each aisle was clearly divided into two -so if you wanted to get something at the far end of the store -you go in follow the huge arrows clearly on display to the top of aisle 1 -you can then walk -all the way to aisle 20 or whatever along the top and then down that one -following the arrows -along the bottom by the checkout and out.

It just struck me that certainly in our local store here -for the majority of the population the arrows didn't seem that hard to follow (I accept that for some people with sight issues etc the situation is different). I accept that I'm clearly in a minority here. I thought it made sense -

Teacheeerrr, she isn t following the arrowsssss

I went through all this at the beginning of covid, large arrows, simple, you walk up one way & down the other. Yet people seem unfuckingable to do this simple task. They appeared able bodied, young, happily chatting on phones, spitting all over the bastard place & spreading it around ... I even pointed the arrows out & told them they were going the wrong way, they sort of smiled like I was the stupid one! I tried a second time as I met them in the next aisle, but they continued gormlessly on their way. People either take no notice or they just can't be bothered to take a bit of a detour. I'd love the job of cattle prodding them in the right direction.

Even with the arrows, you don't actually need to walk around the entire shop. You can skip aisles but just going straight past them at either end (as they don't put barriers in at the end) of the aisle or even in the middle if it's a large supermarket.

They appeared able bodied

I appear "able bodied". I am not. I have neurological and physical disabilities.