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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be irrationally grumpy when having refused help with my packing, the checkout person seems to do super speed beeping.....

63 replies

fettleandbabyfettle · 02/02/2008 16:34

That's it really! Harmless Saturday afternoon question!

Don't really like other people packing for me, as they appear not to care about how they pack and then eggs break, raw meat and bleach with fruit etc etc. But I almost feel as if I've been rude for refusing their kind offer of help, thereby making them want to prove that I can't manage packing on my own!!!

I'm probably just a slow incompentent packer, but that delivery belt always seems to keep on moving despite my shopping building up!

BTW - I'll be the first to admit that I'm a bit anal about my packing - cold with cold, fruit and veg together, raw meats together etc, but it does make unpacking at home much easier if everything is together!

OP posts:
needmorecoffee · 02/02/2008 16:41

I just go at my own speed. Its not a race.

TurkeyLurkey · 02/02/2008 16:42

When they say to me "WOuld you like help with your packing" my standard reply is "I'll be ok as long as you don't go fast".

Most seem to get the hint and scan stuff slowly then.

Yes, you are right, I am anal too!

Tommy · 02/02/2008 16:45

one very cheeky girl in Sainsbury's started packing for me but when I told her I had my own bags, she didn't want to know for some reason and plied all my stuff up in a bug heap - loaves of bread being squashed by tins - lovely

Then she was really rude to me about it all - so I reported her to the supervisor

(god - I am so turning into my mum )

Bouncingturtle · 02/02/2008 17:05

Fettle - YANBU, I'm exactly the same as you, like my fridge stuff together and freezer stuff together, toiletries together etc., and like Tommy, I bring my own bags and like to make sure that the heavy stuff goes in the strongest bag.
I simply thought it was me being a slower packer, but now I think there is a conspiracy amongst check out operators

SueBaroo · 02/02/2008 17:30

YANBU. I do the shopping with my crutches sometimes and I honestly think that bringing my own bags seems to translate into checkout speak as 'You have three minutes to throw as many tins of beans and milk cartons at me as you can. Extra points if you can graze my fingers'.

CaptainCod · 02/02/2008 17:33

HEHEHEH! good theory! i rekcon she could teach oy
this could be a relly good victoria wood Julie walters type sketch wiht oyu under amountain of groceries

kayzr · 02/02/2008 17:39

My dh used to work on the checkouts in our local supermarket and they used to get in trouble if they went too fast. But when I went to Asda a couple of weeks ago I got £100 worth of shopping and I couldn't pack it anywhere near as fast as she scanned it. I was then told they are told to do it fast so they can get through loads of customers

hercules1 · 02/02/2008 17:40

yanbu.

MissEdAGoodNightOut · 02/02/2008 17:42

I say exactly what TurkeyLurkey does. Gawd, I get SOOO hacked off when they do the super-speed thing.

The other day, I accepted help with packing, to find she stuffed a bottle of cleaning fluid in with grapes and other fresh stuff - so I had to re-pack it anyway.

SO - who else gets annoyed by people not putting the "next customer" bar down? Now I could get really anal about that........

Emprexia · 02/02/2008 17:47

I work at tesco and we do have a throughput/scan rate.. so if you say you don't want us to help pack then we're going to bang it through to cover for a go-slow with people who do need our help.

All you need to do is to ask us not to flood you or take it easy.

WanderingTrolley · 02/02/2008 17:47

Good line TurkeyLurkey.

I say "No thanks" to the packers, and have asked the till-bod to slow down. If they don't, to be likewise childish, I wait until all my shopping has gone through and then smile brightly as I start to pack.

Never hand over your money/card until all the bags are packed. You are just asking to pick up the next person's Anusol as they go home with your Canestan.

On a similar note, read tubes carefully and never rummage in a dark bathroom.

Neverenough · 02/02/2008 17:47

YABU.

clutteredup · 02/02/2008 17:48

No YABU it happens to me all the time, now i ask for help just so they'll do it slower.

milkyJammy · 02/02/2008 17:51

Now I get annoyed with people being anal about the next customer divider - they often only have 1 per checkout at our local Sainsburys, and the person behind me will often refuse to start unpacking their trolley or basket until one is available, even if there is an EMORMOUS gap between the end of my shopping and the start of theirs. I put the divider in as soon as it becomes available, and am quite capable of putting it in the gap between our shopping. Anyway, why would I want their shopping getting added to mine, so that I end up paying for it?

CaptainCod · 02/02/2008 17:54

MJ me too
tis old men who get twitcchy about it

i ahet women who spend AGES ifnding their purses

fakairn hell you knew you had ot pay fro it the minute you walked in here darlin/

WanderingTrolley · 02/02/2008 17:57

milkyJammy speaks the truth.

If you leave a big enough gap it's obv whose shopping is whose, yet some folk fear cross contamination of shopping without the anti-bacterial action of the divider.

ArmadilloDaMan · 02/02/2008 18:03

I def fear cross contamination - but if the person in front of me doesn't put it down, I just ask. Never had anyone refuse

I pack own bags because I am anal about the order I do it in. And even if they put it through really fast they always wait patiently when I insist on packing everything and putting it in my trolley before paying.

Ds winds me up though by trying to steal the bags, managing to push the trolley (while sat in it) and getting in others way.

CaptainCod · 02/02/2008 18:04

do any of oyu put your clubcard in teh holder?
i love it

WanderingTrolley · 02/02/2008 18:08

No.

I shop at Sainsbury's.

Armadillo - so if the person in front hasn't put down the divider, you don't put your shopping on the conveyor belt? Do you carry your own divider in case of emergencies?

Bouncingturtle · 02/02/2008 18:10

I do!
And I never hand over my credit card to the checkout operator until I've packed my bags.
So Kaishay - you throwing the shopping through at huge rate of knots won't increase customer throughput if we all do that!
BTW - sympathies to you, must be tough having to deal with us anal, horrible people. I used to be a checkout operator long time ago and my face used to hurt from smiling politely at the rude people when all I wanted to do was to bat them around the head with a large pack of washing powder!

CaptainCod · 02/02/2008 18:12

i walswys ahva a ncie hcat wiht hte woman too and try to find out a fact about htem to stun dh wiht

is that ok?

WanderingTrolley · 02/02/2008 18:17

I'm too panicked by hurling my tins into the extra strong bag and leaping to the aid of the lettuce as it sails down the belt in front of a wobbling box of washing powder to think, let alone speak.

But then I did have one till lady tell me all about her upcoming hysterectomy.

I felt sheepish as she passed my eggs through the beeper.

ArmadilloDaMan · 02/02/2008 18:54

If the person in front of me hasn't put divider down I ask them to - on one occasion there wasn't a divider, I still have nightmares

Tommy · 02/02/2008 18:58

lol wandering trolley

another one I encountered told me she had really bad "gut rot" ..... thanks love, really wanted to know that

mylovelymonster · 02/02/2008 19:02

I hate...when the next person insists on squashing their shopping right up next to mine and pushes their trolley into my arse....like it's gonna get them thru quicker.
I've just joined Waitrose Quickscan where I scan and pack as I go, and you get fab free bags to arrange in your trolley - it's luxsh and stress free