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

[fettleandbabyfettle]

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!

Too much of a control freak to get home delivery - have to pick up leanest ham & bacon, and decent sell-by dates - squeeze fruit etc etc........I am very annoying

I work on checkouts and we have to go fast as we have 'items per minute' where I work. FWIW, I used to be considerate and stop every few items to let the customer catch up but they actually have league tables of who is hitting targets on checkouts and who is failing miserably, I know a couple of people have actually been pulled up about it by OTT supervisors and managers . I have therefore speeded up as I don't want to give my 'superiors' the satisfaction!
I'm always bemused by every new measure that comes in that is designed to increase profits and to hell with customer service!

You all nee to lobby for the system used by our local Waitrose - self-scanning. You scan each item as you put it into your trolley ( into heavy-duty re-usable bags provided free) and are therefore, packing as you go along. Choose the quick-pay 'checkout' and you don't even need to interact with a member of staff if you don't want to.

Oh no, self scanning is a nightmare! I did it once when it first was introduced at the supermarket and it was fine(cos the assistant stood next to me!), but when i tried it on my own, it all went wrong. I had to shout for help and embarrassed myself. I will only do that if i have someone with me!

Ask for help loading it on to the belt instead

Think i will just battle away, trying to keep up with Speedy Gonzales on the till!

If I've not got DS I always, say "I'll race you" and I usually manage to keep up, despite being quite picky about what goes where. If DS is is there, It's a different matter. By the way DS christened the thing that goes between customers "The Shopper Stopper" . I hope it catches on.

Choccypig - I love "Shopper Stopper", although I initially read it as "Shopper Stropper!" - thinking your DS obviously knows more about the angst of the divider than I ever did before I started this thread!!!

I'm also going to the try the "I race you" line - as long as I'm not buying eggs or freshly baked bread and squashable fruit!!!

I hate it when they don't give you a chance to finish packing (and never offered to help anyway) and then start scanning the next person's shopping so it all starts piling up into your items. It's rude!

I agree with the other posters. Don't pay until you've packed your shopping, put it all in your trolley and found your car keys.

Tee Hee Fettle and Baby..
The "Shopper Stropper" is what we are all suffering from. What winds me up, is when you look for a particular thing, and they just stop selling it. Or move the whole layout, just at the start of the school holidays!
The re-usable, stand-up bags make all the difference for fast packing, but it is a source of pride to me that I can keep up with all the staff at my local Sainsburies. Sad or what? Though I notice ours do usually wait till you've got it all out of your trolley before starting to check it through. I remember when they used to just carry on regardless, and it all piled up in a muddle.

I just p-a-c-k-r-e-a-l-l-y-s-l-o-w-l-y if they go too fast.

I say no for the same reasons that most posters do (ie they ignore my carefully-sorted order on the conveyor and fling catfood on top of eggs and bleach on top of fruit), AND they seem to use 1 placcy bag per 2 items at our local Sainsbos, but what I do say is that I don't need any help packing, but I do need help opening their bags up - possibly this is just my cack-handedness, but I cannot open supermarket plastic bags without a 5-minute fiddle, and I ALWAYS (deep shame) forget to bring my bags for life out of the car with me! I find they then feel a bit useful and I get a chance to pack in a relatively unflustered manner.

However, there was one adolescent pus-factory on the till last week who, when I said this about opening the bags, just gawped vacantly at me and then proceeded to slam all the shopping down the conveyor at 100 mph whilst I struggled to get even 1 bag open... but I made the little get wait til I'd packed everything (very slowly) before I paid!