To be taken aback by this request in Asda

[Anon133]

Hi everyone.

I’ve just come back from doing the weekly food shop at Asda and have been a bit taken aback by an incident.

Whilst scanning my packet of cereal bars with the Scan and Go handsets, a colleague doing some online told me that she needed them for her online order and I would have to give them back to her. I admit to being a bit taken aback by this request and told her ‘no,’ and speaking to the colleague in a short tone.

I now feel a bit guilty as that probably means someone at home, who may not be able to come into the shop has missed out.

YABU - I should’ve given them over.
YANBU - I was first to them and therefore should’ve kept them in my shop.

On a side note, does anyone else get fed up with the amount of online shoppers at busy times in the supermarket? There was at least 15 trolleys going round today whilst it was busy with regular customers, and not the first time.

YANBU to kept the cereal bars and to give a short ‘no’ - particularly as she demanded them! You got them first, so no question about it.

YABVVU to be judgey about home deliveries though - there are many reasons people need to do this - I myself have had to due to a poorly child. You’re not somehow better for being there in person.

@NeptunaOfTheMermaidBattleSquadron Just - I like your username!

There's nothing "sensible" about online shopping v in store. I used to get deliveries when the SmallDragons were small but I shop in store now. Means I never get any dodgy substitutions. With all the annual "My Christmas grocery delivery has arrived and it's a disaster!" threads one could argue that online is the least sensible option!

I online shop and go to the shop depending on workload/life, so I understand the need for the online pickers I just think it’s really poorly done and I agree that (my experience is Tesco) they stop and chat and block aisles and steer into you with their mega trolleys. We use Ocado if ordering online so at least I know we aren’t contributing to it.

OP, you weren't unreasonable to keep hold of the cereal bars. However, there's no point whinging about delivery pickers being there in "peak times" as the alternative is for the person themselves to be there picking their groceries with a large trolley. It makes no difference who is doing the picking. The solution is not to shop at peak times (although obviously "peak" is when a lot of people find it most convenient, which is why it it "peak")

My local Tesco picks from a warehouse hub. Sainsbury's do not.

Why not? If you’ve not seen one, you can’t be sure that the thing google shows you is the same thing. When I googled picker trolley, I got photos of huge warehouse trolleys. Also, I’m not in the U.K.

Thankfully, @BoohooWoohoo kindly obliged. Having seen the above photo, I now know what they look like. 😊

How odd. All my shopping is online - I am disabled and started during Covid and it was a life changer!

I usually don’t get many substitutes or missing items as I get my shopping in the first weekday slot as this is the most convenient for me. But sometime stuff is missing or a substitute I don’t want, shit happens. My shopping doesn’t trump anyone else’s just because it’s delivered and they are in the shop!

In Sainsburys it's very rare to see people making up online orders in the store. However you can change your order up until 11pm the night before and you usually get an email around 7am letting you know about any substitutes. I think therefore that their orders are done by the nightshift staff. In Tesco they often block up the shop with the trolleys with the crates on doing the orders during the day while the store is open.

The aisles in our Tesco are a lot narrower to start with and the shop is always freezing so I don't shop there very often.

@SoupDragon @FuckBalledTwattyPiss

There's nothing "sensible" about online shopping v in store

A massive benefit of shopping in store for fresh goods is that you can select your own produce with the longest shelf life. The online shoppers will just get whats to hand. If you are shopping yourself you can have a search for the fresh fruit with the longest shelf life. It may not matter to you if you have a large family and shop regularly but if you aren't going to be eating everything right away it really helps with budgeting and avoiding throwing stuff out.

The other thing is that I found if you just online shop you tend to just buy what you know and are used to. Shopping in store means you have a wider variety and might get food and think of recipes you wouldn't otherwise sparked by something you see on the shelf.

it Isn’t even about needing an online delivery. It’s totally fine to just have one because you want one. The supermarkets offer the service - people don’t need to justify using it.

Exactly this. Having 2 dc who did this as gap year jobs has opened my eyes! They have a ‘pick rate’ target monitored in real time by the managers (in Tesco, anyway) and they’re shopping with 8 crates to fill, not just meandering around doing one person’s shopping, as I used to think! Blame the stores which don’t want to pay elevated rates for their pickers do the work overnight. Waitrose do this and you don’t get any blocked aisles there!

Because it’s also peak for online shoppers as they’re home for the orders. Reality is if all those who’ve ordered a delivery were in the shop it would be even busier.

Yanbu to keep the food, but out of interest do you speak to people in other professions in a short tone or just retail staff?

It really isn't.

The colleague worked for the shop. The shop owns everything until it has been purchased. The bars were on the shelf, OP picked them up, colleague (a representative of the shop) asked for them back (as in back in the possession of the shop) so she could 'sell' to someone else.

When you're busy are you suddenly unable to notice things around you? Perhaps that's why you're having such a hard time on this thread. Most people would notice things like giant fuck off trolleys being moved around the shop that they're currently in.

You're deliberately being picky and trying to have your "gotcha" moment but just making yourself look rather dim

Obvs haven't RTFT?

Why can't picking be either done at a different time or in a warehouse?

It's nothing to do with online vs in person shopping, it's one set of customers being inconvenienced. It's hugely inconvenient not being to actually reach any shelves in an aisle because its stacked up with pickers.

Surely there were more? I’ve just been round a really busy supermarket and the shelves were all full.

Sometimes the packers are fulfilling orders for Deliveroo type companies or their own shop on demand services like Whoosh (Tesco) so they have to be done when the order arrives.

Ha ha that is the exact definition of wank-speak- some twat dictating new words for things for spurious and stupid reasons.

Agree with the posts about Asda being awful with substitutions. They failed to deliver a turkey on 23rd December one year.

Have you read what you wrote?

It’s more convenient for you to do your shopping on the weekend due to your work schedule. There are still other people in this world who also prefer to have their shopping on a weekend. Just because they’re not physically there in the store should supermarkets say, ‘oh sorry, we’re busy then. Come back on Tuesday.’

It’s only until I came on MN did I see that people actually judge others for ordering their shopping online. It’s convenient for starts. What about those that don’t drive and have to lug their shopping on public transport? Those that can’t carry heavy things or can’t afford a cab back home? Those that have disabilities or struggle to be in a crowded place? What about those with young children that have to be taken on public transport?

There is nothing wrong with online shopping. The fact that you’re there in store is no different to the team members who are in store filling up their trolleys with an order. If you’re so impacted by it then why not email Asda and tell them to stop serving online shoppers during ‘peak times.’ It’s not like they make any money charging a delivery fee is it

Why would anyone believe they'd be in trouble for not having them? Things are out of stock all the time.

Some online shopping orders are done from warehouses, other retailers have choosen the model where it's done in store

There are pros and cons of both and much research will have gone into deciding which one they do or maybe a combination of both

I'd say that those who do it in-store and very unlikely to make the investment to change when as far as I understand online shopping makes little or no profit

Yesn even the most unreasonable employer couldnt blame the picker for customers coming in and buying stuff 😀

I don't even understand how this happened, and while I appreciate the merits of shopping online (I do it myself a few times a year), I'm glad I mainly shop and then pay at the till. How did your colleague know that you had bought/were planning to buy the cereal bars? What kind of fresh Hell is this?! What would s/he have done if they hadn't known you, message the person who bought the cereal bars? I genuinely don't understand this series of events, and I've never been happier to be an absolute Luddite!