Stupid things customers ask on Xmas Eve Eve

[Mokel]

I have done enough years in supermarkets at Christmas.

I remember one question raised by a few customers when putting out bread.
”do you have any bread dated after 28th”
I said if you go to a supermarket on any other 23rd, the latest date on loaves is 28th. As the bakeries always put the date as X days ahead, regardless of the time of year. I remember seeing one of these customers on Jan 23rd and asked them could they find a date longer than 28th. They couldn’t. Retail worker 1 customer 0.

”Is it possible to collect my turkey on Xmas Day?” Erm no.

They'll be on the shelves on Boxing Day - probably in the stock room already 😂

Of course you don't necessarily need the same things every year. You might be hosting a vegan or someone who has allergies one year as just one of many possible reasons why things might change from year to year.

it’s not a stupid question of course. Stupid might be having a tantrum if there are none left on Christmas Eve at 3 pm. But simply asking a question like that is not stupid.

Me every year: don’t suppose you have any gift tags left?

[ In my defence, asked DH to buy them this year without specifying how many needed - he bought 6 packs of 6… there are 7 of us. Even if only one gift bought each that is 7x7=49. He’s the global head of his financial function in a FTSE100 company FFS!!! ]

Things like crackers etc are needed every year. You know that if you’re hosting you need them. Turning up just before Christmas and expecting them to be in stock is stupid.

erm no. I vary my menu every year, so no, why would I get the same stuff every year. And also, I get the extras from my xmas bonus, so September isn't an option. Start of the school year here, tons of expenses.

It's really not stupid to ask whether a shop still has something in stock. I can think of a zillion reasons why someone wouldn't be looking for them until the day before that don't involve lack of planning or stupidity, and even if they did forget about, or made a last minute decision about, getting crackers, it's not a personal failing or a sign of low intelligence. So they've gone out and they've asked a shop floor staff member whether they still have any. It's not stupidity.

I used to work in retail including over Christmas. I never thought customers were stupid for asking where to find something or whether we still had any X in stock.

Nope. It's still ahead of time. Perfectly reasonable to expect them to remain in stock throughout the Christmas period. Which only starts in two days, not ends then.

The whole world does not end due to a lack of Cranberry sauce.

Also there's a Christmas song that reminds you of what you should do:

Oh, you better watch out
You better not cry
You better not pout
I'm telling you why
Santa Claus is coming to town

Oh, he's making a list
And he's checking it twice
He's gonna find out who's naughty or nice
Santa Claus is coming to town

Check your list twice and be nice not naughty.

I disagree. Retired retail worker but as a customer i always look for the longest dated bread and everything else with a date on. It's not rocket science to note how far in advance you can ordinarily get stuff.

When I used to work in retail the question that always got me was 'but why are you closing early, its Christmas eve!' It's almost as if they didn't think of the staff as real people, with their own lives to go home to.

A lot of people do still seem to shop late for food with a plan that they'll get lots of generously reduced stock. However that's not been the case in major stores for about twenty years, the computer systems that manage stock are very good at predicting the amount needed to reduce the likelihood of losses (for seasonal items) and for fresh, most major stores are only closed for two days if that, so there's not going to be loads. I can sympathise with people who rely on a bit of a discount or are looking for bonus additions but we certainly had plenty of men who used to think they were being really clever leaving it to the last minute so they'd get a half price dinner and then being shocked that we didn't have the most popular items waiting with yellow stickers on them.

For me it was always the Boxing Day sales that brought out the worst in humanity. I could deal with the questions about stock before Christmas because it got me off the shop floor for a little bit and I did used to like having a chat with customers at the tills. But Boxing Day sales, my god, horrific.

I see reduced crackers on sale for ages after Christmas Day every year. My MIL deliberately looks for them then to save money and keep them until the next Christmas. Clearly lots of places still have them in stock. They're massively popular.

Agree - a lot of the time it’s the assumption that the other person in the marriage/relationship had done it/was going to do it. Or you have unexpected guests, extra presents.

And buying crackers just isn’t as high a priority as getting dairy free milk for MiL, remembering to get essential prescriptions issued and collected before the 24th, unexpected trips across county with teen DC to take gift to GF because THEY weren’t very well organised.

Then of course there is managing all this when you are AuDHD … and so is every other bloody person in the family. 🤯

TBF I rarely ask staff in a shop anything.

There are some that are great and helpful.

Then there are the likes of the girls at superdrug who glare at you for daring to speak and interrupt their conversation with their mate who also works at superdrug. Or the gormless idiot who replies "What's Baileys" at which point you wonder how the rest of the staff manage to run the store effectively with these time wasters dragging them down.

Crackers and mince pies are often good for boxing day on sale for 50p, but you snooze you lose.

I'd also agree with this.

It's like a warzone with actual fights breaking out.

Of course it doesn't. I never said it would. What I said was, it's a perfectly normal reaction to not having something to go to a shop and try and buy it?!

It is of course, not normal to have a tantrum about it or be rude to shop workers. But that holds true all year round.

Need the same things every year? Often not the case; could have more guests, dietary requirements, children, pets, medicine....all these things can change.

Oh I used to get that all the time! There was a great big sign above the eggs too.
I did have a customer ask me if we were open on Christmas day morning, when I said no he asked why not. I politely asked him if he wanted to work on Christmas day in a supermarket

Surely each person buys for 6 others (not for themselves) so you would need 7x6=42. Though, to be fair, 6 packs of 6 still wouldn’t do as that’s only 36.
Sorry, but once a maths teacher……

I once had someone CRAWL under the shutter as it was closing demanding to buy a gift card

Christ stressing about Christmas mate?

Of course it's bloody stupid to be upset that you can't get Cadbury selection boxes on Christmas eve...it's not like the shop is going to have 200 spare out the back is it. It's even more stupid not to accept that at least there are Nestlé ones.

Oh bless them! I suspect it was more than the 47th time....

😂😂

See my previous post about supermarket sign lies and not trusting them.

Ah yes eggs in my local Sainsbury's - end of aisle. End of aisle enrages me. That where you put the promotions that mug people not the basic essentials.