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.

I miss Past Times, it was a lovely shop

Some of these are funny and bonkers but most are not stupid at all.. what's wrong with asking for something on Christmas eve? People have time and money constraints. Also circumstances change, suddenly MIL is coming for dinner when they weren't supposed to arrive til 30th etc... people may need last minute gifts or food items. Plus from what I'm reading here, retailers do very well from hassled stressed last minute shoppers, this is exactly what they are hoping will happen by opening Christmas eve.

I don't know who was at the aisle-organising meeting for Tesco, but it's bonkers.

They've split the cereal, crisps/popcorn, and confectionary, so you have the 'unhealthy' cereal down the side of one aisle and the 'healthy' cereal down the side of the next aisle. Same with crisps and sweet.

Like this:
Aisle 1 : fancy chocolate and sweets - fancy crisps
Aisle 2: normal crisps - unhealthy cereal
Aisle 3: normal chocolate and sweets - healthy cereal

Oh and Aisle 9 or something = sugar, eggs, flour
Aisle 3 = the rest of the baking stuff like baking powder, cocoa, icing

I am familiar with it now, so I guess it'll change very soon.

Also - 'Thank goodness I got the lactose free milk so little Jimmy can enjoy his Christmas like everyone else!' Gets home... gone!

I should go on Mastermind with the specialist subject - in which aisle in a particular supermarket would you find this item.

I'd probably win.

And some move them around. A lot.

When I was working Christmas Eve in a ladies clothes shop as a youngster mid 00s,
did it 2 years and both times several men came in for last minute gifts for wives/girlfriends, and was asked a few times what size underwear to buy 🙄 “she’s about your size” while looking me up and down

Maybe they didn’t arrive in her online shop?
I can think of loads of reasons for looking for crackers on December 23rd that doesn’t indicate lack of forward planning, ffs!

I might not be organised either really i could just be anal 😂.

I think the main two categories are:

'Ugly and entitled underbelly of humanity who don't see shop staff as human,'

and

'Perfectly nice and normal person like me who only heard today that Ellie's new boyfriend is vegan'.

It's not the 28th is it? Did someone say they throw it out? I didn't. Did you have a point?

Ha They do mix it up sometimes, it’s a shopper thing to get people to spend more apparently.

Tescos are by far the worst.

The things that make sense - snacks and anything premade.

I am convinced they no longer cater to people who actually cook and their priority is the ultra processed shoppers.

The people who come in Boxing Day to do loads of shopping while telling us it's disgraceful that we're made to work on Boxing Day. Guess what, if nobody came in then we'd probably be closed next year.

Take it from me, that is not where they are in the majority of supermarkets. That's where they are in 1 of the 4 supermarkets I use regularly. In the little shop I sometimes use, they are not in the baking bit either.

Yes.

My point is that some people are completely nuts about best before dates because they don't understand it and it's really wasteful as a result.

”She’s about your size / her size / a little smaller than you,” (leering)

“Um, about this big? (gesturing with hands),

and my favourite “approximately a grapefruit?”

Ellie will have to explain why she didn't tell you bother to tell you in time to her new boyfriend then. Vegan boyfriend will have to suck it up. He'll survive, you'll just have to cook your veg in vegetable oil and you can still do some nice vegan stuff with the rest of the shopping you've already bought.

Ellie will tell you about any dietary needs well in advance in future.

🤨

Ah my DS is working a twilight shift today and tomorrow - pray for him.

He is very tall so that is often remarked upon – tho it does mean he can reach the milk at the very back of the fridge shelf.

He has been asked for cherries in syrup a lot this year for some reason (viral recipe?) and also for Advent calendars, well into December.

I cant remember the name of the book but it's red.....

@Gofaster2023 my DD works in a library and she gets that a lot.

Used to work at Sainsbury’s as a teenager. 30 years ago. Xmas eve was all hands to the pump. All tills open. 12 hour day on my feet at the checkout. Queues 10 trolleys deep at each. It was utterly exhausting and people were HORRIBLE. Blaming you for not going fast enough. Too fast. No stock of X. Not enough Y. Too long a wait. Why was the offer they saw last week not available etc etc. Hell on earth.
At least twice an hour some chippy bloke (always a bloke) would say ‘cheer up it’s Christmas, look at all the money you are making!’ Like the 18 year old will see any more than the £1.50 I was making an hour. Or just a simple ‘look happy, where’s the Christmas cheer love?’
Awful.

In fairness I know the answer to that question and I d9nt even work 8n a shop selling books. It’s this one.

It was less a "stupid thing that a customer asked" (FWIW, nothing wrong with asking where things are if you can't find them), more stupid things that they did...years ago, my first PT job (I was 16) was at M+S. I worked in the Children's clothing dept, but they put me on to the tills in the Food dept on Xmas Eve.

What a baptism of fire!! I saw two very well-to-do looking women fighting and yelling over who should get the last ham joint. Another lady reduced me to tears as I put her shopping through with another man's shopping (I thought they were a couple doing a giant Xmas shop together) - they were chatting together like they were a couple, they did not use any divider or anything to ascertain that they were doing separate food shops, and neither of them told me that these were separate shops (or to stop at any point whilst I was scanning/helping to pack until I rung up the total). She literally screamed and swore at me. I'd lived a pretty sheltered life so wasn't used to people shouting/swearing like that.

Oh yeah, that happened when I used to work there as well - people would get really paranoid and stressed and shout at their partners to not leave the trolley unattended!