Major pet peeve, just me?

[DaisyChain505]

It really bugs me when I see whole families doing the weekly food shop in supermarkets.

The aisle are jam packed with whole families doing the food shop. Why is it necessary for both parents and the kids to all be there to do it?

They take up more space, the kids are ultimately in other shoppers way as they don’t have any spacial or situational awareness and are just wondering around aimlessly and it must be a more stressful trip for the parents compared to if one parent stayed home with the kids and the other went and did the food shop solo.

How do you know people are retired by just looking at them? Anyway, I would suggest that one solitary person in their 70's, shopping just for themselves, cannot possibly equate to a whole tribe of unruly kids and their uninterested parents.

I have it delivered. Most youngsters are capable of online shopping.
At the rate at which AI is developing, it will soon order all your food for you.

Zero chance I do the shop myself. Not that I do. I think people who go in to actual supermarkets are psychopaths personally

A food shop is very different to buying trainers or fake eyelashes online. It IS a skill (tied to budgeting, cooking and meal planning) and it needs teaching and it will be needed in the future. AI may help, but someone needs to know the basics elements to get AI to do the shop. L

No, I don't know if someone is retired by looking at them. I was just responding to several posters saying that some retired people probably shop on Saturdays because they're too busy in the week to do it, or prefer the structure that shopping on Saturdays brings. I just said I don't understand why anyone would put themselves through busy and hectic Saturday shopping when they have time in the week. And yes, I would rather be on a shop with retired people pottering about than a store full of unruly kids! 😬

I find this an odd thing to be annoyed about. Children and families are allowed to take up space in supermarkets, just as much as a solo shoppers are. I would never judge a family for all going to the shops, or think anything negative of it.

Order online and have it delivered.

Yea I agree, and with online shopping the question is why? It wasn’t available when my kids were young and it was tricky (lost my son more than once). I also really don’t get BOTH parents going as well as the kids. Bizarre.

I would rather be on a shop with retired people pottering about

I'd just like to point out that whether I go on a Monday or a Saturday or a Sunday, I don't 'potter about' just because I'm retired!

Yes, I was young once, so were my own children, but a supermarket or shopping centre is not a playground and there’s no excuse not to expect decent behaviour from any child old enough to walk. I despair.

Don't people just shop online? Why go to a supermarket when the supermarket can come to you?

YABU.

Special peevedness goes to people who take their six nearest and dearest to ED/bank/Primark till.

Bonus points if they execute a flocking manoeuvre round pint of interest and then look at you incredulously and say "Oh, I'm not in the queue!".

THEN DON'T BLOODY STAND THERE!

It doesn't bug me, but I do wonder to myself why the hell they do it. Likewise, retired couples, why does it take 2 people? I'm either at work, or with our kids. Even though I hate doing the supermarket run weekly, it is the only thing I actually ever do on my own. Sometimes DH says 'shall we come with you and go to X for breakfast after' and I come up with every excuse in the book so they don't come with me. It's not because I don't like them, but I just want to concentrate on the list (which bizarrely I don't even look at as I am weird and can remember it) and get in and out as fast as humanly possible. It isn't a pleasant task for me that I want to draw out and waste my precious weekend time on. And if the kids are young it's inevitable that they spend the entire time asking for every unhealthy treat or toy in the supermarket. But everyone is different, maybe some people do enjoy doing it, or maybe they don't get much free time to spend together?

What do you mean they fit in the trolley? In the seat part?

I doesn’t bother me but similarly, I don’t really understand why people do it when there are two parents. Seems like a pointless hassle when one adult could get round faster.

Yeah but.... I explained that wasn't the case for me.

Despite having explained up thread ?

Obviously all retired people and children should not be allowed in shops in case they inconvenience more important shoppers.

Good grief, what a miserable existence. No trying new recipes, changing the number of people the shopping is for.
Give me strength.

Well… you can change your weekly order! You don’t have to buy the same things every week just because you do it online. You can still try new recipes and vary quantities…

I often wonder this. I get the big food shop delivered so I don’t have to trudge through the aisles.

Yes, but the previous poster was suggesting AI would just order your groceries for you, suggesting no intervention needed.

That's what I found miserable

Using AI doesn’t mean no intervention. AI needs to be told what to do, it doesn’t act on its own free will. I think the OP was talking more about a scenario where you would say to AI ‘please add ingredients for a dinner party with 7 guests, one is vegetarian, one coeliac, one hates lamb’ etc etc than just the same list being ordered week after week. You could do that now.

Good point. No doubt they are all white or grey haired using a stick or Zimmer frame and dawdle in the aisles...

I do, buy the majority online but not fresh produce which my DP likes to buy himself. He goes to our Sainsbury Local almost every day including ether Saturday or Sunday because he enjoys getting out, something he cannot do much as he is disabled.
I forgot to order online this week so off out I went today to buy urgent groceries. It's a free world and just because we are retired don't assume we can go shopping at a time that suits you!
WTF is there so much ageism on MN?

By the time you've added all the variables you could do that yourself and there are already searches which would throw up suggestions anyway.

Yet again, AI isn’t always the panacea.