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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To expect retired people not to clog up the supermarkets at lunchtime?

115 replies

Chil1234 · 02/02/2010 13:20

Really? I mean, come on oldsters, you've got all day to sashay round the shops at a snail's pace, stopping to chat to the assistants, lovingly examining every item on the shelf and trying to work out if the 3 for £2 offer is better than the BOGOF. Why do you want to rock up by the coachload at 12:00 when the place is full of stressed-out people (like me) trying to charge round with a trolley in the alloted 20 minutes left of their lunch-break - list in one hand and mobile phone (yes, I'll be back in a minute!!!!) in the other? What's so appealing about standing in queues five deep when, if you'd arrived an hour or two earlier or later, you could have the place more or less to yourself?

Thank you.. I feel better for that.

OP posts:
2shoes · 02/02/2010 13:38

yabu

TheDevilWearsPrimark · 02/02/2010 13:38

''trying to work out if the 3 for £2 offer is better than the BOGOF'' missed that bit - you are not only a loon but a fucking nasty loon too.

belgo · 02/02/2010 13:39

hang on a minute, isn't it just commom sense? As a SAHM I do have much of the day to myself.

No way do I want to get caught up in the shops at the busiest times, I have the luxury to choose, so I choose the quietest times. And have a gossip with the shop keepers.

displayuntilbestbefore · 02/02/2010 13:40

YABU
Some elderly people rely on other people to accompany them to the shops so they don't have a choice when they go shopping and in the winter, going in the middle of the day means they aren't out in the colder hours.
If it bothers you so much why don't you take a packed lunch into work and do your shopping out of work hours?

belgo · 02/02/2010 13:41

what I'm trying to say is, why would anyone choose to go to the shops at a busy time when they don't have to?

GothDetective · 02/02/2010 13:45

Sorry for anyone who is offended by this thread. I interpreted the OP as being tongue in cheek and the replies in the same vein.

vanimal · 02/02/2010 13:46

Take your own sandwiches to work, then you won't have to suffer the trip to Tescos in your lunch hour and I can have the place to myself instead.

It's cheaper too, and probably cheaper. Problem solved, my love!

vanimal · 02/02/2010 13:46

Take your own sandwiches to work, then you won't have to suffer the trip to Tescos in your lunch hour and I can have the place to myself instead.

It's cheaper too, and probably healthier. Problem solved, my love!

Romanarama · 02/02/2010 13:50

They should give incentives to shop when it's not busy (actually, that should be an incentive in itself). One of the local supermarkets where I used to live gave 10% off to over 70s at certain times. A bit like the London Underground - free for the over 60s, but only after 9.30am, and cheaper for everyone else after 9.30 too, so that you only go in rush hour if you really need to. I'm a SAHM and go to the supermarket mid-morning. When I was working I also wondered why on Earth the 80 yr old couples were there on Saturday mornings.

MrsChemist · 02/02/2010 13:51

YABU! Would I qualify for this attitude as well because I'm on mat leave and can shop whenever? Heaven forbid I get in the way of some important working person with my pram.

Should people who don't work confine themselves to the house when people who work are about?
No, because it's a free country and people can go out as and when they please.

As it happens, I agree with belgo that it is common sense to go places when it is emptier, and I generally reserve my shopping for sometime on a weekday afternoon, but sometimes I'm feeling masochistic and go into town on a Saturday afternoon. Ms Judgeypants "people who can shop whenever shouldn't shop when I'm shopping" can bugger off, I'll go when I please.

LetThereBeRock · 02/02/2010 13:53

YABVU.They can shop when they like.

MissM · 02/02/2010 13:54

Bloody old people eh, clogging up our streets. Good thing we're all going to die before we get old isn't it.

ASecretLemonadeDrinker · 02/02/2010 14:02

Is anyone actually taking the OP seriously? Surely it's tongue in cheek... goodness me. I stand by my yuppy bashing though

Fluffyone · 02/02/2010 14:05

How do you know they don't work? I'm recovering from an op at the moment, and my "retired" friends Ann and Harry have just been to the supermarket for me, after finishing their morning cleaning job. Seriously.

bibbitybobbityhat · 02/02/2010 14:08

I think the op is making a joke - but its a cheap shot and not really funny. I find myself far more irritated by screaming babies and huge pushchairs than dawdling OAPs but wouldn't dare attempt a joke about it on Mumsnet.

[catsbum]

GibbonInARibbon · 02/02/2010 14:10

I am still giggling to myself at the OP's 'I'm so important I could not even shop for 20 mins without work being able to cope without me'

WhoIsAsking · 02/02/2010 14:17

Ah, but I've heard people moaning about OAPs being out and about in the morning, (School run/commuter angst) lunchtimes (such as this thread) and also heard moaning at school kick out time (anything from 2.00 - 4.00) and then again at work run time (5.00 - 7.00)

By my calculations OAPS should be only allowed out between 10.00 - 11.30

face, just because I can.

ImSoNotTelling · 02/02/2010 14:22

YABU.

Plus I am surprised to realise that people actually plan to shop at certain times for tactical reasons.

I just wander up the road whenever the mood takes me TBH, sorry if that offends anyone (I have a pushchair AND a toddler - sometimes even a double buggy - horrors!)

OP maybe you should consider taking a packed lunch to work, for the sake of your blood pressure.

ImSoNotTelling · 02/02/2010 14:24

Wow!

Vivia · 02/02/2010 14:25

Leave older people alone, OP. My grandmother is such an angel and she loves the 'company' of being in crowds of younger folk. She also hates how age has physically slowed her down when she feels 21 in her mind. She takes ages reaching for things, has to ask for help and hates that too. Packing bags is almost impossible for her. She feels that she is always in someone's way, being a nuisance. She bloody well feels like that because of people like you.

I find it maddening that you think she and anyone like her should make way for you.

Will be interesting to hear how you get on when you are hitting 90 you thoughtless fool.

AKMD · 02/02/2010 14:26

YABU but in frantically hurried moments I have thought this too

You wouldn't be being unreasonable if you were complaining about learner drivers on their first lesson driving at 10mph on main commuter roads at 8.30 in the morning though, but that is a whole other thread

Undercovamutha · 02/02/2010 14:29

YABVU

ImSoNotTelling · 02/02/2010 14:30

In fact I went to the supermarket, with the children, yesterday, at lunchtime, and while there I chatted to a few old people who stopped to fuss over the kids

nickytwotimes · 02/02/2010 14:32

Yabu.

compo · 02/02/2010 14:33

When I worked fulltime it used to piss me off when sahms clogged up m&s with their double pushchairs
I used to think why do they havd to shop when I need my sarnie in my lunch break
when I'd had my baby I realised they went out btw naps and feeds and I felt proper crap when I'd disparaged them before