Is this normal behaviour in supermarkets now?

[Makeitgoaway]

Until now we've been making do with what we had plus deliveries from small local firms but had to bite the bullet and DH did a big supermarket trip yesterday.

There's a particular nut he's very fond of which appeared to be out of stock, but he was pleased to find the last two packets at the back of the shelf, just as he realised a couple nearby were looking for the same thing, so he offered them one of the packs. Apparently they declined in horror at the idea of taking something he'd handled.

He was happy, he got his 2 packs, but how do they think they got onto the shelf without anyone touching them? Were they particularly cautious or is everyone thinking like this now?. He thought he was being polite/helpful but they obviously didn't see it that way. The new rules are one thing but how long until we all get used to the new etiquette? Or even agree on what it is?!

[lexi873]

I don’t understand some people’s thinking behind gloves?! Somebody coughs into bare hand and touches item, somebody coughs into gloved hand and touches item? What’s the difference?!
To be fair when I wear gloves they make me more conscious of not touching my face but that’s it really, they can still transfer germs.

[Khione]

@Fuchsake
The shelf stackers presumably wore gloves, unlike your DH. I wouldn’t touch something someone had handled with bare hands.

The gloves are not only pointless as people have pointed out - they make things worse.

The virus lives longer on smooth surfaces such as gloves than on skin. AND has been pointed out people don't wash their hands once they have gloves on.

Wearing clean cotton/winter gloves is probably marginally better as the virus won't survive on them so long.

[TheProdigalKittensReturn]

Do people think gloves actively kill coronavirus? If you touch something that has the virus (or any other nasty) on it while wearing gloves, it is now on the gloves and can be transferred to other things that you touch. This is why some health authorities are advising against the wearing of gloves, because there seems to be a lot of magical thinking surrounding their use and not a lot of thinking through what they can and can't do. Think of how your dentist uses gloves - that's how they're meant to be used - put on gloves, complete task, take off gloves and wash hands. Use new gloves for next task.

[Willow2017]

The shelf stackers presumably wore gloves, unlike your DH

Why would they?
What difference would it make to anything on the shelf thats already been handled probably several times by customers before you puck it up?

[twirlycat77]

The only way gloves will work is to use an uncontaminated pair whilst shopping, but make sure you don’t touch your face, then discard after use.

[Downunderduchess]

How does anyone know who touched what five minutes before you walked in the store? Anything could have been touched/moved by any number of people.

[Willow2017]

Sorry Khione i read your post wrong.

[Oliversmumsarmy]

How could your dh hand a packet of nuts to someone when he is supposed to be 2 metres from them.

What I have witnessed in supermarkets goes against government guidelines

No one gives a fuck about staying 2 metres away from everyone else.
I have seen nurses in their uniform piling stuff in their arms (resting the items on their uniform that has come straight from a ward) then putting things back on the shelf as they couldn’t carry them.

If you stop to get something off a shelf then you get another person or 3 breathing down your neck (literally) as they try to teach for the same item or an item nearby.

Re the nurses, I know which uniform colours are the ward uniforms as Dp has been in and out of that hospital so many times and the hospital is definitely big enough and has changing facilities. Again I have chatted to enough nurses when dp has been in there to know this.

I feel going to the supermarket is like playing Russian Roulette

They have you queue outside at 2m distance from one another then once you are in it is a free for all

[CaryStoppins]

They probably just didn't want to get close enough to him to take it. I wouldn't give it any further thought though, it wasn't a personal slight.

[TheProdigalKittensReturn]

You should assume that anything in the supermarket has been touched by multiple people, as neither the staff nor the customers are robots.

[nicky7654]

Your going to wash your hands once your home so why this silly behaviour????

[Mummyoflittledragon]

What he did was fine. People are scared.

[Sabine123]

Your husband was kind and they were daft ! Don't ever change !

[BreatheAndFocus]

Your husband was being kind but I imagine it was the idea of taking it straight from his hands they didn’t like. If he’d put it back on the shelf and stepped away they’d probably have been happier to take it.

It’s not the hands touching, it’s the proximity of the person with the hands.

[FinallyHere]

Did he actually hold it out to him, or put it back on the shelf and point at it? They may have just been recoiling from getting so close to someone.

this ^ wot @ravenmum said

It's going to take awhile, until we have all adjusted to the new normal. Handing someone something used to be a kind think to do. It's just not possible while maintaining the 2m/6ft distance from people.

[Northernsoullover]

I wear gloves shopping and a mask but that is only to stop me touching my face. They don't protect virus being spread around. If I sneeze into my gloves (which I wouldn't just btw) and touch everything then that defeats the object.
I remove my gloves after loading shopping but before opening my car door.

[TheLadyAnneNeville]

We have no idea who’s touched what. Just wash items down on your return. Gloves? I keep seeing people with gloves. They’re on/off on/off. Waste of time for most people. Same with masks. Saw a woman yesterday, mask up on her head like a pair of sum glasses and was standing in the queue, leaning against the wall, yawning her head off without once covering her mouth.

As I say, we’ve NO idea who’s handling what.

[PepePig]

People on here are ridiculous. How do you think items get on shelves? How do you think they arrive at the store? Get packaged? Get rotated for dates?

People touch everything multiple times. No one sits and bleaches your cereal before you place it in your trolley 😂. But oh no, seeing someone touch something is the worst!

A lot of you are living in fairy land. I'm all for taking precautions but let's be realistic here:

• your shopping is covered
• you'll still likely miss bits even if you wash your shopping
• gross people exist. They will have touched your shopping, coughed on it, sneezed etc
• gloves are pointless
• staff are working to tight deadlines and while they'll take precautions, standards will slip after 9h of working from 6am.

[awesomeaircraft]

The better than thou attitude is getting tiresome I must say. We are all trying our very best.

We can touch whatever we want as we need (well not people obv, I mean products on shelf ). The basic assumption is that everything is contaminated and we are all supposed to wash hands/not touch face to mitigate this.

[Mrsjayy]

Look some people are wiping down shopping when they get home spraying them with that Dettol spray,so taking a packet of nuts off a stranger isn't too far removed from that really, I think we need to try and accept everybody has their own way of dealing with this and not be too offended.

[ravenmum]

People on here are ridiculous.
Not everyone, but I do agree that listening to a bit of hearsay then lambasting total strangers as daft, silly or drama llamas because they are afraid to get close to a stranger could be described as ridiculous.

[Rosa]

Where I am .. Everybody has to wear gloves to go into any shop. In all supermarkets all the staff wear gloves . There is disenfectant for wiping down your trolley and hand gel as you leave. I take off my gloves when I get home as I am reusing them after washing them . I have the single use latex ones but I bin only if they break. In my region it is now obligatory to cover your nose and mouth in any confined environment , shop , bank , public transport. When outside you must have them with you to put on when you could be passing close to people. ... Load of bollocks I hear you say ?? Well its the law now right or wrong !

[Makeitgoaway]

DH wasnt offended MrsJayy, he was concerned that he had caused offence and interested in what the new supermarket "etiquette" is.

[ravenmum]

They've just said that masks are "strongly advised" in supermarkets here. Unfortunately, that means that you now have some people who are scared or trying to be really good and wearing the masks, and others who laugh at them for doing so - or even deliberately go up close to mask wearers for a "laugh".

[Soubriquet]

Gloves are pointless

You would need to replace them after touching each item!

If you handled raw chicken wearing gloves, would you then go and pick up something or would you dispose of the gloves?