Queuing finally broke me today

[SpringBlossomIsBeautiful]

I’ve continued to work throughout as I’m SE & don’t qualify for any grants etc.
I’m shopping for 3 families who haven’t left their houses for 9 weeks due to shielding. It’s stressful with endless lists, receipts etc as well as extremely time consuming.
Today I got to Tesco at 8.10am as I needed to be at work for 9.30 (5 minutes drive).
I was 3rd from the front by 9am when we were stopped to let the elderly & vulnerable in (I have no issues with this) .
At 9.25 I had to leave the queue empty handed. Over an hour of my day wasted & now I to go back this afternoon to get what I couldn’t get 😫
I’m exhausted & just don’t think I can do it anymore but at the same time I can’t let them go without.

No I agree if someone can click and collect it works well. Usually I am happy to drive to Tesco as a trip out but not at present, my car hasn't been used for some time! It probably doesn't help I am ex ambulance and know a large amount of old colleagues have all had Covid hence wanting to avoid hospital

These people could organise their own c&c and all op has to do is drive down to get it.

There is no excuse particularly this far in to it

Our little local town has a Facebook page to help people who need shopping and other errands run for them. Do you have something like that @SpringBlossomIsBeautiful. Sorry if this is already answered I'm afraid I cut to the last page as it was very stressful reading this! I'm so sorry you're being put upon like this. You say you are shopping for three families - don't they have other family members who can help? I'm also self employed and I'm shielding a partner who has Parkinson's so he's banned from any shopping. You have my sympathy. It's tough working for yourself. I hope you got the self employed grant?

Anyway our Facebook page has over 3,000 members and whenever anyone asks for help it's nearly always answered very quickly. Maybe there is something similar where you live? £350 for just ONE shop - sorry, that's way too much for one person to take on and doing that for three families. No. You have to say no. They need to access help from another source which is out there. A neighbour of mine gets a food parcel every week from the government; sounds like these families would be entitled to that. Are they even trying to get the help that may be out there?

Sorry if I sound unsympathetic but I'm stressing just reading what you're going through. Hope it gets better for you

You need to take back control and ask the others to check online for deliveries, my local Asda lets nhs elderly etc in early mon, wed , and Friday , I go shopping Tuesdays at 8.30 and have never got held up .

So many people are martyring themselves in this situation

Op - you are self employed and buying for three families and about to have a breakdown. Clearly - you’re doing too much.

But really - even without knowing you I could have told you that shopping from three separate families and yourself and being SE was... silly

Well done. I am struggling with the brass neck of expecting you to lug so much alcohol. In those sorts of quantities, they should have been getting separate deliveries. Your friends have been extremely thoughtless tbh.

And then starting threads moaning about the consequences of their martyrdom.

OP you're very kind. But a lot of volunteers signed up to do these things because they have been at home and have time. I would not be committing to that for anybody but my family if I'm working full time. To shop for 3 families before work is ambitious, I don't think queuing is the real issue here even though it does obviously suck. I think you need a break from what you're doing.

The families are shielding due 1 member having a terminal condition (ie a couple of years left) which most certainly would result in near certain death if they were to catch Covid so I completely understand their need to isolate.

How does one terminally ill person mean three households are shielding?

@SpringBlossomIsBeautiful I am shielded and once the supermarkets worked out the priority access there’s no way I’d expect someone to go for me when I can now get it delivered. It sucks, I’m limited in what I can buy from one shop and no top up of fresh bread/veg half way through the week but I am lucky that we can do this. It’s the next group down that are stuck.
Also all the supermarkets have a scheme like a gift card, you should not be buying for them out your own pocket!

I am shielding and have had loads of texts and phone calls offering me help with shopping. Are you sure that the people you are shopping for can't get other help?
Maybe it has been offered and they have turned it down.

Sorry, posted too soon. The texts and calls are from UK Gov. Anybody who has had a shielding letter goes on the list. They are falling over themselves to offer help and have more volunteers than they know what to do with.

Way too much!

I'm sheilding and would never ask this of one person. Before I managed to get priority slots I would look for my own click and collect slots and then ask different friends to go and collect each week. When I really couldn't get a slot I would ask several different friends and some of my local volunteers to do a small shops each for me so it wasn't left just for one person to do.

Well done op. Glad you spoke to them. Take care of yourself.

I cant believe you have done this for so long OP. It really seems like they have been taking advantage of your kindness. They really should have sorted online delivery either locally or with the supermarkets by now. There really are so many options available. I hope this has now been sorted and that they have been appreciative of everything you have done for them.