When will people realise the supermarket is NOT a place to have a lengthy chat in?

[LovelyLips]

Every bloody lockdown I see the same thing.

Just come back from Waitrose which is pretty civilised because they keep numbers down.

BUT the same as before- a couple ( youngish maybe 30s) - standing chatting to another woman (same ageish) for ages and ages at the end of an aisle.

Don't they realise that a) they should shop alone unless there is some reason they can't and b) it's not a place to catch up for a 30-minute gossip?

Other people might be queuing in the cold to go in and can't other shoppers to come out.

I see this at every lockdown and it's always 'yummy mummy' types who hang around talking, yes, they wear masks but NO they are 2 metres apart. These 3 today were not from the same family and were standing very close together.

Why were you in the same aisle of a supermarket for 30 minutes, OP? You must've been to have known these dreadful yummy mummy types were chatting for that long.

Do you not understand that numbers are limited? Do you not understand that other people often old and infirm are queuing up outside? Do you not understand it is supermarket policy anyway to ask customers not to linger?

Also, 1) nice ageism there and 2) not everyone is able to shop alone.

It’s likely that the current lockdown won’t get R below 1, due to how transmissible this variant is. Interactions that may have been fine before could now lead to more infections. We’re all fucking miserable of this.

Unless mums or dads are single parents or some is in charge of a disabled person theres no need for 2 people to be in a shop whatsoever and i hate it when i see mum, dad and three kids for example all on a shop together putting themselves and everyone else at risk whilst they chat between themselves. Does my head in, my dc are left with my 18yo and i will not be bringing them to covid ridden supermarkets to chat amongst people. Infact I get most of my shopping online when i can.

I completly agree with you op. I'm an online picker, with lockdown we have had more to pick this week than we did Christmas week but thanks to the NHS app going off and staff isolating we are working with a reduced staff. We have to work at speed to get everything picked before the vans are due out or else we'll get complaints for late deliveries and negotiating a heavy trolly around chatters is annoying to say the least. If you want to chat move into the carpark or use the phone.

This is so tedious, so fuck. Move around them, do your shopping and get out. There will always be people who done adhere to the rules 100% of the time, there’s absolutely no point in whinging.

We’ve been in lockdowns of some description since March, heaven forbid you see a friend in the shop and chat to them.

The women in our local waitrose who was picking up oranges and sniffing them through her mask made me

I agree people shouldn’t really be standing chatting in the supermarket during a pandemic but as long as they aren’t in my way I don’t care.
By the way you keep referring to them as ‘yummy mummy types’ (not sure on what you consider the definition of that to be) presumably to try and be amusing but all it does is make you sound like a judgemental old bag
People I have seen standing chatting in the aisles recently have been the middle aged women and young-middle aged men! I assume they aren’t yummy mummy types but I can’t be sure here

@frumpety

The women in our local waitrose who was picking up oranges and sniffing them through her mask made me

😂 I tried to smell a new fabric conditioner through my mask but why would anyone sniff oranges?

@Jrobhatch29

Get a grip OP. I talked to my friend who I bumped into in asda the other day because I was just so excited to see her, you know, after having nobody but my 3 kids for company all week!

oh wow, all week nobody but your kids, and you tell her to get a grip !

Do you not understand it is supermarket policy anyway to ask customers not to linger?

OP, you said the couple were chatting 'for ages and ages' so you were obviously in there a fair while to know that, some may even say you were lingering

@LazyName did the same with a scented candle !

It was more she was picking up an orange, holding it against her mask, sniffing and then discarding it and picking up another, I decided to take my chances with scurvy and gave the citrus fruits a wide berth

Oh FFS!

So life isn't shit enough right now but we must also be rude to people we know who live locally who we might bump into in the supermarket?? There's a difference between 'shopping together' and stopping for a few minutes to chat to a neighbour you haven't seen for a while.

OP maybe channel your outrage to the right places. We all need to shop.

@LovelyLips I’m with you.

Anyone want to maybe consider the staff who have to work around all those stood in the way! You want to talk break the rules outside away from everyone else!!

I'm sick to bloody death of self appointed covid police

It's a shit time for EVERYONE! Please everyone mind your business, stop judging and move along.

@swimlyn

It’s the only place they can have a chat these days. Nope. They can SD in the cold rainy car park while others shop.

How long would be acceptable for a chat? 30 seconds? 2 minutes?
30 seconds is about right. Quick exchange, move on!

What astonishes me is how long a person or couple can browse a shelf. Often their trolley is also there as a barrier to others. Unless you were born yesterday, surely you know what bread or tea you want?

Do you have to shop for people with allergies? You have to read all the ingredients every time.

The irony about OP though is that they obviously decided to linger to watch the conversation that was happening.

• Head down

- Don't look at other people - Ignore everyone else even if you see someone you know - duck into the opposite aisle so they don't see you.

bloody hell

Unless you were born yesterday, surely you know what bread or tea you want?

I have to read labels as I'm allergic to eggs.
You'd probably see me picking up something in the supermarket to check the ingredients and hoick your pants and tut.
Do I care?
Nope

Those of you who suggest that people take their conversations outside - we're not legally allowed to talk to anyone outside either.

The woman by herself might have been living by herself and not actually spoken to anyone else for quite some time - I'm in that situation and haven't spoken more than a couple of sentences to another human being in real life since last Saturday. If tomorrow I run into someone I know when I'm out shopping, I'd really like to be able to talk to them for a bit.

Fucking hell, this thread is depressing. What's happened to people or were they always miserable judgemental twats ?

What's happened to people or were they always miserable judgemental twats ?

Always been there, just things like this seem to bring them all out!
Misery loves company and all that

Have your social interaction.

Outside! Then those outside in cold who want to go in and actually shop - can!

🤷‍♀️

Zzzz

And the rule of not chatting and clogging up aisles should have been made law - forever

If it bothers you that much op tell them to move on or why don't you report them to the police