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Original poster

So all the 'non essential moaners' what do you class as non essential

477 replies

HoppingOnSteppingStones · 13/01/2021 09:42

Because I've just been to tesco and brought a kettle. I've just had a bloke when I was stood in front to pay. Mumble about an 'essential kettle'

Did he know why I had to buy it. Did he plums!
It's not so I can go home and have a relaxing cuppa. Its so I can make formula for my baby. Because last night our kettle went bang!
We had to get hot water off the neighbour for this mornings bottle so I could then run to grab one.

What's essential to some isn't to others.

Yes I think there's prob a fine line but I wish people wouldn't judge

OP posts:
Thread gallery
7
Iknowwhatudidlastsummer · 13/01/2021 10:49

@kirktonhouse

Not disputing the need for a kettle, but why on earth did you go to a neighbours for hot water? Why not boil some in a pan?
expect a massive drip feed of the OP having no hob, no microwave, no oven for whatever reason and solely relying on her kettle.
BarbaraofSeville · 13/01/2021 10:49

Taken to the nth degree, very little is essential. We've all got access to a tap, so no-one's going to die of thirst. Most people have at least some food in their houses, even if it's not everything needed for a recipe or exactly what you fancy eating right now, so most people don't need to go shopping quite as often as they do.

They could leave a bag of gruel and oranges on everyone's doorstep and no-one would starve to death, but we're not in that position, so if the shop is open, you can buy anything that's sold there and just ignore nosy bloke. I bet he had more than the absolute basics in his trolley too.

thosetalesofunexpected · 13/01/2021 10:50

@Springersrock

Aww How is your pony doing now then?
Hope she is ok😕

hansgrueber · 13/01/2021 10:51

@Secretsquirrelsbuddy

A coat is essential
When my husband died at the start of the first lockdown I got obsessive about black shoes, my only heeled pair needed repairing and nowhere was open, a local store was selling clothing to essential workers only. At the time, they were 'essentail' to me, eventually I saw one in that local store and they let me buy them because I think they thought I was going to start crying.
DecemberSun · 13/01/2021 10:51

If shops are selling stuff then we should be able to buy it without being judged.

RufustheSniggeringReindeer · 13/01/2021 10:52

@Buzzinwithbez

His baggage, OP. Don't pick it up and carry it for him

Oh I like this. Thankyou. It's one to remember..

Absolutely, was just thinking about texting this to a friend who is going through something

And yes hopping this whole essential shopping thing is rubbish

MacDuffsMuff · 13/01/2021 10:52

@Springersrock

Not this lockdown, but the 1st one

We have an elderly, arthritic pony. She has to have pain relief and a supplement in her feed but won’t eat it without something to disguise the taste so she has it with peppermint tea.

I’d run out, out of stock in Asda when I’d done the weekly shopping for the last few weeks, so nipped in my local Co-Op.

Huge muttering from the people in the queue, but it’s the only way I can get the fussy madam to eat her feed when her pain relief is in it

I've nothing to add to this other than I love that your pony likes her peppermint tea. Smile
Tianatiers · 13/01/2021 10:52

He's an idiot and should mind his own business, a kettle is essential. For future reference though you can boil water in a saucepan on a cooker, no need to get your neighbour involved.

Feathersinthehead · 13/01/2021 10:54

What's essential to some isn't to others

Perfectly explained.
Hair dye, make-up, meat and alcohol are non-essential to me.

GlobeUs · 13/01/2021 10:54

A kettle isn't essential in our house, but that's our house. Yours is yours, and your list of essential items is going to be way different to ours.

WhereverIGoddamnLike · 13/01/2021 10:54

Totally with you on the kettle, but why didnt you just boil water on the hob for a bottle this morning instead of going to the neighbours? At least that way you wouldn't be having unnecessary contact.

SchadenfreudePersonified · 13/01/2021 10:55

@itchyfinger

I would say hot cuppas are definitely essential.
So would I.

And as others have said, much of what we buy is "inessential" in that we could survive without it - and that includes toilet paper.

He's an arse - just imagine what fun he must be at parties, and consider yourself well out of it. Some poor woman probably has to live with that every day.

AliasGrape · 13/01/2021 10:55

I was in the co-op yesterday buying sanitary towels as I hadn’t realised quite what a doozy my first post-baby period would be and that the three packs I had stashed at home wouldn’t be enough.

I also bought quite a lot of totally essential in the circumstances chocolate. I saw a neighbour whilst I was flinging chocolate indiscriminately into my basket who ‘jokingly’ said ‘tut tut I’m not sure that’s what Boris would call essential shopping har har hat’. He’s very lucky that the intense rage temporarily incapacitated me rather than allowing me to shove my packet of always extra super plus down his throat like I wanted to. After coughing on them for good measure.

It’s a long shot because he’s a single older guy but I kind of hope he reads mumsnet so he can see how close he came.

I also had to non essentially go and look in the dry cleaners window for a bit whilst he went on his merry way so we didn’t end up walking home together.

Wearywithteens · 13/01/2021 10:55

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn at the poster's request.

wildraisins · 13/01/2021 10:56

Ridiculous. Kettles are pretty essential and anyway the shop is open and allowing you to buy it - it's not his business.

Catty1720 · 13/01/2021 10:57

It shouldn’t matter what you buy as long as you abide by the rules what is it with this pandemic and people becoming even more high and mighty 🙄

BrightYellowDaffodil · 13/01/2021 10:58

God, it's getting depressing, isn't it? Everyone's a fully paid up member of the Covid police now.

Yes, you probably could have boiled water in a pan but why bother when you can go out and buy a sodding kettle?

WellFuckMeSIDD · 13/01/2021 10:58

@HoppingOnSteppingStones

Couldn't wait for amazon or anything. He only goes 2.5 / 3 hourly max but longer at night so it was case of water next door. Bottle. Get sorted go to tesco. Then nest enough time for next feed.
Could you have used a saucepan or microwave to boil the water? This is what I did when my kettle broke.
SchadenfreudePersonified · 13/01/2021 10:59

@DecemberSun

If shops are selling stuff then we should be able to buy it without being judged.
Agree.

If it's on the shelves and not cordoned off, why shouldn't you buy it.

@Springersrock

Love your refined little pony and her peppermint tea! Grin

But even if it had been for yourself - many people find peppermint an essential aid to digestion. Nobody else's business what you have in your basket.

SchadenfreudePersonified · 13/01/2021 11:01

I saw a neighbour whilst I was flinging chocolate indiscriminately into my basket who ‘jokingly’ said ‘tut tut I’m not sure that’s what Boris would call essential shopping har har hat’.

He's lucky he's still alive! Angry

(Anyway, as we all know Johnson considers everything inessential, unless he or his mates want it, the it is okay to do or buy anything. But just for them. They had Reasons.)

SonjaMorgan · 13/01/2021 11:02

Everyone's idea of what is essential will be different. We all live our lives very differently and some people don't have multiple pairs of shoes or coats.

All the judging makes it sound like the crazies from the early spring threads are re-emerging. Telling people not to buy tampons, magazines, bread, milk...

Tianatiers · 13/01/2021 11:02

@brightyellowdaffodil I certainly wasn't suggesting OP doesn't buy a kettle to replace her broken one, but in the meantime there are other ways to boil water that don't involve getting your neighbour to do it for you.

SchadenfreudePersonified · 13/01/2021 11:03

@Mrsjayy

My parents TV died recently I mean they could do without a TV I suppose they could just sit and sneer at each other but we went and bought them a non essential Television!
LOL!
ithinkyouareveryrude · 13/01/2021 11:05

At a Sainsbury’s click and collect this week I was informed by a helpful gentleman in the car next to me that ‘you’re the reason we ran out of toilet paper last time’ as I wrestled with my 10+ bags of shopping.

What he didn’t care to understand was that it was a shop for three separate households one of whom is terminally ill, two of whom are key workers and one who is heavily pregnant on bed rest at risk of a ruptured placenta as she attempts to wrangle a vivacious three year old into ten hours a day of quiet time.

I nearly threw one of my nephew’s bags of haribos at him but that would be a waste. People have lost everything, food is essential, clothes are essential, house bits are essential. Anything that someone seems to be essential is essential and it is fuck all to do with anyone else.

Buy your kettle, OP. In fact you should have bought two by knocking the judgemental Twat out with the first one.

TheMethodicalMeerkat · 13/01/2021 11:06

You kinda think that if all these shopping monitors are so concerned about Covid, it might occur to them that getting on with their own business rather than dawdling to gawk into other peoples shopping baskets might limit their exposure!

Of course that would also limit their opportunities to whine and judge so... Priorities eh Hmm?

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