I'd prefer people pulling their head outta their collective asses and have a little self awareness plus for them care about others at least A LITTLE like they care about themselves rather than me having to find MORE patience for this garbage culture many of us have to live in until we retire. Yeah, it's the dumpster fire also called the US of A(ss) if you were wondering....
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I can't stand grocery store lines anymore
- Thread starter motoman
- Start date
Another true story...
We had a handful of Hannaford supermarkets and one manager gave me an official "Hannaford" necktie (polyester / WearGuard) emblazoned with the logo overtop a fruits & vegetables motif...I would wear to work at our medical office. When stopping by the market in the evening, you should have seen the staff jump-to-life upon my arrival. Turns-out they thought I was a district manager / upper echelon.
Riis
We had a handful of Hannaford supermarkets and one manager gave me an official "Hannaford" necktie (polyester / WearGuard) emblazoned with the logo overtop a fruits & vegetables motif...I would wear to work at our medical office. When stopping by the market in the evening, you should have seen the staff jump-to-life upon my arrival. Turns-out they thought I was a district manager / upper echelon.
Riis
Order online, avoid the hassle. Personally, I like to pick out the veggies and stuff that I want, so that's not an option I've ever pursued. My store also has a system where you ca use a scanner that looks like a Star Trek prop and total everything as you shop. Then you just hit the self checkout to pay at the end.
Yeah Kroger has the worst coupon system. I think the success rate is about 50%. Sone of the clerks make me dig out the item to prove I bought it, others just take my word for it. And you have o read those coupons closely for size and quantity of product.I usually use the self checkout. Course that brings on a different hassle at my primary grocery. Bakers/Dillons/Kroger is fairly coupon intensive. So after you scan everything, you have to scan coupons and then interact with a cashier. It's been going better lately, but in the past coupons frequently don't work. Some of the cashiers stare at the coupon for an extended time trying to figure out why it doesn't work.
I sort of think your problem is actually with the increasingly common digital addiction people seem to be coming down with. The place where I notice it is the gym. I do circuit training and it's not unusual for someone to jump on one of the machines in my circuit. I don't have a problem if they are actually exercising. But it burns me up when people spend a lot of time sitting on a machine looking at their phone; rather than doing exercise. Several months ago I asked a guy if I could work through. He said, "Sure as soon as I am done." I said come on man, your mostly just looking at your phone. It almost came to blows.
JazznFunk
Supporting Member
Grocery store lines aren't usually that much of an issue, mostly because I try my hardest to do grocery shopping when I don't have something pressing to do immediately after - so that whatever lines may be present aren't an annoyance.
What IS an annoyance is when someone at the gas station takes 15 minutes to buy lottery tickets, scratch-offs, etc, and has a full on meeting with the cashier while checking numbers, scratching tickets, and deciding after they win nothing to continue buying more - repeating the process over and over, with zero concept of other people being in line behind them who just need to pay for gas or do something quick. And there's no self-checkout at the gas station.
The universal problem is that people think their time is more precious and abundant than other peoples' time. And don't get me started on the Post Office staying perpetually understaffed, on purpose, at the worst possible times (lunch, and at the end of the day).
What IS an annoyance is when someone at the gas station takes 15 minutes to buy lottery tickets, scratch-offs, etc, and has a full on meeting with the cashier while checking numbers, scratching tickets, and deciding after they win nothing to continue buying more - repeating the process over and over, with zero concept of other people being in line behind them who just need to pay for gas or do something quick. And there's no self-checkout at the gas station.
The universal problem is that people think their time is more precious and abundant than other peoples' time. And don't get me started on the Post Office staying perpetually understaffed, on purpose, at the worst possible times (lunch, and at the end of the day).
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Self checkout always. For Sam's club, I have the app where I can scan as I shop, pay and head out the door. As I leave, the magic doorway looks at my cart and decides I'm not stealing anything and that's it. I actually like shopping, but the fewer people and machines I have to deal with, the better. I'm looking forward to where all grocery and big box stores operate this way.
Funny, the grocery check out is like the Big Boss, the last opponent before I achieve zen mastery. The other day the robot voice asked me if I'd checked for items under my cart and I said "I'm not a f'ing THIEF" out loud, so it's a work in progress.
One of the reasons I always use self-checkout.
A lot of cashiers don't seem to like to help Granny or moms with kids bag their groceries and just kind of guard the drawer while everyone waits. 
I'll usually walk around more and get my steps in till I see a short line somewhere and try to go at less busy times whenever possible to avoid shaking hands and kissing babies.
I'll usually walk around more and get my steps in till I see a short line somewhere and try to go at less busy times whenever possible to avoid shaking hands and kissing babies.
I tend to shop during the less busy times. It’s way more peaceful.
I take a granddaughter to school at 8:00 every morning and hit my grocery store immediately after. It's a breeze at that time of day. Wouldn't want to be there later in the day. By then, just getting out of the parking lot is a challenge.
Yes, Aldi’s is the priority now, along with a newer chain, Grocery Outlet, which is only(so far)on the east and west coasts. GO is more random in what they have, more overstocks/blowouts, a sort of cross between Aldi’s and Big Lots, but comes up with some killer deals. While always checking the weekly ads, we never got into the coupon trip, and shop sparingly and specifically at the two regular chains available, Vons and Stater Brothers(that’s where the occasional check-out bottlenecks occur). Weekly trips into the “big city”(Palm Springs, etc)have Costco and Trader Joe’s on the list, plus more GO’s and A’s, but there’s hardly any drama.
I've become the old lady I used to shake my head at and avoid in grocery store check out lines. Fair warning - DO NOT get in line behind me.
Yes
Yes I forgot to add this too lottery people taking the cashier, s time you just want to pay for a drink and you stand there for minutes have to listen to them picking numbers and scanning old plays to see if they won. The other day just about lost it on a guy that held up the line so long people were complaining. I think I need anger management therapy
JazznFunk
Supporting Member
You don't need anger management therapy - you're justified in your frustration, especially if it's one cashier at a busy service station/convenience store getting backed up with someone who obviously has no place to be. The very notion of a convenience store is that you get in and out fast.... for convenience. I've gotten to a point where I will say something, firmly and kindly to the cashier and lottery lover. 'Hey, I don't mean to be pushy but it'll take less time for us to pay for a drink and gas than it will to keep going thru tickets and holding up the line.' Sometimes people are just absolutely oblivious and have to be firmly reminded that others exist in the world.
On my list of modern horrors, grocery store lines are pretty low.
I also try to use such minor frustrations as an opportunity to practice controlling my reactions
occasionally successfully
I also try to use such minor frustrations as an opportunity to practice controlling my reactions
occasionally successfully
I don't mind waiting in line, never seems to take that long. I joke I fill up on $4.50 gasoline to go buy 12-dollar bacon and a 20-dollar can of coffee, the prices these days are a free blood-pressure test.
I was a checker and a bagger for a while and two things would kill me:
You'd get customers who had little briefcases full of coupons, that would always take a while no matter what. Can't blame people for wanting to save, but OMG it could take a while, especially if they had some that were clearly out of date and they'd think we were trying to screw them out of their 50 cents off. And they had zero problem with making everyone behind them wait for as long as it took.
The other one was the eco-centric activist who would bring their own recycled bags and forbid us to use any plastic bags at all, only the bags they brought. That's fine, I get it, but inevitably, they had a buggy stacked up over the rails and they had only six bags. Gee whiz . . . . talk about 10 pounds of flour in a one pound bag !
I was a checker and a bagger for a while and two things would kill me:
You'd get customers who had little briefcases full of coupons, that would always take a while no matter what. Can't blame people for wanting to save, but OMG it could take a while, especially if they had some that were clearly out of date and they'd think we were trying to screw them out of their 50 cents off. And they had zero problem with making everyone behind them wait for as long as it took.
The other one was the eco-centric activist who would bring their own recycled bags and forbid us to use any plastic bags at all, only the bags they brought. That's fine, I get it, but inevitably, they had a buggy stacked up over the rails and they had only six bags. Gee whiz . . . . talk about 10 pounds of flour in a one pound bag !
what irritates me is that the big grocery stores arrange it so that you're always waiting in a long line by taking away cashiers when the store is less busy. I remember when Lucky had a guarantee that you would never have more than (3?) people in line - they would just open another register to minimize the wait. I guess they all decided that having angry customers who don't want to shop there any more is better than paying another cashier.
