Grocery Store pet peeves
#46
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Join Date: Mar 2004
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2. I don't really care much if Mom or Dad pull off a few grapes for Junior. I do care when they allow grubby-handed Junior to paw through the produce that may wind up on my table.
#47
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Indeed it is not.
What I don't get is the "snacking through the store" trend, where not only do they help themselves to the grapes, but you see kids sitting in the cart munching their way through a box of cookies or crackers. Is it not possible to survive a half hour or hour of grocery shopping without eating?
Maybe it's just my age or traditional upbringing showing, but my parents didn't find it necessary to feed us during a trip to the store and in fact taught us that the items didn't belong to us until they were paid for. I suppose "eat now, pay later" may be related to the current mindset of instant gratification and people buying things on credit.
Yes, there are certainly worse things in the world, and it may be a perfectly acceptable practice to many, but I admit I was a bit surprised the first time I saw this.
What I don't get is the "snacking through the store" trend, where not only do they help themselves to the grapes, but you see kids sitting in the cart munching their way through a box of cookies or crackers. Is it not possible to survive a half hour or hour of grocery shopping without eating?
Maybe it's just my age or traditional upbringing showing, but my parents didn't find it necessary to feed us during a trip to the store and in fact taught us that the items didn't belong to us until they were paid for. I suppose "eat now, pay later" may be related to the current mindset of instant gratification and people buying things on credit.
Yes, there are certainly worse things in the world, and it may be a perfectly acceptable practice to many, but I admit I was a bit surprised the first time I saw this.
#48
Join Date: Dec 2007
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you talked about people wanting "instant gratification," again, how does this interfere with your use of the store?
this is like the people who complain about people wearing shorts/t-shirts/ "inappropriate" clothing in the lounges or on the plane...i just don't understand how a guy wearing a burlap sack somehow interferes with your use of the lounge. similarly, because you don't think mom's being a good parent, that's your opinion, but it doesn't have anything to do with your grocery buying
#50
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Join Date: Aug 2002
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My number one issue: The carts. They are frequently filthy and have trash in them. Discarded flyers, grocery lists, kleenex. Shouldn't the employee who gathers them from the parking lot take the trash out of them?
#51
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And prices that scan differently than the price on the shelf. It took 3 weeks for the local Winn dixie to change the price of Abita Purple Haze on the shelf to match the scanner. I kept getting a $1.50/ six pack credit at the service desk until they fixed it.
#52
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Join Date: Aug 2002
Programs: AA EXP "Life is good! Really good.""
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One market even lines up some of them near the door under the overhang directly UNDER THE PIGEONS! What are they thinking? The rest of the carts are just lined up in front to the store (no overhang, no pidgeons.) So they have a pidgeon problem and have put up spikey things on the beams, but why do they keep putting the carts there?
#53
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At least this debate of consuming pre-purchase keeps the grocery store peeve thread on topic. 
I must admit I found it slightly confronting to find a McDonalds inside a Wal Mart when we visited Kona.
That was my first (& only) WM experience but our purpose was to collect some drugs.
(Yes, I did buy a burger there, which was a surreal experience in itself. Once was enough)

I must admit I found it slightly confronting to find a McDonalds inside a Wal Mart when we visited Kona.
That was my first (& only) WM experience but our purpose was to collect some drugs.

(Yes, I did buy a burger there, which was a surreal experience in itself. Once was enough)
#54
Join Date: Apr 2007
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#55
Join Date: Dec 2000
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13. Shoppers who let their kids graze the produce, resulting in grubby little hands touching the fruit as they shove it into their mouths. If you must steal food to pacify your kids, at least pull off a couple of grapes yourself and hand it to your kids. The produce section isn't a buffet at the day care center.
No, they're not using the scoops or tongs that are provided. I gladly pay more for a full package of whatever it is now that I've seen this.
#56
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 736
Loyalty Cards
I hate that in order to buy groceries in this country you have to fill out paperwork - i.e. loyalty cards.
Before i moved to PHL, I used Super-Wal Mart and Meijer. (A regional big box). And Meijer indoctrinated me with signs that said "what does your address have to do with the price of eggs?". And I read after 9/11 how people's shopping records were pulled by the government.
And yep, when I'm out of town and want the lowest price, filling out the form (currently done - previously I threw a hissy fit but have been better about channeling my efforts to the grocery store's customer service dept phone number) (and I fill it out with vauge hotel addr info,as FTer reccomended I do.
Before i moved to PHL, I used Super-Wal Mart and Meijer. (A regional big box). And Meijer indoctrinated me with signs that said "what does your address have to do with the price of eggs?". And I read after 9/11 how people's shopping records were pulled by the government.
And yep, when I'm out of town and want the lowest price, filling out the form (currently done - previously I threw a hissy fit but have been better about channeling my efforts to the grocery store's customer service dept phone number) (and I fill it out with vauge hotel addr info,as FTer reccomended I do.
#57
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Houston
Programs: Continental OnePass
Posts: 221
My "discount" is the fact that I don't have to wait in line behind 15 other people who all have the same mindset as you OR who don't want to be bothered to learn the self check out. Gets me out of the store a heck of a lot faster! ^
#58
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Houston
Programs: Continental OnePass
Posts: 221
I really, really, really would prefer to use self-checkout at my local store, but the knuckleheads who try to use it just foul up the entire process. I think they should have mandatory training for folks if their check out process takes more that 3 minutes at the self-serve aisle. I'm sick of watch people try to figure out where the bar codes are on their produce, or who don't even know what produce they are buying. It's just infuriating, and forces me to go to the regular checkout line.

I LOVE THE SELF CHECKOUTS. I wish more stores would start implementing them.
#59
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: CLT
Posts: 7,249
- Harris Teeter (in NC) has free cookies for everyone at the entrance. Take one for Jr on the way in if he's hungry. I take one on the way out b/c I don't like eating in the grocery store.
- Wegman's in the north east (at least the Ithaca, NY one) makes you label your own produce. You put the stuff in the bag, put the bag on the scale, punch in the code, get a label. The cashier only has to scan the label now instead of looking up a code.
- Time is money. The time saved by self checkout is your discount.
- I mainly just by frozen stuff since i'm never home long enough to keep anything else on hand. I just shop at Target now. Not a super target...it's sad that normal target's convenience section seems to meet my needs. Walmart is over 8 miles away while Target is less than 2. No shopper cards, no solicitation to donate money. Just an invitation to sign up for the target card after i've already paid for everything and take my bags.
#60
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Houston
Programs: Continental OnePass
Posts: 221


Carts. Everywhere.