Grocery Store pet peeves
 

To piggyback on the restaurant pet peeves thread ...

I get so mad when the teenage cashier at the grocery store is unable to tell the difference between a cucumber and a zucchini squash. Does the training they receive consist of only how to run the register? I can forgive them asking me; it may be difficult to tell the difference between a jalapeno and a serrano pepper, and they shouldn't have to put stickers on everything. I assume the only vegetables these kids are fed at home are french fries and cole slaw.

I am annoyed by cashiers who look over my purchases and say things like "that looks good" or "what does that taste like?". I want to tell them it tastes foul and I only eat it to punish myself for the bad thoughts I have about killing nosy cashiers.

Yours?

I use self checkout unless i'm buying alcohol or actually have a coupon to use.

i guess it helps that I usually don't buy more than 1 or 2 bags worth of food.

People who are so anal while in line at the check-in that they get mad at a new employee or complain to the cashier when they try to be nice and make small talk. Same answer as the restaurant pet peeves thread...anyone who gets so riled up at things like this that they have to write about them on a website. :p

Agreed. As long as the comments are positive. If someone said "How can you eat that" or ":p Does that taste good?" I think i'd be offended. If someone tried to give me nutrition advise I'd have to say that I actually am a dietitian and practicing dietetics without a license is illegal in NC. If they are just saying "that looks good" i'd just say "yeah, that's why i'm buying it"

I get annoyed when the cashier and bagger get into a conversation to the point where everything screeches to a halt. My temporary pet peeve now is that the grocery stores and WalMart are are redecorating and sprucing up to compete with a Target that will be opening soon. Nothing is where it should be and shopping takes longer.

I am tired of hearing "Would you like to donate a dollar to...........?"

MisterNice

That one gets me, too.

Other grocery store pet peeves, in no particular order:

1. People who block aisles with their carts while they study the labels on food products.

2. Those horrible "racing car" carts for kids -- many of their mothers seem to push these things with the same disregard as how they drive: chatting on their cellphone, cutting people off, holding up traffic, etc.

3. And while we're on the subject, "mini" carts (training carts?) pushed by children -- I've had it with having these things run into my knees.

4. People who abuse express lines by having too many items, or paying by check or credit card when it's cash-only.

5. Checkers who let people like this abuse express lines, instead of sending them to the proper line.

6. Stores that aren't absolutely religious about removing expired items from the shelves. I always check, but I should be able to rely on a grocery store to offer only wholesome, fresh products.

7. Checkers who ask, "Credit or debit," when I give them my Amex Platinum card. I've always wondered what would happen if I said, "Debit."

8. Checkers who get into protracted conversations with customers. Pleasant chat while ringing up purchases and collecting payment is fine. Don't make me wait, however, while you inquire into little Ginny's ballet recital.

9. Panhandlers who stalk the exits and harass shoppers as they leave (perhaps more of a problem in San Francisco and Santa Monica).

10. Children who stalk the exits collecting money for school projects, selling cookies, or whatever and harass shoppers as they enter or leave.

11. People who write checks for small purchases (and why is it almost always women who do this?).

12. People who say, "Wait, I think I have a penny," and then spend several minutes rummaging through their purse to find it (again, why is it always women who do this?).

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.

Hmmmm. No wonder I don't like grocery shopping.

+1 (I'm really glad I don't shop where you do :eek: ;) )

DB Post of the week. ^

One more:
14. Choosing the short, non-express queue.
Noticing that with 12-17 people it, being at the end of the other queue would have been faster!

Staff that is not knowledgeable on the products they are selling is the biggest no-no.

Every time you get used to where stuff is....They change everything around ! :mad:

I hate it when people start to look at you after you've sampled the 50th grape to see which bag is definitely the best. And then when you found it, there are so many grapes missing from it, you've got to find a fuller bag! ;)

Costco does this of course, or just gets rid of my favorite product!

They ALL remodel just when you've got used to the layout!!!! I think they do it on purpose!!!!

People who stand there watching the cashier scan everything... and when the total is announced they get that "deer in the headlights" look and only then start rummaging through bags for purse or wallet...

This is, sorry to point out, also normally women.

What, do they think it was going to be free that time??:confused:

Only product I've been asked about led to an "embarassed" (but honest) response from me... the young girl scanned a packet of semolina.. and commented:

"Oh.. this is a sort of cereal isn't it? I've thought of trying it.. is it nice?"

To which I could only reply that I had never actually eaten it... but only ever used it as a "filler" in Black Powder cartridge loading....:rolleyes:;):D

At least the ladies in the local fabric stores are used to us "Muzzleloading rifle" guys coming in and measuring the thickness of plain cottons with vernier calipers! (Bore diameter .450.. round ball diameter .440... looking for a close weave cotton about .012 or so...:D)

As for #10 Children at the exit..

OMG!! How would the world get girl scout cookies if they didn't stand out there rain or shine or electrical storm? I don't care if a couple of munchkins get fried, i want my annual dose of Thin Mints!

That said, the rest of the problems aren't my problem. I shop at Publix, where shopping is a pleasure :)

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (SymbianOS/9.1; U; en-us) AppleWebKit/413 (KHTML, like Gecko) Safari/413 es61i)

Well, again, a lot of this could be a UK thing, but:

• When the cashier asks you if you want help packing, you decline, and they scan the items at lightning speed just to spite you.
• When you do get them to help with packing and they use a new bag for every two items.
• When they run out of something, instead of leaving the label there, they obliterate its very existence, so you don't know if they've run out or dropped it entirely.
• Endless badgering for layalty cards. Look, I'm in town for the weekend, there's no bramch near home, and I don't want 0.001% rebate in return for endless mailshots.
• Bizarre and illogical categorisation. The 25g raisin boxes are with "snacking fruit" and the 75g with "baking ingredients". Hmm.
• Promotions on staple items where they vastly under-order.
• When I order a week's worth of groceries online,and all the fresh stuff they deliver is BBE the next day.
• When they don't police the disabled spaces in the car park, and let scum get away with parking there illegally.
• Where there are no or very insecure cycle spaces, particularly when in town. Come on, it's 2008, not 1988!
• Bizarre car park layouts devised by M C Escher.
• Pricing 2 2-packs at less than a 4-pack. That used to be illegal.
• Urban supermarkets with no respect for the surrounding area (Tesco are especially bad for this) - cages left on the pavement, delivery vans blocking streets, late-night noise...
• Excessive and unrecyclable packaging, even in this day and age. And also, making a huge fuss about how much packaging they're reducing when it's only been introduced in the last couple of years.

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.

For the record, I've never seen anyone, adult or child, grazing the produce department and I've been grocery shopping thousands of times.

Would you be as horrified to see me drinking a cold bottle of soda as I shopped? Sometimes you get thirsty and checking out is still 30 minutes away. It's not like I'm going to stash the empty behind the Cheez-its. Technically, it's not mine yet. But, I'll continue until a shop employee objects. I think I've adequately expressed my intent to pay by opening it.

As far as kids eating in the store, it may not be the first stop of the day. Maybe Mom's gathering up a few staples after 4 hours in a Doctor's waiting room. And it's 2 hours past Junior's regular lunchtime. I know some people would strongly object to a demonstrably cranky kid in the store. I think opening the box of graham crackers is preferable. Kids aren't machines. Finding the on/off and volume switches isn't always simple.

This is right up my alley since I am a checker at a grocery store :D You are right they should know the difference between a cucumber and zucchini regardless of training. As far as asking how something tastes I am guilty of that but that is because at least for myself I really do want to know as seeing someone come through my line might be the only time I see someone buying that particular product. So at least for me it isn't meant to be all up in your business and it might just might be the same with your checker. Now for my pet peeves at the grocery store: bratty kids running around or screaming their heads off, people in line gabbing on their cells not paying attention to what is going on (i.e. what they are doing on the payment machine or answering checkers questions in a timely manner), paper or plastic sir? Really it isn't a freakin SAT question, on the self check out pay attention to what the machine is saying and don't get pissy with the checker cause you aren't paying attention to the prompts, people who put in a veggie bag more then one variety of apple or any fruit or veggie. Ok yes I understand save the planet and I thank you but recycle the bags, there are others behind you in line, and why must people look for that one darn penny? Ok those are my pet peeves at the grocery store. Oh before anyone yells at me over all at my new company I work for I like my job and over all they are much better then Safeway customers by a long shot! I almost heart Kroger :p

Let me guess? Safeway? One of many reason why I wont shop there anymore.

The checker nonsense with the club cards when the lines are long.

Impotent managers calling for extra checkers/baggers instead of jumping on and helping themselves-and tellong(not asking)employees to leave the stocking of the shelves for a second to help at the registers.

HUGE pallets blocking the aisles-hire more people and stock before opening hours.

A few chains(Whole Foods and Bristol Farms are infamous for this)stock far too much Fish,Meat and produce than normal turnaround-so freshness suffers and everything is suspect in these departments.The display is pretty-but I could live with smaller dispalys and fresher fish,meat,vegetables.

Staffing specialty areas with staff who have neither knowladge or passion for what they are selling.

Also for the record, I never said I was horrified but that I was surprised. Yes, that goes for adults drinking soda as well. I see it happening often enough that it must now be acceptable, but it makes me wonder how on earth we ever survived before... and while I understand the reasons you give in your reply, yes, it still does surprise me when I see it.

I always try to use the self-checkout, even with coupons. I've found it still is faster for me.
Agreed! If I wanted to donate a dollar, I would contact the organization. :)

I see you've visited our local K-mart! Some days I wish I had a Hummer so I could just blast my way out of there.

Local Albertson's has added cup holders to the carts. The new, giant carts.
Avoiding the enormous kiddie cars and the fiendish oldsters caroming around in the electric carts is challenge enough but now I have to push something designed to hold more groceries than will fit in my car. Yes, they have handheld baskets, but put in a few bottles of wine and some milk and suddenly you are wishing for wheels.

My pet peeve: Starbucks near the front entrance. Takes up half the produce section and the lines block the entrance. They also stake our their space with freestanding kiosks selling SB products that are like a slalom course.

deleted

My biggest pet peeve are the baggers/checkers who put one or two things in a bag. They then get upset when I rebag everything and stuff it in one or two bags.

The other day I was at Safeway and the woman in front of me lined up her items, end to end, barcode facing up, in a single file line down the center of the belt. Of course, she couldn't be troubled to stop this nonsense so the rest of us behind her could start unloading our baskets.

I hate it when supermarkets only carry national brands of beer. Budweiser, Bud Light, Heineken, Sam Adams....B O R I N G!

It would make sense for markets to stock local microbrews...it's time to support the truly tasty beers!

Actually all the US supermarkets do it but I have never observed it in Europe. I do detest Safeways in Maui though. If you stop for more than 4 seconds or attempt to read a label you will have a Safeway employee trying to assist you or asking "How are you today?". I think they get a $0.25 bonus for every "How are you today?".

MisterNice

Funny, because that has actually worked to my advantage a number of times.

After seeing the receipt, often my shittakes would be rung up as plain mushrooms, which are significantly less expensive.

Of course, this does serve to illustrate why the employees should be better trained, as it can get expensive for the store.

This is one of the reasons I use self checkout. It's faster to find the produce codes on the list and punch them in myself than it is to explain what all of my vegetables are.

Another pet peeve: giant bins full of non-grocery items taking up space. My local Krogers have stuffed animals, DVDs for sale (and the "Redbox" where you can rent DVDs that just takes up space :mad:), and a bunch of other crap. Trying to compete with Wal-Mart, I guess. I'm not amused.

I used to be tired of hearing that, too, until I started working for a non-profit organization that is the beneficiary of many of those $1 donations. We get around $50,000/year, one dollar at a time, from five local grocery stores and it makes a huge difference in our ability to offer quality programs to people in our community. Just thought you'd like to know that there are real people benefiting from what you're tired of hearing.

Publix, last i knew, gave their checkers laminated sheets with all of the produce on it with photos - and they have a good variety compared to most places.

I don't think this is some patented invention, the laminated produce reference guide, but it appears no other chain managers want to spend 10 minutes at Kinkos.

The point is that you have not paid for what you are consuming, and your lack of self-control is amusing. I have seen this behavior twice in a local suburban grocery and will never understand it. If you have been hung up with appointments, take "Junior" to lunch before going to the grocery store. Take a break from YOUR errands by paying attention to him, chat with him as he stuffs his little face with chicken nuggets and there is a very likely that he won't act up. Chances are he won't bug the crap out of you for junk food, and you may not buy it either because you won't be shopping while hungry. Are people really this dense nowadays?

I don't pay until I leave a restaurant either. If a manager approached me, escorted me to the register and made me pay for my soda then and there, I'd be humiliated, never shop there again, and never crack open a soda until I left a store again. Not gonna happen. I always thought animal crackers were sold in "consumer it here and shut the heck up" sizes.

Sometimes there's just not enough time in the day despite the best laid plans. I can forgive a mother for doing what it takes to prevent or minimize a situation that others will be bothered by. I have no way of knowing whether she's the best mom in the world the other 364 days of the year.

I think Wal*Mart has a sort of Rolodex with pictures and codes. My local Winn Dixie is hopeless. It's more forgivable to ask than to assume, "hmmm, it's green and long - must be a cucumber".

Yep, always 2 bags on a single bottle of wine as if that would cushion them and eliminate breakage on the way home. Better to do that on the milk that always leaks.

And, when will a cashier recognize I have brought my own cloth bags before they jam the first 5 items in a plastic bag? I have to be mighty fast to stop that. In fact, when will plastic bags be eliminated entirely? I hate them!

I quite like supermarket plastic bags (here, anyway). They fit the waste bin perfectly, and mean I don't have to buy bin liners!

I suspect that there will be a charge for them (across all shops) by the end of the year, though.

I agree that they make nice liners for the small trash bags but they are quite bad for the environment. I have been gradually switching to cloth bags for shopping.

We recycle dozens every month, far more than we need to line a few waste baskets. It probably has a lot to do with baggers using one bag for every three items. I can spend $50 and fit it all into one cloth bag. the same $50 seems to require 10 plastic bags.

Not liners, the ones here work perfectly well as the bags themselves.

And yes, they are bad for the environment, but I'm not convinced purpose-made bags are that much better...

Ideally, there would be a replacement for both. Maybe when I get that composting bin working and the local authorities start doing organic waste recycling (hopefully this year too).

I suspect the difference is that baggers are rare here. Cashiers generally offer to help (depending on the shop in question) but I decline unless I'm in the middle of unpacking the trolley at the time. I don't like people packing my bags - they have no idea what I'm going to do with all the bits and pieces when I get back!

I can't stand the people that are cluelessly leaving their carts in the middle of the aisle as they select their brand of cereal.

Also hate those check-writers (contrary to what someone else posted, I find it's mostly the elderly, not females per se)

I do self check out when available, but I always bag my own. I can't stand when people just stand there starring as the cashier packs a full counter full of groceries.