Grocery store etiquette

debodun

debodun

SF VIP
Location
way upstate in New York, USA
I was waiting in line at the customer service counter at the local grocery store to return a recalled product. The woman in front of me was taking a long tome to do whatever she had to do. I feared I was going to be late for "work" (delivering meals to shut-ins). As soon as the woman in front of me finished with her business, I started to step up to the window, another woman appeared seemingly out of nowhere and pushed a shopping cart right in front of me cutting into the line. I put my hand on the cart and shoved it away and said "I was in line ahead of you." Ordinarily I wouldn't have done this to an older person, but something just bugged me about it. Did I do the right thing?
 

debodun said:
I was waiting in line at the customer service counter at the local grocery store to return a recalled product. The woman in front of me was taking a long tome to do whatever she had to do. I feared I was going to be late for "work" (delivering meals to shut-ins). As soon as the woman in front of me finished with her business, I started to step up to the window, another woman appeared seemingly out of nowhere and pushed a shopping cart right in front of me cutting into the line. I put my hand on the cart and shoved it away and said "I was in line ahead of you." Ordinarily I wouldn't have done this to an older person, but something just bugged me about it. Did I do the right thing?
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I had one altercation like that.. The supermarket was VERY busy and the lines were long. A husband and wife "tag team" was at work. Hubby was in line in front of me.. and wifey was in the line to my left with a shopping cart full to overflowing. Their game was to see which line was moving fastest and then they would pick that line.. Unfortunately my line was moving so hubby signaled to wifey to COME ON OVER.... In front of me... with the overflowing cart. SO we had words... but I ended up going to the line wife just left rather than have it come to fisticuffs. SOOOO.... long story short. The customer in front of this couple had some price checks... and had a problem with their credit card purchase. Hubby and wifey were STILL in line when I left the store with my groceries... I waved to them and gave them a "thumbs up" as I breezed out to the parking lot!! Karma... I've always believed in it.
 

QuickSilver said:
I had one altercation like that.. The supermarket was VERY busy and the lines were long. A husband and wife "tag team" was at work. Hubby was in line in front of me.. and wifey was in the line to my left with a shopping cart full to overflowing. Their game was to see which line was moving fastest and then they would pick that line.. Unfortunately my line was moving so hubby signaled to wifey to COME ON OVER.... In front of me... with the overflowing cart. SO we had words... but I ended up going to the line wife just left rather than have it come to fisticuffs. SOOOO.... long story short. The customer in front of this couple had some price checks... and had a problem with their credit card purchase. Hubby and wifey were STILL in line when I left the store with my groceries... I waved to them and gave them a "thumbs up" as I breezed out to the parking lot!! Karma... I've always believed in it.
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Those moments of triumph are few and far between. You must have been thrilled QS. Good for you. And deodun I think you did the right thing too. Maybe that will be the last time that particular person is so impolite.

Another thing that is very annoying to me in supermarkets is people who block the aisle when they stop and chat with someone else or when they stop their cart right in the middle of a busy aisle and you can't get around them. That's irritating too.
 
Debby said:
Those moments of triumph are few and far between. You must have been thrilled QS. Good for you.

Another thing that is very annoying to me in supermarkets is people who block the aisle when they stop and chat with someone else or when they stop their cart right in the middle of a busy aisle and you can't get around them. That's irritating too.
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Lots of that where I live! Scots love to chat. Fortunately, when our store was remodeled they made most of the aisles wider. But still sometimes you can't get past and most people will just stand there until they move. If you say excuse me or pardon me you are looked at like you'd just said 'move your asses'. The proper thing to say is 'can I get past'.
 
More impolite behavior that bugs me in stores are the husband an wife teams where one (usually the female) gets in line and keeps sending the other out into the store to get things, holding up the check-out line. Another are people that get in the express line (10 items or less) with a shopping cart filled to overflowing.
 
debodun said:
More impolite behavior that bugs me in stores are the husband an wife teams where one (usually the female) gets in line and keeps sending the other out into the store to get things, holding up the check-out line. Another are people that get in the express line (10 items or less) with a shopping cart filled to overflowing.
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What bugs me worse is a grocery store that has 12 check out aisle with only 3 open and 1 is an express line. And the other two are backed upped several people deep. In those situations I do cheat and go through the express line even if I'm slightly over the limit. I never have understood why grocery stores build stores with so many check out lines and never use them all.
 
Ameriscot said:
Lots of that where I live! Scots love to chat. Fortunately, when our store was remodeled they made most of the aisles wider. But still sometimes you can't get past and most people will just stand there until they move. If you say excuse me or pardon me you are looked at like you'd just said 'move your asses'. The proper thing to say is 'can I get past'.
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I just squeeze over as far as I can and then BARGE right through... lol!! When my cart sends theirs flying, I feign surprise that I've hit them and apologize sarcastically.. WITH an innocent look on my face.. "Oh I'm SOOOO sorry.. I thought I could get by!" It gives me worlds of satisfaction.
 
I inevitably get behind the woman with 137 coupons, half of which are expired or not for the product she's purchasing. Or in the 10-items-or-less line behind the woman with three Diet Cokes, a bag of Cheetos, five frozen dinners, a roll of toilet paper, a copy of the National Enquirer and 48 cans of cat food. In her mind, that's 10 items. Oh, and she wants cigarettes, too.
 
Some of the people shopping in my neighborhood are quite elderly and can block the aisles and be quite slow. I have to be careful not to run into them by accident, because they can be quite frail and fall easily. Since they often pay with cash it can sometimes take ages for them to count out their change and it means waiting. I usually shop at quiet times and avoid rush hour and our checkout aisles are arranged to make it hard for people to cut in, so its rare to have run-ins. But if someone would cut in, I agree, I would probably say something.
 
As a cashier in a supermarket for 17 1/2 years what annoyed me was the customers that complained to me about various items out of stock, I would tell them it was nothing to do with me and direct them to the customer service desk to complain but no! as long as they'd had a go at me, they thought that was all they had to do.

As far as the 10 items aisle is concerned, when I worked that till, if I was just sat there waiting for customers then I would call someone over with a trolley, rather do that than sit doing nothing.
 
debodun said:
I was waiting in line at the customer service counter at the local grocery store to return a recalled product. The woman in front of me was taking a long tome to do whatever she had to do. I feared I was going to be late for "work" (delivering meals to shut-ins). As soon as the woman in front of me finished with her business, I started to step up to the window, another woman appeared seemingly out of nowhere and pushed a shopping cart right in front of me cutting into the line. I put my hand on the cart and shoved it away and said "I was in line ahead of you." Ordinarily I wouldn't have done this to an older person, but something just bugged me about it. Did I do the right thing?
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good for you, yes!
 
Yes you did the right thing.

There was an incident in a Supermarket just before
Christmas 2013 when a woman in a hurry rammed a
man with her trolley because he was too slow getting
out of her way.

The Police charged her with G.B.H. at the time.

In March 2014, the man died, so the charge would have
been upgraded to manslaughter.

I have heard no more of this, so the trial must not have
happened yet.

Full Story Here

Mike.
 
Crikey Mike, that is the first time I have heard that story, that poor man............................thankgoodness I never witnessed any customers getting that aggressive.
 
debodun said:
I was waiting in line at the customer service counter at the local grocery store to return a recalled product. The woman in front of me was taking a long tome to do whatever she had to do. I feared I was going to be late for "work" (delivering meals to shut-ins). As soon as the woman in front of me finished with her business, I started to step up to the window, another woman appeared seemingly out of nowhere and pushed a shopping cart right in front of me cutting into the line. I put my hand on the cart and shoved it away and said "I was in line ahead of you." Ordinarily I wouldn't have done this to an older person, but something just bugged me about it. Did I do the right thing?
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I would've spoken up too, maybe not have shoved the cart. There are sometimes I've noticed at Walmart's customer service that if you want to exchange something for a different size, etc. they'll tell you to come back with the item in front of the line and see them again. They told me to do this once, and I felt funny going up to the counter. She took care of who she was talking to, and ok'd my switch. Since your woman had a cart already, I doubt that was the situation.
 
Cookie said:
Some of the people shopping in my neighborhood are quite elderly and can block the aisles and be quite slow. I have to be careful not to run into them by accident, because they can be quite frail and fall easily. Since they often pay with cash it can sometimes take ages for them to count out their change and it means waiting. I usually shop at quiet times and avoid rush hour and our checkout aisles are arranged to make it hard for people to cut in, so its rare to have run-ins. But if someone would cut in, I agree, I would probably say something.
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I don't have a problem with the really old....I just remind myself that one day, that will be me. But if someone is able bodied, they can stay on the correct side of the aisle (pretend they are driving their car----would they be weaving all over the road or driving down the 'wrong' side?) and don't block anyone else's progress. It makes it a better experience for everyone in my opinion.
 
Mike said:
Yes you did the right thing.

There was an incident in a Supermarket just before
Christmas 2013 when a woman in a hurry rammed a
man with her trolley because he was too slow getting
out of her way.

The Police charged her with G.B.H. at the time.

In March 2014, the man died, so the charge would have
been upgraded to manslaughter.

I have heard no more of this, so the trial must not have
happened yet.

Full Story Here

Mike.
Click to expand...


Oh my goodness Mike. Just read the article and I can't believe how bad those mentioned shoppers were! I've never seen anything like that and I sure hope I never do. Dreadful behaviour.
 
debodun said:
I was waiting in line at the customer service counter at the local grocery store to return a recalled product. The woman in front of me was taking a long tome to do whatever she had to do. I feared I was going to be late for "work" (delivering meals to shut-ins). As soon as the woman in front of me finished with her business, I started to step up to the window, another woman appeared seemingly out of nowhere and pushed a shopping cart right in front of me cutting into the line. I put my hand on the cart and shoved it away and said "I was in line ahead of you." Ordinarily I wouldn't have done this to an older person, but something just bugged me about it. Did I do the right thing?
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You probably did the right thing but did the woman who cut in seem like she did it out of malice? Or could she have just been spaced out and not paying attention? What was her reaction to what you did?
 
Glinda said:
You probably did the right thing but did the woman who cut in seem like she did it out of malice? Or could she have just been spaced out and not paying attention? What was her reaction to what you did?
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My impression is that she was so self absorbed that she was totally clueless that I was even there until I stopped her cart with my hand. He expression didn't change and she said nothing. After my business in the store, I went to the bank which is close to the store. When I came out of the bank, I saw this woman just coming out of the store, so whatever she had to do took more than a few minutes. Maybe she gets away with this type of behavior elsewhere because people feel sorry for her being an old woman, but that doesn't wash with me - everyone must wait their chronological turn.
 
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I agree you needed to stand your ground....I wouldv'e spoken up as well. However, for me, the cart pushing wouldn't be necessary. I try to "kill with kindness" lol
 
We have Safeway deliver our groceries. Order delivery any 1 hour time frame any day including same day. Usually the delivery calls for $150 and free delivery if you buy 5 items on their special list. We get fresh food, you can even leave instructions on individual items (bananas not quite ripe, might be one), the truck has a freezer, a huge refer and a unchilled compartment, the driver delivers right to the kitchen. No hassles, no tips (prohibited), no rude people....We love it.
 

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