Flipping woman

Grr ...also live inn France, and after many hours spent queuing behind the woman who a) pays for her litre of milk by cheque (I kid you not !) then b) behind the woman who does not even attempt to pack as you go then waiting whilst she packs her shopping into bags, not back into the trolley, only then searches through her bag for money/card/cheque book vouchers, shop fidelitie card, etc etc .....then pays, then puts shopping into trolley, then discusses her mutual friends with the cashier ......

I tried scan and pay ...for some reason (possibly because I am English) ever time I used it for a full trolley of shopping, I was asked to unpack the trolley whilst the cashier clocked up the total (which always came to the same total as on the scanner !) ...I simply never use that shop anymore !

Now I have learnt ....go later, get a coffee, wait for the French lunch two hours to begin, then do the supermarket shop as the supermarket is empty (most of the shelves are too, only drawback !) and I can get my shopping done in half the time ........

Online is not too popular here, and although you can order online I have yet to find someone who delivers ...it is buy, pay and collect ..and if there is an item they do not have, it will be substituted by something else !

I put items like bread and eggs onto the belt last, that way they don't get so easily squashed either on their way to the till or on the way back to me, in Aldi and lidl I try to get everything back into the cart as it passes the till, but it is admittedly a scramble.
When DH isn't with me, I can't both pack and pay at the same time, so the next customer probably does have to wait two seconds while I pay for my shopping.

What annoys me most, are the women who park DH and cart at cash desk with a reasonable small quantity of shopping then run round the shop to get the rest that was on their list, leaving DH, or sometimes a child, without the housekeeping purse, so they can't pay until she gets back. They seem to think this is quicker for them than doing all their shopping before going to pay for it.

Well, I went to Waitrose this morning and by the time the cashier had asked me if I was OK to do my own packing, we chatted about the strawberries which were reduced and the merits or otherwise of making your own jam, some stuff at the end for the food bank collection, I won't pack that, I'll just pop it in there now, would I like a coffee (yes please), purse handy in my bag- yes - but don't forget the Waitrose club card (fumble)! oh - don't forget the token, all in all it's a good thing there was no-one behind me.

I am that flippin' woman. At Morrisons today l had picked up the wrong crusty loaf so l left my husband unloading while l went back to change it. Typically the bread counter was at the farest point from the till. I expected DH to pay for the shopping and if necessary l would use the hated self checkout to pay for my loaf. Imagine my horror when l got back to find a queue of people all waiting for my return. Talk about embarrassed. But l was surprised to find them all and the cashier laughing and joking with DH who had kept them all entertained in my absence.

I was in Lidl and was unpacking my shopping at the end of the conveyor belt. A man walked straight in front of me and placed his items at the front of the belt and was served first. sometimes I'm lost for words.

Our local Aldi doesn't allow you to take baskets (as opposed to trolleys) to the till. You have to leave them in a pile at the end when you've placed your stuff on. This is because apparently people walked out with the baskets and didn't return them.
So a couple years ago I just had a few things and didn't bother with a trolley. I'd picked up a box along the way to carry the things to the car. However, because of the speed of the checkout process I didn't get the things into the box, attempted to transfer everything quickly to the packing area, and dropped a 4 pint carton of milk which broke and not only splattered onto the window and all over the floor, but also all over another customer, including her hair. I was mortified, but she made little of it. I ALWAYS use a trolley now!

My local Tesco has self scanning - what a great idea. Shop at my own speed, putting it into the correct bags and just having to pay. Relaxed shopping!

We now have a new system in Portugal were shoppers who are elderly, handicapped in some way for example uses a walking stick, pregnant , have the right to go to front of queue and are sometimes offered help and so far are not harrised to hurry packings their shopping.
Only once did a rather large women push passed me at the start of my rather full trolley and start to unpack her shopping from her basket, (has something to do with throw back to towels on sunbeds) we're as I then threw items back into stacked baskets, she became very vocal and manager was called and she was made to go back into another queue, were I was congratulated by fellow shoppers.
Funny it's only since I retired that I have become more stroppy but if I don't stick up for myself who will?

Blimey if we had that system here we d never move up the queue there'd be a whole row of pregnant, old, disabled and us tapping our feet at the end of an ever growing queue
I think you should put your things in your trolley and pack at your leisure in the packing area
My daughters got those four bags that rest on the trolley sides and the things go straight in fairly tidely

Your so lucky that that's all you had to worry about today

Shopping on conveyor, and then purse out, card out, in our local ASDA they always ask if you want any help with packing, I dont usually, but when there is a long queue, and I have a lot of shopping, I accept the help offered, they are so quick and efficient, its a pleasure to see.I usually shop on my own, no problem.

Serkeen I'm sure that many people who have posted on this thread do have other things to "worry about today" but this thread is about supermarket shopping, the bad manners of some other shoppers, and some suggestions as to how to make the make it less of PITFA.

If every thread had to be about major problems, I think I would abandon GN and consider starting a whole new site purely dedicated to threads limited to "Serious Topics, preferably depressing"

serkeen, I didn't say I was worried about it. I passed a comment that seemed to resonate with a fair few people. I'm sorry if you have major worries - I think most of us do but find that a little banter eases the day.

Bluebell, they have many more check outs for shoppers, although you can bet Also has only one checkout open and my husband is one of those annoying people who won't be rushed, even more so at Aldi ?

In France: ...and the "snogging" (as our family calls it) which can be as many as 4 "pecks" (2 on each side)!
Going off topic, we've even been driving along the road when a car in front of us stopped for a "snog"

I can't remember the last time I did a "big shop" in an actual shop, and I won't be rushing back any time soon, after reading your stories. I've shopped online for years, and it's so easy, either home delivery or click and collect. And seeing as the stores I use keep sending me generous money off vouchers, it's cheaper too.

Phew Maggiemaybe I thought I was the only one on this thread who didn't spend her life in the supermarket. I HATE physically shopping for anything - unless it's a book. Thank goodness we can now do it online.

Lived on Germany for years and shopped in Aldi and Lidl regularly in the eighties and nineties. Packing shopping happens at the bench not at the checkout. Also at the bench all items that come in outer packaging are unpacked with cardboard etc placed in hoppers below the bench. As with most things in Germany it is fast and efficient. I still shop like this here. I'm sorry if I seem unsympathetic but it annoys the he'll out of me when people insist on packing shopping before paying.

I started the thread and didn't say that I spend my life in the supermarket. I enjoy my one trip a week to Sainsbury's. As I said upthread, I was only passing a comment as, I think, were the other posters.

In a queue today, the husband (presumably) was packing as things were being scanned. The wife (presumably) stood there watching. Then when it came to pay the wife retrieved her handbag from the bottom of the trolley where it had been buried under all the shopping bags and then started digging in it trying to find her purse

If I read this right, the separator had been put on the belt before you had unpacked everything? I never put it there till I have everything on the belt. If I saw a separator on the belt, I would assume it was ok to unpack mine behind it. And I wouldn't want to put the shopping back in the trolley either.

I read it that the next woman had put the separaor onto the belt before the poster had finished

That's it Elegran!

Blimey! What a cheek kitty ......have never come across anyone who did that, perhaps she was, shall we say, a bit strange?
Work out a good withering remark in case it happens again, heehee.

I would have slowed right down.

Also some people get confused (or concerned about their purse being slipped from their arm) if they have too much in their hands all at once and need to do things timely and methodically, hence the need to get their money out when all is clearly packed and they can then concentrate on the next step, ie paying for their goods.