The Vent and Rant Thread

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

I hate when a person is standing at one side of the aisle looking for something, their cart is parked an arm's length away on the other side of the aisle, and they have their arm stretched out behind them so they can keep a hand on the cart, thus blocking the whole aisle.

I find it odd that women put their open purses with wallets showing in the baby seat of the cart and walk off. Then wonder why all their money got stolen.

[Hemmi]

Just today, two people shopping together, each with a cart. Walking side by side chatting and thereby blocking the whole aisle. Seriously, walk single file so someone can get past you!

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Hemmi

Just today, two people shopping together, each with a cart. Walking side by side chatting and thereby blocking the whole aisle. Seriously, walk single file so someone can get past you!

Yeah, that's bl**dy rude, that is.

Hitch

[DiapDealer]

"Herd" grocery shopping drives me nuts. But I see it more and more these days. I don't mean Mom, Dad and kids, either. I mean 4-8 similarly aged people cruising around the store like a big ol' parade float.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

"Herd" grocery shopping drives me nuts. But I see it more and more these days. I don't mean Mom, Dad and kids, either. I mean 4-8 similarly aged people cruising around the store like a big ol' parade float.

Are you sure they are together?
Dumb question. How do you shop?
Most people go up one aisle then down the next. So yes, it looks like a parade. That isn't a herd. It is called most people buy the same groceries.
The only time you don't get herd behavior at Walmart is between 10 and 1130 on Sundays.
That is because the herds are all together in churches.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

"Herd" grocery shopping drives me nuts. But I see it more and more these days. I don't mean Mom, Dad and kids, either. I mean 4-8 similarly aged people cruising around the store like a big ol' parade float.

Yes, what the hell IS that? I mean, since when is grocery shopping a social event? Wait--maybe, there's an APP FOR THAT! {sigh}.

I loathe the experience so much--I hate anything that breaks into my very limited "time off"--that I have the grocery do the shopping for me, and just pick up the bags. I can't abide wasting all that damned TIME. (Stroll up and down the aisles, try to find stuff that's constantlymoved, to route you through the accursed store like cattle in an abattoir, find the things, put them in your cart, go to the checkout line which is always 5 people deep, take everything OUT of the accursed cart, put them ON the conveyor, then pack them INTO the bags, put those back INTO the cart, take the cart to the car, take the d*mn bags OUT of the cart and INTO the trunk, and then, remove the bags from the trunk and INTO the kitchen, and then take all the crap OUT of the bags and into the various appropriate places in the kitchen/pantry. Honest to Ch**st, is there a more badly-designed time-motion experience than grocery shopping?)

Yes--I know that some people enjoy it. I really don't. I guess in zee olden days, if you were a SAHM, and you didn't work (outside the home, to be clear...not saying that SAHMs don't do work), it was tolerable, but, man. No wonder those food service companies--you know the ones where the food/meals show up, you make 'em, etc.--are growing like crazy.

I wish someone would revolutionize that experience. Don't see how, of course, but, still....

That's my V&R. That, and rude fellow shoppers. One more kid rams his freaking basket into my bum, and you'll be reading about me in the news. ("Deranged eBookmaker assaults 7y.o. [Or, more accurately, 7y.o.'s inattentive mum] in Grocery...")

Hitch

[Cinisajoy]

To those that don't like crowds, I have a suggestion.
Either go at 6 am or after 10pm.
Note: The bakery, deli, pharmacy and butcher shop will be closed but you won't have to deal with people trying to buy groceries.
You may only buy the same thing every week, but some of us comparison shop to save money. If you don't like people talking to each other then don't buy anything on that aisle.
Or better yet,
Every grocery store now offers curbside pickup. Use that feature, then you won't be bothered by the together shoppers.
Oh and consider yourself dang lucky that you can go to the store by yourself.
Some of us can't do that so quit being so dang judgy.

I hate people that assume stuff about others.
You don't have a clue if one of a couple doesn't drive or if those moms do stay at home. Maybe they are working and can't afford a babysitter.

You don't like the stores, use curbside pickup.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

To those that don't like crowds, I have a suggestion.
Either go at 6 am or after 10pm.
Note: The bakery, deli, pharmacy and butcher shop will be closed but you won't have to deal with people trying to buy groceries.
You may only buy the same thing every week, but some of us comparison shop to save money. If you don't like people talking to each other then don't buy anything on that aisle.
Or better yet,
Every grocery store now offers curbside pickup. Use that feature, then you won't be bothered by the together shoppers.
Oh and consider yourself dang lucky that you can go to the store by yourself.
Some of us can't do that so quit being so dang judgy.

I hate people that assume stuff about others.
You don't have a clue if one of a couple doesn't drive or if those moms do stay at home. Maybe they are working and can't afford a babysitter.

You don't like the stores, use curbside pickup.

Cin:

Puhleeze, gurl! Don't make assumptions that we "all" have delivery or curbside pickup, either. You know when the option to pick up groceries came to my neck of the woods? About 6 months ago, and it's ONE store. ONE. Speaking of "comparison" shopping! And the store that has it? Is, I kid thee not, 48 miles away from me, so I make a 90+ mile trip--just to "pick-up" the groceries.

Secondly, I don't think that anyone here objects to a mom and her kids, or whatever. What most of us seem to object to are rude or inconsiderate fellow shoppers. Merely having kids with you doesn't automatically qualify for that. Nor does it disqualify the person in question, either.


Hitch

[issybird]

When people talk about herd shoppers, people in tandem in an aisle, I flash on lap lanes in pools where two leisurely swimmers swimming side by side and chatting can kill a whole lane. I'm trying to get my laps in here, people, and you're acting as if it's a game of Parcheesi and you've got a blockade going.

Next most irritating are those who hang out in the end of the lap lane having a conversation making it next to impossible to kick off and turn.

The supermarket is a hill of beans in comparison.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Yes, what the hell IS that? I mean, since when is grocery shopping a social event? Wait--maybe, there's an APP FOR THAT! {sigh}.

AN APP - there are dozens of them.

They're called shopping list apps, they have social media features that allow you to share shopping lists with your friends, and you can even allow them to add items to your list. The echo chamber effect we see in news media is now available in your shopping trips.

BR

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by issybird

When people talk about herd shoppers, people in tandem in an aisle, I flash on lap lanes in pools where two leisurely swimmers swimming side by side and chatting can kill a whole lane. I'm trying to get my laps in here, people, and you're acting as if it's a game of Parcheesi and you've got a blockade going.

Next most irritating are those who hang out in the end of the lap lane having a conversation making it next to impossible to kick off and turn.

The supermarket is a hill of beans in comparison.

My baby sis runs into this all the time; she swims at the Y near her (rather than her own pool. Do I understand this? No). Anyway, she constantly has "gabbers" and "floaters" getting in the way. She swam competitively during her school years, and now she's using it to get back into shape. She gets couples, that will take up TWO lanes, gabbing to each other, even. AH-mazing. (Good thing it's not me, I'd probably lose patience and swim 'em down, lol.)

Hitch

[Greg Anos]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Yes, what the hell IS that? I mean, since when is grocery shopping a social event? Wait--maybe, there's an APP FOR THAT! {sigh}.

I loathe the experience so much--I hate anything that breaks into my very limited "time off"--that I have the grocery do the shopping for me, and just pick up the bags. I can't abide wasting all that damned TIME. (Stroll up and down the aisles, try to find stuff that's constantlymoved, to route you through the accursed store like cattle in an abattoir, find the things, put them in your cart, go to the checkout line which is always 5 people deep, take everything OUT of the accursed cart, put them ON the conveyor, then pack them INTO the bags, put those back INTO the cart, take the cart to the car, take the d*mn bags OUT of the cart and INTO the trunk, and then, remove the bags from the trunk and INTO the kitchen, and then take all the crap OUT of the bags and into the various appropriate places in the kitchen/pantry. Honest to Ch**st, is there a more badly-designed time-motion experience than grocery shopping?)

Yes--I know that some people enjoy it. I really don't. I guess in zee olden days, if you were a SAHM, and you didn't work (outside the home, to be clear...not saying that SAHMs don't do work), it was tolerable, but, man. No wonder those food service companies--you know the ones where the food/meals show up, you make 'em, etc.--are growing like crazy.

I wish someone would revolutionize that experience. Don't see how, of course, but, still....

That's my V&R. That, and rude fellow shoppers. One more kid rams his freaking basket into my bum, and you'll be reading about me in the news. ("Deranged eBookmaker assaults 7y.o. [Or, more accurately, 7y.o.'s inattentive mum] in Grocery...")

Hitch

Time and motion? Laundry?

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

AN APP - there are dozens of them.

They're called shopping list apps, they have social media features that allow you to share shopping lists with your friends, and you can even allow them to add items to your list. The echo chamber effect we see in news media is now available in your shopping trips.

I think that's where DD's "Herds" start, the ones I see are invariably late gen 'Y' or 'M's, obviously single, usually of the same same sex, with abundant tattoo's and torn clothes, and they shop haphazardly - perambulating the same aisle several times because their social shopping list is alphabetically arranged.

@Cinisajoy - not all people own cars, so drive by pickup is not an option even if it were available - which it's not around here. But what is available from some of the smaller (owner-operated) stores is home delivery - I think its about $7. And, if you're a known customer (by sight) and you ask for help to get your groceries to your car, then the person at the checkout will rustle up a shelf stacker to wheel your trolley.

@Hitch - stuff moving irritates me too, much more than other customers. In our small stores where I'm known I complain at the checkout. If its not too busy they go and find it for me and tell me where it was - often sighing because it was in an odd place, e.g. tinned passion fruit (fresh were out of season) on the top shelf of the cookie shelves.

BR

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Are you sure they are together?

Quite.

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Dumb question. How do you shop?
Most people go up one aisle then down the next. So yes, it looks like a parade. That isn't a herd. It is called most people buy the same groceries.

Yeah, no. You're not getting it at all. I mean herd. Came together, shopped together, checked out together. One cart per herd. I know the difference between a herd and a busy store.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

To those that don't like crowds, I have a suggestion.
Either go at 6 am or after 10pm.

It's not about not liking crowds. It's about not liking abnormal behavior. Four or more adults shopping together with one cart, clogging up already narrow aisles with their shopping party is abnormal behavior.