At The Grocery Store........

[kingricefan]

This is all proof that the zombie apocalypse has begun. Seriously. Just watch how 'shoppers' walk thru the stores- it's all *shuffle*shuffle*shuffle with a glazed look on their faces, staring blankly at nothing. It's scary!! (Yes, I work retail.....)

 

[HollyGolightly]

Scary... Nothin' says sexy like

Spoiler

the itchy and scratchy show!!

Yeah, he must have been handsome. Was he good looking Out of Order ?

 

[kingricefan]

For real!

They do that because they want you to wander around the store looking for the stuff you came in to purchase, in the hope that you will buy other stuff you didn't realize you wanted.

This is what insiders call "marketing."

Which is funny, because doing the "marketing," when I was a kid, meant going shopping.

I guess getting old has just made me cynical.

More's the pity.

Milk will always be at the back of the grocery stores. It's a basic item and 'they' want to make you walk past all of the un-basic items to get to it. It's pure evilness......

 

[kingricefan]

Either she's OCD about expiration dates, or worried about ruptured packaging, or trying to find something defective so she can argue at the check out that she needs a discount.

I hate the aisle loiterers - they park their cart in the middle of the aisle, stand back so far from the shelf they're eyeing that you can't pass and gaze longingly at all the food for minutes on end. I'll flat out move their damn basket. Don't mess me with me in the grocery store. I've got a list, I know where I'm going, I want to be in and out in 15 mins. Move your a$$! I ain't got time for your foolishness, crazy!

I detest shoppers who park their cart on one side of the aisle and then step away from it to look at stuff on the other side, thereby blocking the entire aisle. Grrrr....

 

[arista]

I like the motorized shopping carts that they position themselves to block the aisles.

 

[Out of Order]

Yeah, he must have been handsome. Was he good looking Out of Order ?

I suppose he was. An athlete to be sure, but I'm not a very good judge of the male persuasion. He did have some rosy pink cheeks I noticed.

 

[GNTLGNT]

I suppose he was. An athlete to be sure, but I'm not a very good judge of the male persuasion. He did have some rosy pink cheeks I noticed.

...s'ok....you shouldn't be looking at their persuasion anyway.....

 

[Sundrop]

I so admire people with wit that quick! I'm wondering about the sassy check out gal flirting with the boy with the jock itch. I do believe that was a flirt line.

Really??! Oh my.

Definitely a flirt line! Dude played it cool. I love him.

Scary... Nothin' says sexy like

Spoiler

the itchy and scratchy show!!

Does anyone else hear ZZ Top singing Ten Foot Pole? Or is it just me?

 

[blunthead]

That's a pretty funny story, but then the grocery store is a funny place, isn't it?

Let me ask you this: Any y'all ever drink milk? And if you do, how long have you been drinking milk?

I've been drinking milk since before I can remember, or so my mother says. As far as that goes, I've been buying milk for . . . oh . . . probably somewhere around 35 or 40 years. The point is that I know what kind of milk I like to drink and I know what kind of milk to buy. The dairy case at the grocery store does not confuse me.

So riddle me this, Batman: How come every time I go to the grocery store there's at least one . . . ummmm . . . shopper . . . who is standing in front of said dairy case, perusing all the different varieties of milk, as if perhaps milk was just invented yesterday and this person has never seen it before?

Does this happen to anyone else, or is it just me?

It happens sometimes to me. I think some people consider grocery shopping like an outing while others want to get in and out asap, while others fall somewhere between, like me. If I need to browse I try to stay courteous to others and stay out of the way.

BTW, I drink milk a lot. It's my favorite non-alcohol drink and I like it very cold. I've always liked it. I grew up drinking whole milk because that's all they had back then. Nowadays I drink skim milk and it tastes as good to me as milk ever has.

 

[summer_sky]

That's a pretty funny story, but then the grocery store is a funny place, isn't it?

Let me ask you this: Any y'all ever drink milk? And if you do, how long have you been drinking milk?

I've been drinking milk since before I can remember, or so my mother says. As far as that goes, I've been buying milk for . . . oh . . . probably somewhere around 35 or 40 years. The point is that I know what kind of milk I like to drink and I know what kind of milk to buy. The dairy case at the grocery store does not confuse me.

So riddle me this, Batman: How come every time I go to the grocery store there's at least one . . . ummmm . . . shopper . . . who is standing in front of said dairy case, perusing all the different varieties of milk, as if perhaps milk was just invented yesterday and this person has never seen it before?

Does this happen to anyone else, or is it just me?

I can think of a couple of reasons.
1) looking for the best price in this crazy economy where the basics food needs are almost out of budget for many. "A penny saved is a penny earned", ya know.
2) looking for the original flavor rice milk (it is really rice juice, but who would want to drink rice juice. rice milk sounds sooooo much better), not the stuff with vanilla flavoring.

I am guilty of number 2 and that dang stuff is expensive!! It takes me even longer to find and step away from the dairy case with my rice milk because I have to calculate whether or not it is in my budget.
Yep, there is a reason for dairy case perusing!

 

[Pucker]

Well . . . this happened at Target, but it was one of those SuperTargets that is at least kind of a grocery store, so I'm going to count it.

I am not particularly patient with other shoppers (or anyone, really) so normally I like to use these self-service lanes that most of the stores have now. Yesterday -- for whatever reason -- I needed a clerk. Well, stores don't really have "clerks" anymore, but I guess "cashier" is close enough . . . even though people rarely use cash anymore . . . but we could do this all day.

So I'm waiting in line behind the lady with a million coupons and a million questions and only a partial grasp of the language. I get stuck behind her a lot. But I'm trying to be patient, because . . . it's what society expects. Now, behind me comes another lady. I don't know about you, but when I have a shopping cart full of stuff, I get in front of it in the line and pull it behind me to unload my purchases on to the little moving beltway. Not everybody does this, though. Like this lady in line behind me.

Now, I like to enjoy a little bit of personal space around myself in public places. I think most people do, so I don't want to crowd the nice (if slow) lady in front of me. But the lady behind me keeps edging her cart into my space, little by little. I'm doing my best not to get annoyed (which I am not very good at) and am ignoring her inconsideration as best I can when, ultimately, she runs her cart right into the back of my legs.

So I turn around and -- surprise, surprise -- she's on the phone, not paying the least bit of attention to me. She must have noticed at least a little, though, because she acknowledged my annoyance by mumbling, "Oh, sorry," without looking up or taking any attention from her very important conversation. So I said, "Oh, not at all. My fault entirely. Heaven forbid anything interrupt your phone call."

I thought she would take this opportunity to call me a bunch of names for being a smat@ss, the way most people do, but no . . . she could not be bothered with all that.

She was on the phone, you see. Did I mention that.

You know, one day this whole bloody fakement is going to come tumbling down around our ears, and most of us aren't even going to notice.

 

[blunthead]

I can think of a couple of reasons.
1) looking for the best price in this crazy economy where the basics food needs are almost out of budget for many. "A penny saved is a penny earned", ya know.
2) looking for the original flavor rice milk (it is really rice juice, but who would want to drink rice juice. rice milk sounds sooooo much better), not the stuff with vanilla flavoring.

I am guilty of number 2 and that dang stuff is expensive!! It takes me even longer to find and step away from the dairy case with my rice milk because I have to calculate whether or not it is in my budget.
Yep, there is a reason for dairy case perusing!

So, it's you.

 

[summer_sky]

So, it's you.

Guilty as charged. Can'nae cop a plea as I admitted my dairy case perusing crime?

 

[summer_sky]

Well . . . this happened at Target, but it was one of those SuperTargets that is at least kind of a grocery store, so I'm going to count it.

I am not particularly patient with other shoppers (or anyone, really) so normally I like to use these self-service lanes that most of the stores have now. Yesterday -- for whatever reason -- I needed a clerk. Well, stores don't really have "clerks" anymore, but I guess "cashier" is close enough . . . even though people rarely use cash anymore . . . but we could do this all day.

So I'm waiting in line behind the lady with a million coupons and a million questions and only a partial grasp of the language. I get stuck behind her a lot. But I'm trying to be patient, because . . . it's what society expects. Now, behind me comes another lady. I don't know about you, but when I have a shopping cart full of stuff, I get in front of it in the line and pull it behind me to unload my purchases on to the little moving beltway. Not everybody does this, though. Like this lady in line behind me.

Now, I like to enjoy a little bit of personal space around myself in public places. I think most people do, so I don't want to crowd the nice (if slow) lady in front of me. But the lady behind me keeps edging her cart into my space, little by little. I'm doing my best not to get annoyed (which I am not very good at) and am ignoring her inconsideration as best I can when, ultimately, she runs her cart right into the back of my legs.

So I turn around and -- surprise, surprise -- she's on the phone, not paying the least bit of attention to me. She must have noticed at least a little, though, because she acknowledged my annoyance by mumbling, "Oh, sorry," without looking up or taking any attention from her very important conversation. So I said, "Oh, not at all. My fault entirely. Heaven forbid anything interrupt your phone call."

I thought she would take this opportunity to call me a bunch of names for being a smat@ss, the way most people do, but no . . . she could not be bothered with all that.

She was on the phone, you see. Did I mention that.

You know, one day this whole bloody fakement is going to come tumbling down around our ears, and most of us aren't even going to notice.

Oh, there is a whole lot I relate to here... not the cellular phone-attached-to-head part, but just about the entire rest of your story, though. (I still use my newfangled Motorola Razr purchased in 2005... you know, the one that looks like a Star Trek communicator. I always did want one of those and now I got one. I used to want one of those Jetson flying cars, however, I've changed my mind about that one.)

The thing I would like to address is the clerk/cashier thing:
I began my stint as a working stiff in retail at the age of 15. I was both a clerk and a cashier for many years until I lost my patience with the public... because, you know, this was back in the days of "the customer is always right even when s/he is wrong". The mantra of retail back in the days before mega-corporations cornered the market (so to speak) and took competition out of equation as far as capitalism goes.
Now, there is not much need for retail management to train retail employees regarding such things as how to make change or thanking the customer for their patronage or other basic customer service skills. All important aspects of the world of retail... once upon a time.

Well, anyway, in today's world, it is not so much other customers who bother me... maybe because nowadays I am one of them?... it is the lack of training and/or lack of motivation to be a good retail employee (since most feel [rightly so] used and abused by over-compensated corporate ignoramuses).
Chomping on a hunk of chewing gum, not making eye contact with the customer and continuing a conversation with the cashier working the next cash register lane throughout the transaction really gets my goat.
It is times like this that I enjoy handing the cashier a five dollar bill and a penny when my transaction total is $4.76 and see the confusion in their eyes.
Yes, I am a cruel-hearted customer

 

[blunthead]

Guilty as charged. Can'nae cop a plea as I admitted my dairy case perusing crime?

Yes you can, just don't plea in my car.

 

[summer_sky]

This is all proof that the zombie apocalypse has begun. Seriously. Just watch how 'shoppers' walk thru the stores- it's all *shuffle*shuffle*shuffle with a glazed look on their faces, staring blankly at nothing. It's scary!! (Yes, I work retail.....)

Shopping zombies moving to the Muzak (slow-paced muzak when encouraging shoppers to slowly peruse the aisles/faster-paced muzak when wanting to clear the store at closing time) do not frighten me as much as the phone zombies out and about in the world....

 

[Neesy]

Shopping zombies moving to the Muzak (slow-paced muzak when encouraging shoppers to slowly peruse the aisles/faster-paced muzak when wanting to clear the store at closing time) do not frighten me as much as the phone zombies out and about in the world....

... especially when they are driving in front of me with a phone attached to their ear - it is actually illegal in my city to drive and talk on a cell phone but people still ignore the law

 

[summer_sky]

... especially when they are driving in front of me with a phone attached to their ear - it is actually illegal in my city to drive and talk on a cell phone but people still ignore the law

Perhaps, the self-driving cars being developed will make us safe from phone zombies behind the wheel??

 

[Neesy]

Perhaps, the self-driving cars being developed will make us safe from phone zombies behind the wheel??

 

[Moderator]

I can think of a couple of reasons.
1) looking for the best price in this crazy economy where the basics food needs are almost out of budget for many. "A penny saved is a penny earned", ya know.
2) looking for the original flavor rice milk (it is really rice juice, but who would want to drink rice juice. rice milk sounds sooooo much better), not the stuff with vanilla flavoring.

I am guilty of number 2 and that dang stuff is expensive!! It takes me even longer to find and step away from the dairy case with my rice milk because I have to calculate whether or not it is in my budget.
Yep, there is a reason for dairy case perusing!

Exactly this. I want the unflavored, unsweetened almond milk and they don't always put it in the same spot in every store even within the same chain--or even the same store if they've decided to do one of their rearranging of inventory so we "have" to look around (and buy something else we didn't plan to).