BellaOnline Forums Food and Wine Cooking For Kids What's Your Grocery Store Pet Peeves?

Hello!

Let's share our grocery store pet peeves.

Here are a few to get us started:

Having twenty five items in the ten items or less lane.

Being in a hurry and finding the aisle blocked by a reunion between long lost friends, who simply don't move, even with a polite "excuse me, I just need to grab a can of soup"...

So what's your grocery store pet peeve?

Just went last night on my way home from work.
My pet peeve is people who block the aisle talking on cell phones and thier children are racing up and down the aisle.
sundancer
www.mikesssportingoods.ecrater.com

Here's another one--

You're walking down the aisle, and there's someone who has stopped on one side, looking at her grocery list or an item on the shelf. Now, nothing wrong with that, right?

You start to go around them, and again, no big deal--that's just what you do in a grocery store.

But they sense you are coming and about to pass them.

The next think you know, they speed up like crazy just as you are about to make the pass.

Repeat about four times, until it's just easier to jump ship and hit another aisle, lol!

Stocking the shelves during shopping hours.

People who zoom out of the isles with their carts and run into other people. Grrr. Maybe they should start putting mirrors on the end of each isle, so we can see who is coming.

OK Brandii - I swear we are twins separated at birth, LOL!!!

I kept going, "yes, yes, yes, YES!!!" everytime I read one of your pet peeves.

OK, let's add - parents who let their kids run around in the toys/candy/magazine aisle while they do their shopping. Like their little one (no matter how well behaved) is just going to stay put in one place! Have these parents not heard of kidnapping?!?

And people who eat fruit while they are shopping through the store. Ummm, fruit is kind of measured by weight - so if you sit there and eat it, then you are basically stealing it.

Ok - I'm sure I'll come up with more, but those will suffice for now.

Rosie, Sundancer, Yota, and Michelle, thank you all for adding your pet peeves! I can relate to all of them!

And Michelle, I'm happy to have a 'twin' out there who shares the same pet peeves--I was worried people would think I was nuts posting them.

I've got a new one:

I'm walking into the store. There is a person in front of the door (within an arms reach or two).

She is busy texting on her phone. Or checking e-mail. Or updating her facebook and twitter pages: "Heading into the store"...

Nothing wrong with any of those, as I also like e-mail, twitter, and facebook. I use them often, but not while blocking the entrance to the store.

I started going around her to go inside, and she, like the person in the grocery store isle(see post above)sensed it, and then all of a sudden had to fly through the door, and we about collided with each other.

If you are updating your twitter this and twitter that, or texting your family about what to purchase at the store, why not just step two steps over, and allow the happy traffic flow to continue (especially when there is a BENCH right next to the door)?



I admit, there's much bigger issues to worry about. But, I think it's fun to talk with others who have had the same thoughts about these types of pet peeves.

Any other pet peeve stories out there?

I am glad I am not alone! I absolutely hate grocery shopping and inevitably the following happens in addition to the other pet peeves already listed:

I would like to take whoever invented those dreadful kiddie shopping carts and beat an apology out of them! I guess that sounds harsh but those carts are nothing but trouble and every one of them is a liability suit in the making!

Plus why is it that when I encounter someone in the first aisle, we subsequently meet up in every other aisle? Double annoyance when there is also, you guessed it, a kiddie cart!

Grocery shopping is a form of slavery, lol! Only good time to go is in the middle of the night when you have the store to yourself and you can be in and out in no time!

Tammy

And now you all know why I go grocery shopping at 6 or 7 am on Sundays.

OK - this one is just gross! I saw a woman while we were traveling through the Amarillo, TX Walmart bite into an apple and put it back on the display in the middle. I stopped in my tracks, jawl dangling and slapped my husband in the chest.

His only thought - we'll never move to Amarillo, TX.

Other pet peeves are rearanging stores every couple of months and rude cashiers or the people who go back and forth over .15 - .25 they feel should have been credited them for a sale item.

Nothing wrong with frugal spending, but me personally, i'd go to customer service or watch the items ring up if I'm shopping specifically for bargains at that store.

One man in particular my husband encounterd was a man who took his change, stood there holding up the line and waited for a few minutes then interjected 2 orders later with, "You didn't give me my change!" He made a scene and the cashier calmly stated, "Sir I gave you your change. I can audit my drawer real quick if you'd like." With that he slunk into the crowd behind him.

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Elleise
Clairvoyance Editor
Angel Therapy, Consultations & Courses

Tammy, Wendy Tall One, and Elleise, thank you so much for your posts!

Tammy, I agree about the little shopping carts. I know that kids love them. However, I think that excited young kids with their own carts can be a dangerous situation, especially in a crowded grocery store.

When you think about it, some adults with regular size carts can be hazardous enough, lol!

Wendy Tall One, I can relate to shopping early in the morning to avoid crowds. Isn't it great to zip in and zip out of the grocery store in twenty minutes with NO lines?

Elleise, I can only imagine your shock when the lady put the apple back after biting into it! Ugh...I've seen people go up and down the salad bar at the grocery store feeding their kids snacks (but not actually purchasing a salad). What I can't figure out is that there are sample stations throughout the store, but they choose to stand in the salad bar line and sample the salad bar so to speak.

It's nice to talk with others who share the same pet peeves. At first, I thought I was just a grumpy grocery shopper, lol!

Feel free to share more of your grocery store pet peeves here. This can be your official "grocery store vent" thread!

I have a few grocery store pet peeves. I live in a small Appalachian town where a majority of people are on food stamps. I have nothing against food stamps. I've even had to use them myself. What really gripes me is to see people on food stamps with a shopping cart full of nothing but junk food. Even worse, a shopping cart full of junk food and this person smells as though they haven't bathed in months. My daughter used to work at a local grocery store. Sometimes she checked out customers who smelled so bad that she ran to the bathroom as soon as they were gone and threw up. Just because you receive food stamps doesn't mean you have to give up bathing.

Another pet peeve of mine are parents who allow their children to run like mad through the aisles of the store without regard for anybody else trying to shop. Or children who whine and cry until they get what they want before they will be quiet. I've even seen children hit their mom when she wouldn't give in to their demands.

I'm grateful there are no shopping carts for children to push here. I would put in a complaint if those were available.

I do have to brag about my offspring when they were children. They are 21 & 22 now. The grocery clerks and store owners all knew my children. Not because they misbehaved so much, but because they were so polite and well-behaved. They never ever threw a fit (at least not in public). As a result of this, they were given free items (such as orange juice or a pop) by those who ran the stores. My children could not understand why all the other children misbehaved so much.

I can't stand the parents that stand there and block the aisles talking with one another while their children are running up and down pulling things off the shelves and causing all kinds of havoc. It never fails where the parents are gabbing is the one thing I need on that aisle, then I have to contend with their children on the next aisle running into me or using their cart as a battering ram.

Lisa, I know what you mean about your children, mine to this day at 27 & 21 are amazed at what the kids get away with in the stores. They never got away with it and if they did happen to throw a fit, they were taken outside to discuss it so that other shoppers didn't have to hear them throwing their tantrum. I can't stand to hear a kid screaming the entire time I'm in the store I will literally walk out and come back later to do my shopping.

I hate going to the grocery store on weekends. The husbands are with their wives and they stand in the middle of the isle because they don't know what to do with themselves.

Usually if the kids are standing around, the mothers tell them to move to the side to get out of the way.

I like to go to the grocery store early in the morning. The less people the better. My pet peeve (like other posters) is children running up and down the aisles and shoppers who leave their cart in the middle of the aisle and they usally in the next aisle over. I've thought of doing my ordering online and then pick up at the store. Haven't done it yet.
Sundancer
www.mikessportingoods.ecrater.com

Lisa, Kathy, Lynne, and Sundancer, thank you so much for all of your pet peeves!

Isn't it nice to know we're not alone, lol!

One time, I became the pet peeve by accident.

I had more items in my cart than the express line allowed, so I was heading to the next isle over.

The nice cashier, however, said, "I'm open, come on over"...

I let her know I had quiet a few items over the limit and that I'd just take it to the next isle.

She said it was no problem, since they were not busy.

As she began ringing me up, wouldn't you know that a rush of people came out of nowhere to check out. All of them in the express line with 12 items or less.

Then, there's me. With more than 12 items.

The looks and the comments from those behind me in line... Yikes!

I tried to explain that she told me to check out there because it wasn't busy, but it just sounded like I was "that" shopper that just makes excuses and doesn't follow the rules.

I still feel so bad about that!

The nice cashier offered to do the same thing a few weeks later, and I thanked her, but said I had a few more things to add to my cart.

Patiently waiting in line in the dairy section for a carton of eggs (there were three people ahead of me who were picking out their eggs).

Eager shopper just goes right in the middle of the line, completely ignoring those of us waiting in line.

Then, as if on cue, an adorable preschooler said very solemnly to his Mom, "Mommy, if you break the line at school, you have to go all the way to the back!"

My pet peeve...
People standing in the middle of the aisle with their cart as though they are the ONLY person in the store and then don't move when they see you coming.

Kids that are yelling and creating havoc and their parents just let them continue.

People that push their shopping carts forward and not looking where they are going, running people over as if AGAIN they are they ONY person in the store.

People that stand in the middle of the aisle (without a shopping cart this time) blocking the aisle talking to their friend OR worse, on their cell phone AGAIN as if thy are the ONLY person in the store.

Hi Dianne!

I can relate to each of your grocery store pet peeves!

It's so nice to know I'm not the only one with these--I said earlier that I was worried I had become a "grumpy grocery shopper" lol.

The next time I encounter some of the pet peeves on this thread, it will make me smile knowing it's not just me, lol!

Dianne, I thought about your first pet peeve the other day, but I had the opposite problem. I was headed to the meat counter. I was delighted to see that there wasn't anyone in line. There were four ladies catching up with each other, and their kids were hanging out as well.

I said, "Excuse me" politely so that I could go by them on the side without having to go through their circle. They continued to talk while rushing to the counter to place their orders.

They were not even on the subject of deli meat (or close to the counter). My happy thought of "no line" went to four ladies placing two and three orders a piece.

LOL, I almost gave this pet peeve alone a thread by itself, because I've never had it happen, until today:

I walked out of the grocery store, and headed to my car.

I passed a large SUV. For a second, I thought I heart a "thunk" or "thump" or something...then the back door (on the trunk) began to open-I'm not even kidding. It started to flip all the way up. I must have jumped a foot, because there was no one near the car. I must have looked pretty silly!

The car's owner had just come out of the store was was using her key chain to push the magic button that opens the trunk from a distance (apparently, a very long distance, lol).

My first thought was, "Look before you push the button!"

My second thought was, "I want a car with an automatic door opener that flips open the back door!"

Because I work at home, I don't usually have to be at the grocery store during peak hours, which really cuts down on the stress. (Don't get me started on people who block the aisles.) But ... hate it when I find items that are still on sale but two days after their sale date. Get very, very, very annoyed with people who don't have thier checks approved BEFORE they go through the line. And while I will (almost) always let a shopper with one or two items go ahead of me if I have a full cart, I really dislike it when people with a a few items ask to cut in front of me because they're late, for a very important date. (I cut mothers with young children a lot of slack but women who seem to be on their way to play tennis at the country club? No.)

Katherine, I completely agree!

Thank you for everyone who has posted to this thread. Feel free to add your own pet peeves�I�ve just posted an article that has talked about our most common grocery store pet peeves:

Grocery Store Pet Peeves