What bugs you when you are at a grocery store?

I always get the cart with the square wheels.It takes 3 hours to get to the Twinkie aisle.

The place I live is a geriatric nightmare. Damn sexigenarians filling all the lines with their slowness…..

the most: those who chose to have the family meeting right in the aisles, blocking everyone else’s way, those who stop, suddenly, on their cell phone, right at the top of the escalator, to have an argument or whatever, those who park their trolleys right in front of , the deli case , the coffee grinder, to go wander in search of…

When you’re in line and the attendant goes on the phone.

Or when you’re in a really long line and when you finally get to the front, another line opens up and all the people at the end of the line that have been waiting two minutes get checked out.

Stoping in the doorway or asile to chat, irks the crap out of me. Step to the side let others pass and you can chat about whatever you want, for as long as you want.

You what NEVER bugs me? The people in the produce department. They are ALWAYS super nice. I am not joking, I am not making this up . Seriously, what’s up with you guys?

Anyway, when the cashier says, “That’ll be $31.47”, and THEN someone starts digging through her purse looking for her wallet. Like it’s a big surprise that they should be asked for payment.

That bugs me. Or at least it cracks me up and I don’t understand it.

And also those giant carts that look like toy cars. Your kids can survive 20 minutes in the adult world, or they shouldn’t be in the store.

The randalls by my house has horrible service. They always only have 1 or 2 registers open and long ass lines. Doesn’t matter what time it is, I will always have to wait an insane amount of time. Turns out I can go down the street 5 mins to HEB and buy my items there and get home before I would shopping at Randalls 1 min away.

The grocery store is full of fat people who move slowly. Ughhhh

@jaytkay LOL. I am not sure why the people in the produce department are always super nice. I know for the most part I am nice because I actually like what I am doing. Most of the time working in produce is stress free compared to some of the other departments. So that might be why the workers in the produce department seem to be super nice.

I have noticed that about other stores as well not just where I work.

When the cashier has rang up 92.00 worth of groceries and then the person brings out their check book and starts writing the check. Why didn’t the person start writing it while being rang up?

@Blackberry LOL! That is mean, but I agree. I should stop laughing. ‘Cause it’s mean. LOL!

The only thing that really bugs me is when someone with a whole bunch of groceries (usually old) waits until all the groceries are rung up before they take their check book out and start writing,
OK, also when there is a line and they start socializing with the checker for a long time and I’m in a hurry.

Rude people. I think that sums it up.

I hate that after 10 pm, the only line open is the self-serve cashier line. The store is full of people, and you have to check out your own stuff. I hate the voice on those registers.

Not being able to find little random things like thumb tacks.

They should not spray water on the mushrooms.

We have a great little grocery in our town. They provide great service and the store is well setup and as fully stock as one can expect in such a small town.. I hate when I pickup a piece of produce that looked fine on the side I could see but my fingers go into a soft rotten spot on the side I couldn’t see. That feels gross and I hate that!

Assuming that groceries have pure autonomy when ordering stock (I know nothing about this):
I hate when grocery stores order odd amounts of things…
For example, the grocery by my home always orders way too much fruit. There are always like 9 dozen big containers of strawberries (year round). But, they are not being purchased at certain times of the year. So, if I go to buy some they are ALL half moldy. That drives me crazy. On the other hand, one week before Thanksgiving they ran out of canned pumpkin. I’m thinking——why not just order a crapload of canned pumpkin? They must know that everyone in my town is going to make a pumpkin pie. And, unlike the fresh strawberries, ordering too much wouldn’t matter as much b/c that stuff doesn’t expire for like 4 years or something. It drives me nuts.

When people get crosswise in an aisle and stop to talk or take a trip to La-La Land. Screaming children with oblivious parents.

@jaytkay Your answer is full of win lol. I didn’t realize that happened until you said it. With some people it really is like “Oh crap that’s right I have to pay don’t I…..”. Lol.

@jenandcolin Most stores ran out of pumkin this year becasue for some reason the supply was short unlike past years. It wasn’t just your store that ran out of it mine did as well. I can also agree with you about over ordering. You may not know much about it but you did hit it on the head. Strawberries are not always in season and most of the time are rather too high for most people to even consider buying. If that store or any store for that matter only ordered what they needed they might actually be able to sell more of them.

The self checkout lane, it makes me feel somewhat retarded.

I hate when people leave their carts in the middle of the freaking aisle, especially when they don’t offer to move it when they know you need to get by.

And when really obnoxious people talk on their cell phones, holding normal conversation not necessary to be held at the grocery store, so loudly that you might as well be part of their conversation.

When people touch the loose baked bread/other baked goods with their bare hands but then don’t buy them.

When parents stand by and let their kids run around like maniacs and don’t do a thing about it or even apologize to the other people around them.

When people with a bajillion items use the self-check when there is a perfectly good, open or nearly finished regular check-out right next to it, and people with just a few items in line behind them.

When employees don’t bother to restock important things like milk, bread, and eggs before they restock the ice cream.

When the obviously new guy at the deli has no clue what he’s doing and takes forever and clearly should not be serving customers unsupervised yet.

How insanely cold it is in there in the winter.

And a whole lot more…a better question is what DOESN’T annoy me when I’m at the grocery store.

At my local grocery store they put out bread and spreads and the people go nuts for it. I hate how people act like vultures, tonight I watched a guy literately push a woman out of the way for some butter.

There are several things that “Bug” me….

First: When the cashier and the bagger stand there talking about thier dates or plans for the night / week end etc…. and ingnor me and the rest of the line .

2nd; I can’t stand it when I’m in an express lane… and some jerk with twice as many items goes thru it and the cashier accepts them ..

3rd…. I hate it when people allow their snot nose brats to run all over the place and grabbing -fondling items everywhere they go…

Unattended children

People who leave their cart in the middle of an aisle, sometimes leaving the aisle!
I think it’s rude to touch someone elses cart, but if they are blocking, I don’t have a lot of choices.
Then there are people who put their cart in line for the register, and go to get something else. The line moves, and I advance their cart, but they still might not come for 5 minutes! Yet, when the line is empty ahead, and I move around them, they immediately show up, very unhappy with me!

I hate when the “fresh baked cookies” are hard as a rock! Must be days old!

When you have a bunch of tourists or family members from a family reunion gathering go shopping together and while one of the member’s purchases are being rung up other people in their party come up and place their baskets with their items on the conveyor belt so they don’t have to wait in line like everyone else.

@filmfann I agree with your points. I want to smack someone when, essentially, they are still shopping when they get to the check out and leave their buggy to pick up a couple other items.

People who decide to deal with crisis whilst buying baked goods. I’m sorry lady, but I really don’t need you yelling about the upcoming surgery or your daughter’s eleventh toe.

Line cutters, parking lot vultures, whiny kids, grouchy employees, overly cheerful employees, sample dishes, people who eat from the sample dishes, etc.

-People that leave their cart in the middle of the aisles while they search for the right can of corn.

-When people see you coming down the aisle from a mile away and act surprised when you finally reach them and have to say “Excuse me!” They get all confused “Oh! I’m sorry. Let me now move my cart out of your way”. Ugh!

-The people that breathe down your neck in line at the register.

-Cashiers that don’t say hi to you first. Do your damn job! Be polite!

-When someone is pushing their cart behind me and starts gaining on me and coming up faster and faster. It feels like I’m going to get my heels run over! Back off!

-When parents allow their kids to run around the aisles without any supervision. Or better yet, when I have to manuver my cart around a kid that decides it’s a good idea to sit directly in the middle of the aisle.

Wow. I never realized how bitter I was about grocery stores!

It bugs me when people talk on their Bluetooth phone who are in talking distance to me to where I think they are asking me the question then when I respond they shhh me and point at the ear piece. For instance, I was in the snack isle and a lady asked, “I don’t know which one is better the sun chips or the baked lays….which one do you think is better?” while waving the bags less than one foot from my face. I said, “I like the sun chips because it’s made with grains.” She then points at her phone and mouths the words, ” I’m on the phone”

agh!! I thought maybe she wanted my opinion- don’t talk so loud and wave the bags in my face then I wouldn’t talk to you.

My all time fave. I stood in line while a woman dumped like 40 items in the express lane (10 items or less) and when she was told that an item wasn’t the sale item, left her crap and when looking for the correct item. Then, later, when she was told that to qualify to get the WIC, Food-Stamp or whatever item that my tax dollars was paying for, had the nerve to have the bagger go and bring multiple items so she could be sure she got the right one.

All this while having the items broken up, so they could be paid for separately…like she was buying someone else’s crap, too. There was a line of us in the express check out, but no one would say a peep…that will make you a racist, now-a-days. But when I called her on it, she went all “Big Momma” like I had just called her ‘THE NAME” and ranted for like 3 minutes straight. When she got done, I just said, “Lady, this is the Express Lane, not the express yourself lane.” Everyone laughed at her and she left calling me every name she could think of.

Totally worth it…

What bugs me? When someone hogs the aisle with their cart, screaming children, and when the store decides to move everything around so you can’t find anything!

People swinging and rushing their carts, rounding the corners like crazy, almost crashing into you.

Sour-faced cashiers who look at you like they dislike you for no reason, then greet the customer after you with a smile and a “Hi”. You wonder “What did I do to deserve such sour-faced treatment?”

Messes left behind by irresponsible customers——opened jars and packages, breakages, spills, etc.

Long lines at the cashier.

Poor customer service. Lazy staff.

So where should old people shop? Maybe there should be a ‘for fat only’ store?

@faye Tubs Are Us. It’s kinda like a Sam’s Club, but instead of buying in bulk, you buy for bulk.

That’s right…I went there.

I hate it when the sprinklers come on when I am grabbing my veggies. I am reaching for the lettuce then boom the sprinkler comes on soaking my arm then I have to put the wet lettuce in my bag. Why can’t they have a water restriction and only water at night or early in the morning?

@Chikipi I worked in the produce section of a major chain a few years ago and I have to tell you that the sprinklers are remote controlled from the store-room and we use security cameras to prevent theft, but we can see when people like you are reaching for something, and we turn the sprinklers on just to piss you off.

It brightens an otherwise boring day.

@fluthermucker- ... so I’m not paranoid and the produce people are really out to get me?! j/k LMAO

I am a very frugal shopper and I hate trying to compare per ounce or per unit to find the best price, and the most expensive are the only ones on a shelf I can actually see, the others are too low or too high.

One thing our store has that I really like is a senior hour for us sexy 60+ people to have all to ourselves.

@YARNLADY I guess it adds a whole new meaning to the term “meat market”. I DO NOT want to know what you people do with the cucumbers.

“Publix, where shopping is a pleasure.”

Women who wait until their items are totaled before…slow-ly…fishing…through…their…pocket…(or pocky)...book…for…cash…credit…card…or…God…forbid…their…

checkbook.

What bugs me the most is the older people who will RUN YOU DOWN. They are clearly the most important people in the store and you need to get the hell out of their way. The screaming kids I can deal with (that’s what my iPod is for) but the ones that endanger your life… Ah!

@avvooooooo So you’re saying that no young people try to run you down? I can’t believe that. In my experience, it’s exactly the other way around, the young speeders are always running into me.

@avvooooooo The elderly mean no harm in what they do, they simply cannot see more than 30 inches in front of them, so if you are more than that you could be a wall, a shelf, a Buick, a kitten…they can’t tell the difference. Have you read or seen of the cases in the past few years where Methuselah or his wife have mistaken the gas pedal for the brake and have taken out a station-wagon full of nuns or are turning 7–11’s into drive-thru’s?

Mr. Magoo and his nonagenarian wife need to have their cards pulled but that is a question for another day.

@YARNLADY Nope. Haven’t had any young people try and run me down in months and months, no matter when I go. But I have been endangered by old people, especially if I dare turn up for Wednesday sales!

They’re going to be really sad when they cause me to need another foot surgery because I break something trying to skip out of the way and they get sued. :P

I hate people who are so busy looking at the shelves that they rear end me as I am standing on the bottom shelf trying to reach something I have to have which is on the top shelf!

The other is when I am standing on the ground and they run their trolley or their stroller into the back of my ankle bones, you know the spot where there is no flesh and skin is thin so it bleeds profusely down into the heel of your shoe, heheheheh. Ain’t life grand.

@SABOTEUR Women who wait until the last minute to realize they they are going t have to pay for their purchases? Old men are just that bad, too! @rooeytoo You with me here??!!

People in general. Seeing what I want to buy, and it taking five minutes to actually get to it when people get out of the way really irritates me.

@Val123 Women who wait until the last minute to realize they they are going t have to pay for their purchases? Old men are just that bad, too!

It’s the purses. Men are just as slow on the draw, but they don’t have a purse to dig through.

@jaytkay One word for you…Man Bag.

Big, huge people who….stand…in the way when you’re looking for the same item they’re looking for.

I don’t even quite know what the question is. I just came back, and all of these answers are here so….

People who take so long filling out the info on their check book like…...somehow they didn’t know where they were, or what date it was, or their name (signature) or even that they had to get their checkbook out until somebody said, “That’ll be $57.95 please!” Pavlov s dogs anyone?

People who spend 27 thousand seconds writing their signature on a debit card machine thingy at the movie rental store, or the grocery store, like…they’re signing their name to something Vitally Important, like a house loan. Me….it’s VB^$*~^&^& what ever random scribble line, done in ½ second.

What are we talking about??!!

@Only138 I stand corrected. Thanks for pointing out my flagrant error.

How about the people who leave their shopping carts in an empty parking space so nobody else can park there. That’s just lazy and inconsiderate!

@Val123 hehehe, yep I am cuz according to one of our jellies who shall remain nameless (but his initials are mb) I am a man hater! My husband agrees, heheheh as I was serving him his dinner, hehehe!

@jaytkay LOL! Could the “Dig through the purse” vs “Whip out your wallet” response time be related to…other, younger times!! :)
@rooeytoo Youze not a man hater! Just a man NotUnderStander. They really aren’t all the same, unless we le them be. Man, if my man expected me to “serve” him dinner ESPECIALLY if I wasn’t hungry and had cooked only because he was hungry….???? I’d be….like….I think I shall not cook. I have more important things to do, like FLUTHER!!!” Cook ya own damn food, because I’m not hungry! I’m not skerred of fights.

Wow. I am astonished at how many people are bugged by all sorts of things at the grocery store. I am a fast shopper. I get my stuff, rush to the fastest line, if I can get self check out – even better and then I am gone! If I am stuck behind someone, I wait and people watch. Yeah it sucks when the person in front of you has a cart filled enough to feed a football team. But that’s okay. Things happen. As for the cashier not speaking to me…for 6$ an hour…what the fuck?!? Who cares??? I agree with the philosophy that if you are going to do something, do it right, but still. I don’t honestly think any sales person really wants me to have a good day when they wish me that so I’m okay if they don’t do so in the first place.

To answer the title Q though, I’d say what has to bug me the most about grocery stores is how sensitive and easily annoyed certain shoppers are. If my cart is in the way, say so and I’ll move it. Don’t make a snide remark about it. I don’t put it as an obstacle on purpose. If someone’s kids are running around, get over it, you were a kid once too, kids like to run.

Lastly, all the comments about the “fat people and old people” disappoint me. Really people. We’ll all be old someday and some of us could be overweight, even if its for the period of pregnancy. Will suck when some 20 year old tells us one day to move faster. Just saying.

@PnL For myself, I didn’t mean all the old people… Just the ones who are intent on running down young whippersnappers with their carts for some reason.

I personally use my cane!

Oh… I forgot kids on Heelys who are skating around the store and the parking lot with no regard to anyone else. I ended up taking one back to his mother one day after he slammed into me and my cart and letting his mother have it for not supervising him and for letting him wear the stupid shoes when he obviously wasn’t mature enough to have them.

@avvooooooo I almost forgot about those damn Heelys. They should be banned from stores.

@ItalianPrincess1217 They should be banned period. They’re unsafe, especially on the feet of the people who are likely to be wearing them.

@PnL Well, since I’ve noticed those particular things bug the hell out of me, I tend to check myself…did I just park this cart in the middle of the aisle? Am I being oblivious to what other people might need in this aisle? Should I get my check book out ahead of time and start filling in the regular info (that was a George Carlin joke/comment in the 70’s on The Tonight Show), Does the fact that I totally scribble my “signature” in ½ second on the electronic ATM thingy help matters?.....I think the biggest crux of this thread is…..Are You Guilty?

Lousy service, especially at the cashier counter.

There’s always that one “I can’t decide” person in every store with a cart in the middle of the aisle.

The price of foods I love and have to resort to buying foods less nutritious and less expencives.

It bugs me when the people in the bakery dept. argue with me that the bread… which is hard as a rock… was just baked today!
A funny thing ... there was a long long line of people at the Express Lane. There was one person at the front of the line taking forever to write a check. After about 5 minutes, she looked up and over the throngs of people waiting for her and said, “How do you spell four?”!!!!

2 or more people blocking the isles while socializing.

Aren’t we all such happy shoppers?!?

Sloooooow check out people.

I got hit by a cart today. It hurt and I have a big bruise. An 80-something woman was driving. I hope to God she didn’t then go out and drive herself to wherever since she can’t even handle a cart.

@avvooooooo I paid her $20 to do that.

@Val123 There would have been big trouble if she’d aimed for my other side. I really, really don’t want another foot surgery because of the grocery store.

@avvooooooo How’d she manage to hit you so hard, anyway?

@Val123 Because they have it out for me! No good reason why!

@gymnastchick729
The self check-outs are designed to make you fail.
Everytime I’ve used one of those, it required a store employees assistance anyways.
Kinda defeats the purpose, no?

I work at one, and it really bugs me when people amble around in random directions, slowly, without paying attention to where they’re going. They just wander from object to object like a lost sheep. They get in my way! It probably just bugs me ‘cause it happens so often for me…

I hate that so many people feel such an intense need to drive their carts exactly like they drive their deathtrap of a car. Yes, these are the same tuned-out individuals who cause innumerable problems in the streets and parking lots, before ever making it inside the store. Then, they drive on the left of the aisle or barrel straight down the middle at ramming speed and pass wherever they like. They stop without notice to congregate with other out-of-touch morons and hold entire conversations in the middle of the aisle. They speed around corners without looking both ways, nearly running you over and then have the nerve to look at YOU as if you were the inconsiderate one. They let their ill-behaved and perhaps mentally-retarded children run around screaming and wreaking havoc while they chat on their cell phone about other people’s rudeness. They park their cart right in front of you, then walk to the opposite end of the aisle to get something they missed on the first five or six passes. They act as if they’re in their own little private world. Then, these same self-centered pricks take thirty-plus items into the express lane checkout without caring or noticing that the sign says ‘12 items or less’. Of course, as so many have said before, they wait until every last item has been rung up before slowly attempting to find a means of payment. I wish the stores I shop at had the self-service checkouts, it might make some trips to the store a little less stressful. I’m beginning to wish shopping carts had rocket launchers and .50cal. machine guns.

One question so I can be enlightened and not a moron. When seeing someone at the grocery store that you have not seen for a long time, what is the proper protocol for having a conversation? If you pull the carts to the side so there is room to get through, and move over for oncoming traffic, will you be moron free?

I’m not really sure if your question was directed at me or not, but anyone with enough forethought to pull to the side before beginning a lengthy conversation and who also exercises a good measure of self-awareness and consideration for others would certainly be exempt from the ‘moron’ label. In my book, out-of-touch = out-of-excuses.

All of the above + when picking produce and carefully feeling up the fruit and go to grab for what appears to be the perfect piece and some douche comes up and swipes it just as you are about to pick it up.. and then kind of barges you out of the way to take over the show. Grrrrrrr!

“Watch it buddy, that was my avocado!!”