Saturday, February 6, 2010

An Ode to Paul Wynn and an Ode to Grocery Stores on Superbowl Weekend

I have doubled my reading pleasure lately visiting Paul Wynn’s blog and started thinking “why not invent your own freaking Blog Award, Gropius?” So here we go, the Double Your Reading Pleasure award goes to…Adventures of A Grocery Store Clerk.



Of course it’s framed after a product you can find in every check out aisle. Be sure to stop on by his blog. It’s funny, always something you can relate to and many times helps you look at a common situation in a totally different way—from the clerk’s point of view.


What blog has doubled your pleasure? Give them this award and in your post, write about a subject that appears often on his/her blog.

To play, I’m sharing some grocery store tales of my own. Here’s what annoys me that other shoppers do in the grocery store, and yes, if these things haven’t happened to me at least once, they happen all the time. It drives me nuts when people…

  • Reach in front of you to open the freezer and grab something out of it when you’ve been standing there for 5 seconds or less.
  • Secure their place in line and then abandon the cart 14 times to go back and get things they forgot.
  • Ram a shopping cart into your ankles—hard—because they just aren’t paying attention.
  • Take advantage of a deli attendant with his back turned to secure an unearned advantage in line.
  • Get all up on you and in your space when you’re paying for your groceries. You will have your turn at the podium, people.
  • Come flying out of an aisle like a bat out of hell and look at you like you’re stopping an angel from landing when you’re just standing there, surprised…and frightened.
  • Are mean or impatient with senior customers. Give them a hand for Pete’s sake!
  • Walk around eating stuff that hasn’t yet been paid for…like packages they opened up or grapes from the produce section. Every now and then, Husband will do this with a bottled drink. At least when you pay for that, it doesn’t cost less because you have already consumed half of it.
Did I leave anything off the list?  THANK YOU to all the checkers in the world who put up with terrible customer behavior. What would we do without you?

Spread the Double Your Pleasure blog award liberally. I'm counting on you, Suzicate, Pines Lake Redhead, Picture Imperfect & others…

12 comments:

Julia, the Thanksgiving Girl said...

Quite funny but none of these really happened to me... I've seen people walk around eating stuff they haven’t bought yet a few times though, but I guess I don't see it often enough for it to serve as an annoyance lol

Erica@PLRH said...

The people who crowd you at the checkout really bother me too. Also, the racing car shopping carts that hold two kids... the parents driving them never pay attention to where they are going! I must be a mean mother because I used to make my kids walk!

Liz Mays said...

I'm not a fan of when people ask if they cut in front of you either. If I see them with a couple items behind me, I may offer that option...but don't ask. Then I no longer want to do it!!! ;)

nursemyra said...

ouch! The ankle ramming thing really gets my goat too

KB said...

You've covered my list pretty well. The buggiest to me is probably the mothers who take stuff out of the wrapper, jam it in the kids, then toss the wrapper. Not only are they stealing but they're teaching the kids to steal, although I'm sure they will never think of it as stealing because it will become their norm. Glad I now live in a rural area where people are pretty rspectful and I don't see much of that "city type" stuff anymore.

I have enjoyed the grocery store blog on numerous occasions and join in on your recommendation. My deceased cousin spent his entire life in groceries from the time he was in high school and that blog "remembers" me of talking to him. It gives nice insights into things customers seldom, if ever, think about.

M L Jassy said...

Sadly my Nanna is one of those grape-nibblers: I blush furiously, step five metres away and pretend I don't know here, at least until the next aisle. Then, when it's cherry season ... still, she does need a hand when she buys her 4 bottles of discount soda water, fortnightly.

Leah said...

I always get rammed by a shopping cart in my ankles. And yes, I totally hate those people abandoning their carts in the line to get more stuff.

Uncommon Blonde said...

#5 gets me every time! I hate feeling crowded or worse, when they lightly bump you with the cart!

Anonymous said...

That is awesome, Gropious! Paul's post always make my day. I'm right with you on all your gripes, but I really HATE seeing people eating the fresh produce which of course, can't be apid for since they've eaten it...do they not know that is shoplifting or that you really should wash it first?

Menopausal New Mom said...

That's an interesting post. My pet peeve at the grocery store is when I drop in to buy only a couple of items and the moron in front of me at the express cash can't count to 10 or less and has 20+ items to go through, asks for lotto tickets, a pack of smokes and then wants cash back off his debit card!!!

Unknown said...

Good morning Gropius!

What a great idea and a neat award! How fun! I've got this one on my "tagged" list and will pass it on for sure!

I stand behind you with a vehement "HELL YEAH" on all of your grocery store pet peeves! GRRRR! (but if you don't mind I'll stay standing behind you because I'm scared of confrontation. LOL)

Pauline said...

I don't encounter most of those problems in the grocery store, maybe because I live in a relatively small town in the midwest, and most people don't seem to be in such a hurry here.

I can understand being annoyed at people eating produce they haven't paid for, but what's the problem with opening something like a box of crackers and eating some? I don't myself, but I let my son do it when I know he's hungry. (Now he's a little older I usually make him wait till I've paid for it, but depending on how long he's already waited for something to eat I might let him.) A package costs the same no matter how much is left in it (though I won't go through the self-check in that case, because the weight wouldn't match what the computer expects).