Is there such a thing as supermarket etiquette?

Question

It's gotten to the point where I cannot shop at supermarkets because fools ruin my food-buying experience.
Aisle Cloggers park their carriages in the center of an aisle and then STOP. They take their sweet time looking to see if one brand of peas is 8 cents cheaper than another, oblivious to the fact that shoppers behind them cannot get by.

Even worse is an encounter with Bottleneckers-- you know, two people who see someone they know in an aisle, and again STOP in their tracks and proceed to gab for 20 minutes, heedless of the fact they've effectively set up a roadblock for that entire aisle.

Shoppers, Not Lookers are dire prats who speed out from the end of an aisle into the main lane without first looking to see if anyone is there. I've been broadsided by such fools more times than I care to tell you.

And don't forget Mr. and Mrs. "I'm in line for the register and there are twenty people behind me, but I'm going to run back to aisle 11 and grab those Cheerios on sale."

Answer 1

Shopping Etiquette: Madison's Ten Commandments

1. Thou shalt not abandon your cart to look for items further down the aisle.
2. Thou shall keep the cart in front of you at all times. If you are looking for items on the left side of the aisle, you must remain on the left side of the aisle (not the center and not the right side).
3. Thou shalt not get impatient when others who are on their side of the aisle comparison shop because, one day, you might want to comparison shop too.
4. Thou shalt not scowl/ make rude gestures / curse at elderly people,disabled people, or children. They know not what they do.
5. Thou shalt not bring your children to the store if they do not know how to behave appropriately in public.
6. Thou shalt not bring your children to the store if YOU do not know how to behave appropriately in public: no slapping, yelling, threatening, or cursing your child for being childlike.
7. Thou shalt give the right-away to shoppers in the main aisle. When you come to the end of aisle three, stop, look both ways, and, if there is no oncoming traffic, proceed in an orderly fashion.
8. Thou shalt not enter the 10 Item or Less lane if you have 11 items.
9. Thou shalt not hold up the line to write a check. You know that you are going to write the check, so have your information on it in advance. You know the cashier is going to ask for your driver's license, so have it in your hand (don't fumble through your bag or wallet, like and idiot). Finally, do not proceed to tell the cashier about your bad day. He/ she does not want to hear it, and neither do the people behind you.

10. When you are through checking out, take your damn cart with you... don't leave it there for the person behind you to push out of the way.

Thanks and good shopping!

Answer 2

Hmmm - we must shop at the same store. Even though it sounds suspiciously like you're in the UK, and I'm in the US. ;-)

Don't forget the Annoying-Kid-Havers. The kids who throw things around, and shriek and scream. You must know these...

Then there's the Penny-Payers. Famous quote: "Oh, it's $2.87? I happen to have 287 pennies. 1.... 2... 3..."

And don't forget the Tandem Stoppers. These are the people who stop directly across from someone who's already stopped. The perfect combination of Aisle Cloggers and Bottleneckers.

Yesterday (no lie) I kept running into a woman who was pretty much ALL of the above! She was piloting one cart in front of her, and one behind her, each with a screaming kid it it.. She couldn't control either the carts or her kids. She turned into an Aisle clogger (straight down the middle so the out-of-control carts wouldn't veer into the aisles), a bottle necker (when she ran into her kid's teacher or something), a shopper, not looker (pretty much every corner) and of course an annoying kid haver (when her kid was out of the cart, and picked up something creepy from the ground - she actually made customer service come over and figure out what her kid picked up and why it was on the floor!). I was so irate, that I didn't stick around to see if she was a penny-payer or a Mrs. I'm In Line.

PS - I usually go grocery shopping at like 8:00 on a weeknight just to avoid people like this!

Internet grocery shopping is looking better and better!

Answer 3

The answer to that is so very simple, yes their should be supermarket etiquette, as in all places of business, to me, treat and others like you would want to be treated, boy the world would be such a nicer place if that were to happen... but I don't think some people will ever change, so I am afraid the problems in the supermarkets and other store's won't go away.. only you can do your part to do the right thing while shopping, and I found Patience is a virtue also.

Answer 4

I have set aside my etiquette to an etent in these situations. Instead of saying excuse me when I need to get by, I state the offense. "Ma'am, you're blocking the aisle." Sir, the cashier is waiting for you to get off the phone."

What has always baffled me is shoppers, and that's ALL shoppers, not just the grocery, get really rude jockeying around to get a parking spot 20 feet closer to the door when they're going to be walking 10, 20, 50, or 100 times the distance once they get inside. What difference does it make!

Answer 5

i'm a cashier and that i think of that's impolite. the only way i ought to locate that fairly justafiable is it you had an rather finished cart. i could additionally prefer to vent interior the food market ettiquette. I had woman who got here by way of my line with a large $350 order (a million /12 carts finished, user-friendly). As we've been having an excellent communication, she says do you concepts if i vent, and that i of course respond, no subject, i do it for all time. besides, she says, ya be attentive to i'm so ill so human beings merely status there, with their palms on their hips gawking at my extensive cart of groceries on a similar time as i'm buying interior the aisles. just to get 'em decrease back, I tell them I even have 10 young infants (she reported she quite basically had 2). She reported she shops each and every 3 weeks so of course she's gonna have multiple groceries. i think of it is so impolite how human beings choose individuals like that. I mean i ought to form of comprehend in case you're at verify-stand and have a small order and notice that order in front of you and you'd be annoyed. Ya be attentive to, if this exchange into nonetheless the trip season, i do no longer think of lots human beings could provide it lots a 2d concept because of the fact it could have gave the effect of multiple the different orders!

Answer 6

I know exactly what you are saying.. lets all block the whole aisle while we looking..you see i am trying to get by..won't move though.. and everyone feels like they have the right away.. sometimes i try to make a little joke about it.. they look at me like they want me dead..i really don't understand some people..i guess they are miserable and so they take it out on every person they come in contact with...

Answer 7

Don't forget about the people who have no idea that the person they just ran into with their 4 wheel drive shopping cargo container was already injured or ill before they were so rudely and abruptly assaulted. Then, they go muttering off as if they were the ones inconvenienced.

Answer 8

Of course there is supermarket etiquette, just as there is etiquette in any public place. You shouldn't magically turn on your "rude pig" switch when you walk into a supermarket, but sadly for you you have encountered a lot of rude people. Maybe you should write a letter to the local newspaper?

Answer 9

What you are searching for is a little common courtesy, which we lack severely in this country. There was a time when we didn't look out for #1, but for those around us. Now it's every man for himself. Because we've spent so much time listening to 'experts' tell us what is best for us, we have lost what once made us a great country...compassion.

Perhaps, as much as possible, if you show undeserved kindness to those who are rude, it may remind them of the courtesy they lack. Sometimes good deed are contagious.

Answer 10

You must be shopping at Walmart Supercenter. Walmart seems to attract the rudest, ghettoist shoppers out there. I don't experience those problems in Publix and Winn-Dixie. I only say, "Excuse Me" once, if they don't move, I proceed to move their cart and their azz out the way myself. I don't give a damn, if they are too ignorant to move to the side when they know someone is trying to get by, I do things my way. I also make comments loudly to them and dare them to say something back, they never do though.