I have the SC mentality, sometimes...

[mjr]

I'll admit it. I do.

First and foremost, I try very hard to treat employees of the various places that I frequent with dignity, courtesy, and respect. I've even started instilling that in my son. He will sometimes mess up things in the grocery store, and I'll have him put it back on the shelf neatly, and tell him "The employees here work very hard to put that stuff on the shelves. Don't mess it up like that."

Anyway, where my SC-ness starts is generally at the grocery store. And I keep it to myself. I'm a SC about other customers. I have very low tolerance for "other" customers. That's not to say I'm selfish or greedy, because it's the supermarket, but it's like people don't know how to shop. What's interesting about this, and my wife has said this to me before, in a lot of circumstances, I have the patience of Job. Other times, I have absolutely zero patience and zero tolerance.

Generally, I get a little irritated at "The Socialite". I feel like telling them "STFU AND GET THE HECK OUT OF MY WAY!!! I'M TRYING TO SHOP!!!"

But I keep it to myself.

Another thing that drives me batty is the people who park their cart in the middle of the aisle, blocking the whole thing, and stand there staring at the shelf. Pull your cart to one side, moron. I'm trying to get by!

When I go to the grocery store, I'm there to shop. I'm not there to lollygag. I want to get in, get my groceries, and get the heck out! When I see someone I know and want to talk to (yes, I'm guilty of this), I try to step off to the side, out of other people's way.

I jokingly wish that sometimes I could get the grocery store people to lock everyone else out until I was done with my shopping. I know that's mean...

Sometimes I also wish I had my own private checkout line.

I've seriously thought about writing a small book or essay about "supermarket etiquette". Because it's obvious to me that most people don't know how to shop.

Sometimes I feel like Sheldon Cooper, Ph.D.: "I cry because others are stupid, and it makes me sad."

[aulocksmith]

That's not an SC mentality, at least in my book. I have the exact same attitude. I'm there to get what I need and then get the hell out so staff can keeo on going about their business with minimal interference from me.

The other customers I really hate are the ones that come barrelling at me at about 100kph with a cart, so I step out of the way to let them past, and they just stop dead where I was trying to choose between a couple of things.

That drives me all sorts of insane and they usually end up with me stare of death at their backs.

[Food Lady]

I am the same way, except the in-a-hurry part. What I mean is that I don't block aisles, don't amble along, look before I come out of an aisle into the main aisle, etc. I do lollygag, but I stay out of everyone else's way while I do it.

[Seshat]

On the rare occasions when I'm at a supermarket, I *am* slow. And I am likely - especially towards the end of a trip - to not be paying much attention to anything but my specific purpose.

It's because of my disabilities. I can't be fast; and shopping wears me out so badly that by the time I'm at the checkout, I can barely think. And without someone to guide me to the car, I'd probably walk out right into traffic.

But even I try to stay on the left side of the aisle (Australia - we drive on the left side of the road, so it makes sense to me to keep to that convention in other 'traffic' situations). I try to maintain enough situational awareness to offer to move if I seem to be in someone's way.

If I am in your way, and fail to notice, please, please tell me. But politely. 'Excuse me, but can I get to the baked beans please?' is all I need. It'll wake me up, I'll look to the stuff I'm next to, murmur whatever approximation of 'sorry' I can manage, and move out of your way.


IOW: you don't know what problems might be causing someone to be slow or unobservant. BUT: people who have such problems should be perfectly willing to accept a polite (verbal!*) nudge.
* if a verbal nudge doesn't work, get into their line of sight and gesture while speaking clearly - they might be deaf. The clear speech is so they can lip-read you.

[Dreamstalker]

Another thing that drives me batty is the people who park their cart in the middle of the aisle, blocking the whole thing, and stand there staring at the shelf. Pull your cart to one side, moron. I'm trying to get by!

Oh, I cannot stand this when I'm doing returns. I get yelled at if I dare ask an SC to move or touch a cart to move it an inch, and I also get yelled at when I leave my cart for ten seconds to put something back in a crowded aisle (I make sure my cart is as close to a shelf/wall as possible and out of the way before leaving it). Once, some idiot actually shoved the returns cart into my legs to get to something on the shelf...I thought people learned how to ask for things in nursery school.

[MoonCat]

Seshat is correct as far as people who are just kind of standing there. They may be tired, ill, upset about something awful that just happened in their lives, etc. And someone with a disability (even one that's not obvious) may be slower than others.

MJR is also correct about those who park their carts right across the aisle while they (pick one): Argue with their kid(s), wander off looking for something that's all the way down at the other end of the aisle, or study two different brands of mac & cheese with all the intensity of Stephen Hawking viewing an outer-space anomaly. It doesn't take a great deal of acumen to be a little bit more considerate. It's not that they're slow: It's that they're getting in everyone else's way, when all it would take to not get in the way is to move their cart to the side.

The ones who gather for what I like to call "family reunion time" in the middle of an aisle, or right in front of the doors, are the most annoying of all. It's especially irritating when they do this in front of the registers, because you can't tell if they're in line or just blocking the road. I have politely asked people like this if they're in line and have gotten that "god, you're rude!" look for daring to interrupt their story of what little Jimmy did last night or where they're going on vacation. Again, it doesn't take that much common sense to keep out of the way.

I try to accord everyone the respect I would like to receive. For older people, little kids, people in wheelchairs, using walkers or crutches, etc., I try to be patient and understanding. I just have very little patience for those who act like they are the only ones there, and unfortunately, there sure are a lot of them around.

[Gizmo]

I jokingly wish that sometimes I could get the grocery store people to lock everyone else out until I was done with my shopping. I know that's mean...

We actually got (nearly) this once. Due to the credit card hubby held we had a special Cardholder only invite to 2hr shopping time period on a Sunday morning in one of the major toy stores in London. The place is normally packed and horrible to see/get round but there were less than 30 people in the store so it was heavenly!

In supermarkets I tend to seem to attract the 'pinwheel' gossipers - they stand in the middle and skew their trolleys out behind them and 3 people can similtaniously block off the centre aisle and the two nearest it... with their screaming kids running all around them and in front of my trolley.

[Shpepper]

All that the OP said, is the reason that I LOVE 24 hour markets. I will shop at 2 am, just to avoid other people.

[gerund]

I went shopping at the supermarket yesterday. There were only a few lollygaggers and aisle blockers, but the old lady at the checkout made me want to scream (at her).

By the looks of her she has been shopping for at least 40 years, so why was it such a huge surprise for her when the checkout operator asked her for money? The supermarket has a screen that shows a running total so she knew what her groceries were going to cost for some time before the operator asked her for money.

But did she have some part of this done so she would be able to pay and get out of my way? This is "Customers Suck" and she was a SC for sure.

First there was the look of surprise. It was like "Oh! They want money" Then came the groping for the bag, the search for the zip and slowly getting a purse out. If that was the end of it, I would not be frustrated.

No! Then the purse was slowly opened, a bundle of money eased out and the rubber band slowly pushed off the bundle. Several notes were handed to the operator, then the money was tied up with the rubber band, put back in the purse, the purse zipped and put back into the bag.

Then another purse was slowly pulled from the bag. Unzipped, some more notes counted out, then another zip was opened and some coins were passed over.

All the while the operator was standing, waiting. I was standing, waiting. There was some change (finally) and we all waited while it was put back into the coin side of the purse, the purse zipped up and slowly put back into the bag. Then the bag was zipped and the SC slowly shuffled off with her trolly.

I know old people are slow. My mother has a demotivational poster on her refrigerator that says "URGENCY - I only have two speeds and if you don't like this one, then you're not going to be happy about the other."

This SC wasn't so much slow, as stupid and disorganized and slow and frustrating and slow and slow.

[PepperElf]

But I keep it to myself.

To me your "behavior" isn't SC at all. It's normal to get annoyed with other people sometimes. However you also said that you keep this to yourself. and THAT'S what matters the most. Even if you're screaming at someone in your mind, thinking all sorts of horrible curses on them or bad things you want to happen to them... it doesn't matter. If you keep it to yourself then you have nothing to apologize for.


Cos... In my opinion EVERYONE has their moods and times where they cannot stand or hate the other people shopping. The difference is, whether or not they actually take it out on others.


Me.... I hate clusters of people crowding around me - sometimes. It depends on my stress level really. Other than trying to get away from people who seem to like being right up on top of others (grumble) I keep it to myself.

Oh and stressed out when there's screaming kids! Sometimes I'd really LOVE to rip the parents a new asshole - and possibly scare the kids into silence, but I know it wouldn't go the way it does in my mind. And then I'd feel like an asshole. So yeah I keep it to myself and just move away from them.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Screaming kid noise makes me feel like going into a full blown meltdown... which I try to avoid now that I'm a grownup, but still, it does.

Once on a bus and once at the cinema I was provoked into telling annoying children kicking the back of my seat that I would break their legs... but generally, I try to block it out with the bitchy internal monologue that plays in my head. Honestly, if anyone could ever hear this, I'd sound like a right cow. XD I just hope I don't ever meet someone with mindreading abilities.