View Full Version : Does food shopping stress you out?
I'm starting to really avoid food shopping, I literally hate going to the supermarket.
First off it's not very far away so I walk there but I have to cross my road at a point where people are either nailing it off the roundabout onto my road or slowing down from usually way over the 30 limit. So they nose dive the car and look all braced up inside because they are braking way harder than they would have to if they were sticking somewhere near the speed limit. Men regularly don't stop and glare at you standing at crossing, women always stop. ALWAYS, even if it means an emergency maneouver. Sometimes a child might fly into the front of the car from the back.
The kind of entrance parade to the supermarket is an open area with a couple of benches and it's either occupied by some down and outs drinking Tennents Super T (although they don't ever bother me) or it's a hoard of kids. Generally they are being unsavoury, spitting everywhere, making lots of noise and making it hard to get a clear walk through. Sometimes vandalising the place and I've called the police once.
Outside the entrance itself is street spam. The same middle-eastern guy selling the Big Issue who has been selling it there for the last 2 years or so, only now he's not the spotty teenager he was when he first turned up. This irritates me. Get a damn job or learn that I see you probably 2-3 times a week. Every time I walk past you say softly "Beeg Issuuuuue" and in 2 years I've never wanted to buy your magazine. That's potentially up to 300 times you've seen me, you must recognise me by now.
The shop is literally packed with people who have never seen a supermarket before, or at least have never been to this one. They don't know where anything is zigzagging from one thing back to another. Oh and they're blind too, they can't see me because they just push their trolley without looking what they are about to push it into: me. I can only assume they drive like that too so I'm glad I walk to the supermarket. The screaming kids. And how can little old dears take up so much space? Is it their right to push me out the way to get to their carrots?
On the subject of olds why is Friday in the Supermarket like walking into a geriatric ward in the hospital? These people have *all week* to do their shopping but they still choose to do it all on a Friday or Saturday morning. Then there are the screaming kids, don't get me started on the screaming kids.
So that's it, I've fought to get my items in my basket and I've made my way to a queue. The other queues naturally move faster than mine but that's not what's bothering me at this point. Why does the person behind me have to stand so close? This is my space and you are invading it. Their shopping bashes my legs or they shove their basket forwards and it touches the backs of my feet. Does it not register to these people that other people are there? Had the other queues not been going down quicker than mine I might have considered allowing them to go first and I'll run through the uncomfortably close procedure myself.
The belt on the packing end of the till powers all my shopping down to the end and forces the heavier shopping to crush my veg. The plastic packaging audibly warns the operator that it is in trouble but its screams of pain are ignored. I have loaded it on the other end so that it is comparted into veg, meat, dairy and finally bread but the operator manages to mix it all up thus foiling my plan of simple efficient packing as it comes through and my shopping ends up crushed.
But finally I'm free, back through the kids, take my life in my own hands crossing the road and I arrive home stressed, posting about it on the internet. Does shopping stress anyone else out?
Added to my blog (http://www.jonny69.co.uk/blog.htm) as usual for safe keeping...
Dymetrie
07-04-2007, 14:44
Tesco (www.tesco.com) ;)
Food shopping isnt stressful until you have to do it with three kids in tow. I read the riot act in the car park....1 step out of line and you're all back in the car and I'll shop slooooooowly in peace. They're learning, we managed to do a big shop and get as far as the checkout before I handed over the keys and told them to GET OUT OF MY SIGHT BEFORE I SELL YOU TO THE GYPSIES!!!!!!!!!!!!! The poor lady in front smiled at me and asked how much longer the Easter holidays had to go....nearly 2 weeks *gibbers*
Doesn't tend to bother me usually.
The only time I find it gets really stressful is if I go with my Dad or my Mum (One's got arthritis, one's got a neck injury) so I have to keep an eye out to make sure my Dad doesn't get too worn out and end up in pain too quickly, and that my Mum doesn't get whacked into by stupid idiots with their trolleys.
On my own though, it's fairly simple. I write the list beforehand, go in, get stuff, get out as fast as possible :D Reduces stress hugely that way.
Haly, I fully understand about the parents bit. My mother had rheumatoid arthritis and going shopping was an adventure in collision avoidance.
I learned at a VERY young age to put aside my respect for elders when we were in a shopping center. I was the small and nimble one that ended up running interference between my mum and the volley of shopping trolleys. Thankfully my brother (the american football linebacker built look alike) was the one to actually enforce my mother's space. When he put his 6'1" 235 pound zero body fat frame between an irate shopper and anything, that irate shopper was VERY quickly subdued.
I got quite good at the "You ran into me, I'm mortally wounded!!" routine.
One thing I was quite glad of, though. My mum was what people refer to as a power shopper. She always seemed to know EXACTLY where every single item she was looking for was located in the store, had made a complete list of what we were in there for, and had that list organised in order of how it would appear in the store. So my brother and I making a moving barrier for her was made additionally fun by the fact that we were doing it at an almost run!!
And Johnny, my mum also learned a rather funny way of dealing with checkers and bread. She told them flat out that if they crushed her bread, THEY were going back there to get a new one. Not calling someone to get another one, the checker themselves were running around the store to find the exact same brand and style, then bringing it back up. That generally meant that her bread and other crushables were packaged with the utmost care. She was always polite with them, but made it quite clear that things would get VERY ugly on their ass if they didn't do their job.
Oh, and Pebbles? As for my brother and I acting up in the store (yes, I realise you can't do this anymore) all it took was my mum reminding us of how big and thick my father's belt was to bring us VERY quickly back into line. One thing you did NOT do in our household was get mum pissed off enough to tell dad about it. You might as well just walk out in the middle of the road by Johnny's house and lay down. It would hurt less.....
Haly, I fully understand about the parents bit. My mother had rheumatoid arthritis and going shopping was an adventure in collision avoidance.
I learned at a VERY young age to put aside my respect for elders when we were in a shopping center. I was the small and nimble one that ended up running interference between my mum and the volley of shopping trolleys. Thankfully my brother (the american football linebacker built look alike) was the one to actually enforce my mother's space. When he put his 6'1" 235 pound zero body fat frame between an irate shopper and anything, that irate shopper was VERY quickly subdued.
That sounds extremely familiar to me! Although as there's only me, I had to be the small, nimble one dashing about AND the one to either take blows or try to get the other shopper out the way. Not so good for me as I'm only 5ft 4 now and was always little as a kid!
Just one of those things you get used to easily though :) I find myself still doing it when around able bodied friends too :D
We have to go to the 24 hours tescos quite late and I still take a dose of rescue rememdy before I go. I can't cope in crowds and I getreally stressed when people don't realise there are other people around. I've been ok ish the last few times but sometimes it gets to a point where I can't think and we just have to finish as soon as possible!
I say I've been ok - its not ok really as I can't go to a supermarket on my own :/
Was stressed this morning getting everyones breakfast kit. Was full, and I mean full of chavs buying crates of Stella and WKD Blue and Nurofen ;D
If I have to go out to do what I call the "big" shop it is always at 10pm earliest, although I generally do most of my shopping online now and get it delivered - for the cost of the fuel and the time to go out and do it myself, its worth the £4 delivery charge.
I then buy fresh/forgotten things as and when I need them on my way home from work.
I always prefer to get veg, meat, fruit myself so I don't end up with the stuff that has been cooked by the lighting or that has been used in a game of football out back
Just had to go and search for this blog entry I wrote about three years ago. It was a top ten list of things I hate (absolutely essential for every blog that has ever existed). Supermarkets was number one. I'll try and find the rest later...
1. The Public in Supermarkets
If there's something that really bugs me, moreso than anything, it's the other people you see at the supermarket.
I have trouble getting to sleep at night thinking about whether the general public sit at home and are inciteful, witty, self-aware and unselfish, and only become clumsy, bewildered and miopic on their weekly venture to the shops, as an escape from their usual pleasantness. I also imagine that their kids are polite and mostly silent at home, becoming akin to air-raid sirens with a sugar addiction the moment they set foot past the electric doors, which they forcibly prevent from shutting by dancing around in the entranceway, preventing me from entering the shop without smacking them to the floor. And I'd do it if no-one could see me. One cheeky chappy was today playing football with a discarded cardboard label right by the Scotch eggs. He soon shifted when I swung my basket dangerously.
If it were possible, I would make it so that when I went to the supermarket there would be no-one from the public there at all, save for a few who were employed to stand next to things I didn't want, like pickled eggs or barley; it would be too spooky if it was empty. Inevitably, the product I want is right next to the one someone else wants, and they're having trouble deciding if they should get it or not, blocking my path to the thing I decided I needed before I left the house so that I wouldn't be faffing around like a tit when I got here. If any of you have seen the film Dawn of the Dead you'll know that it involves a bunch of people trying to rid a shopping mall of zombies so they can live there without fear of their brains becoming lunch. The supermarket feels like that to me. The public are mindless zombies, totally unaware of anyone or anything around them, and they are relentless in their pursuit of brains, or in this case fresh bread and dairy creamer. I was in the bread aisle today and I went to walk between two trollies with my basket, when a woman pushing a third trolley suddenly decided she was going to walk straight through me. She was talking to herself (reeling off the items on her mental shopping list) and her eyes were glazed over. I had to wait for about ten seconds for her to make it through the gap since she clearly had no concept of the fact that I was waiting there and, as I went to walk through the now vacant space, she absent-mindedly said 'Thankyou'. The ****ing nerve. I almost turned round, slapped her and said 'I wasn't letting you through, I had no choice but to wait for your mind-numbingly slow frame to drag itself out of my way, you vacuous hag'.
A similar thing happened by the bacon. I was looking at the ridiculously wide range of bacon products and trying to select one that screamed 'quality' but had a price that whispered 'tight bastard', when I noticed that a woman with a trolley was also looking at the same items. I am constantly aware of what is going on around me, which is what amazes me when others don't extend the same courtesy, and took a step back so she could get to whatever it was she wanted (no-one has ever done this for me by the way). She immediately pushed her trolley into the space I had vacated and started browsing herself. I had to take a look around to see if anyone else had noticed this unbelievable act of selfishness, but then I remembered I was in the supermarket and amongst the most careless bunch of tossrags ever to convene in one place.
The staff are almost as bad as the customers, blocking aisles with hulking great cages-on-wheels that are inevitably parked in front of a whole bunch I stuff I need. Two whippersnappers today were having a high-volume conversation about football which is fairly rude in itself, but one of them was up a stepladder blocking the special offers section and the other was in a completely different aisle. I tell you what, there's nothing a customer loves more than a member of staff being simultaneously in the way and obnoxious, whilst shirking their minimum wage monkey-duties. When I worked in a supermarket we were lucky to get away with just one of those.
That's right, I worked in a supermarket. In fact it was that exact supermarket. My opinion of the customers has not changed since I worked there, except that not only did the customers used to get in the way, they also asked inane questions. Some weren't even questions:
"Excuse me young man, I'm looking for Goodfella's". How very nice for you. I'm not of that persuasion but thanks for the offer.
"Can you tell me where I can find fish?" In the sea madam.
"Where's the ketchup mate?" It's over there, three inches to the right of where you were looking before. "Oh yeah! I must be going blind!" Maybe! Or perhaps you need me to walk you 'round the shop holding your hand like some sort of crazy orangutan trainer.
I'm getting a little off the point here but maybe now you can see why this annoys me so much. I haven't even mentioned the people who browse a shelf whilst holding on to their trolley at arm's length across the aisle, or those that go shopping together and go 'round the shop side by side with a child inbetween the trollies, blocking an entire corridor. And don't even get me started on the people who only go there because it's the only chance they get to see old friends and spend half an hour taking up a moron-shaped space in the meat aisle. Only today I went to go through the gap inbetween the aisles and there were two trollies at the sides and two people in the middle blocking the gap and chatting. I had to go and physically stand in front of them before they reluctantly moved, like it was a great effort to do so and I had spoilt their day or something. ****s.
Well I'm glad I got all that off my chest. I hope it helped you as much it has helped me. Cheers.
I don't mind shopping so much anymore, only when i am with Martin do i get stressed out. He hides things in the trolly that he wants and i don't usually notice for a while or until we get to the checkout. I try to make lists but i'm much better at finding my was round a b&q than any supermarket.
This is Paula, forgot to sign Durz out.
Mohinder
07-04-2007, 18:47
I don't know, I'll ask my mum
hohohoho
I don't know, I'll ask my mum
hohohoho
*clips Mohinders ear*
...took a step back so she could get to whatever it was she wanted (no-one has ever done this for me by the way). She immediately pushed her trolley into the space I had vacated and started browsing herself. I had to take a look around to see if anyone else had noticed this unbelievable act of selfishness, but then I remembered I was in the supermarket...
Class reading :D
I guess I'm fairly lucky that my supermarket opens at 6AM.
Best time to shop. When everyone else is still trying to figure out how to operate the snooze function....
*clips Mohinders ear*
You're married aren't you?
****.
You're married aren't you?
****.
*Clips Wryels ear too*
tis but a piece of paper :evil:
Kell_ee001
08-04-2007, 13:57
Shopping by myself is easy as pie - go in, have a wonder round and get whatever I fancy. Go home, unpack, realise I've forgotten most of what I need and vow to write a list next time... repeat the following week! ;D
With my parents, like Haly I need to be careful as they are both ill and have a lot of trouble walking so trolley avoidance and slow speeds are required, but I've got used to it. Mum consentrates on getting things she needs off a list, Dad runs off within seconds like a toddler to find something we will pass sooner or later but he's decided he wants there and then, and then the fun at the check out when Mum is in the way of me packing and Dads disappeared again! :D
With my flatmates on the odd occasion I'm being nice and take Dana in the car when Jennie and I go, I get lumbered with the trolley and they both run in opposite directions for all the heavy stuff they'll need for the next few months. I figure they're big enough to look after themselves though and shop as if I'm on my own - they can come find me! :p
I LOVE food shopping, it's so much fun!
Alone I buy all sorts of crap as well as new recipes I make up as I see the BOGOF's or 2 for £1 offers (my house mates love it).
And with my mum, I just chuck in any old anything and she buys it all, teehee hee! She hates shopping with me...
Stan_Lite
08-04-2007, 14:51
Tesco's online ftw.
I detest supermarket shopping with a passion.
One of the worst things is people who suddenly stop in the middle of an aisle without checking to see if they're causing an inconvenience to anyone or even if there's a risk of being clipped by the trolley behind - you need to keep about 6 feet between you and the person in front in case they're a stopper.
I had to stop going to the supermarket as I got so frustrated I was actually swearing at people and ran the risk of being ejected if anybody complained :embarassed:
Stan :)
Supermarket shopping used to be one of my ultimate hates, it really used to stress me out. Its not so much the shop, it was the constant "**** you" attitude displayed from the moment you walk through the door.
The number of times I got smacked in the legs. A good example is some old biddy stops at the front of the isle, causing a traffic jam. At which some evil person comes and rams their trolley into the back of your legs. I used to return the favour with twice the force, it got the message across.
Today I just amble round and don't get stressed about it. For instance someone dives in with their trolley and gets to the baked beans first .... bah I can wait for one of the other 300 tins on the shelf :) It might take 20mins longer to get around, but i'm still smiling at the end of it. The advantage is that i'm friendly at the checkouts and they always pack my bags, without me asking or even them mentioning it :)
-------------------------------------------------
A little side diversion if I may here and chat about the underground. I plain flat refuse to stress out about the underground. For instance is getting the 7:50 underground really matter compared to the 7:53 or 7:55?? A good example is on Thursday I had a very important meeting at 9am with the head of SI UK. I was late due to the underground, nobody was worried as they all know what the underground is like.
My colleague was on the same train and sprinted to the meeting. He arrived a state, bright red sweating all over the place. I arrived 5mins later and immediately dived straight in and hit the point. Maybe i'm too late but a 5-10min delay isn't the end of the world. Hell, even 30mins is fine really :/
I HATE being late and I HATE the underground with a passion, so I'm disagreeing majorly with you Zirax.
I had to be in surgery for 8am last friday and got on the tube at Mile End to get to whitechapel (2 bloody stops for god's sake!) at 7:40. "Signal failure" kept me on the train until 8.05 and we got to Stepney green in that time, so I had to get off and get the bus to whitechapel from stepney.....
I got in at 8.20 after leaving soooo much time! I was actually ready to kill somebody!!!
I drive past Waitrose on the way home from work so I find it quite easy to do. It's usually relatively empty to and the people who shop there just seem to get on with it rather than dawdle. It doesn't bother me as I know exactly what I want and go straight in get what I want. The selection is great too and I find it fun as I often get inspiration for what I want to eat when there. But I tend to do 2 or 3 little shops rather than 1 big shop as I don't know when I'm away etc... Though obviously if my folks go shopping then I have less to do myself. But sometimes we go as a family which is quite nice. However I prefer going by myself - it gives me time to think and escape a little.
Supermarket shopping itself is alright, it's just the hordes of bellends there at the same time as me that cause the problems.
I have to agree with Belmit and his wonderful blog excerpt - people have absolutely no self-awareness, no spatial awareness, no awareness full stop it seems.
I can't go shopping in the day, I'm at work.
I can't go at night, there's no stock on the shelves, it's all spread through the aisles on trolleys and in outers.
I can't go on Friday night or the weekend, because the shops are packed with mongs.
When I do go (10pm on Tuesday night seems to be a good slot) I'm pretty crap at it. I forget what I needed and buy wine, brie, smoked salmon, cheese, biscuits, pringles and peanuts instead of stuff I require.
I dont find supermarkets too bad, but thats probably because I tend to go at 1am :p Almost totally empty which is good, and with it being a stupidly sized asda, I find that there are plenty of people about stocking the shelves etc so most of the stuff I buy is in stock. The only thing that I do find irritating is the fact that they only seem to have one or two checkouts on at that time - which means that invariably there is a gigantic queue. Totally senseless.
No, what really gets me riled is the sort of person that willingly shops at places like the Trafford Centre. At no time of the day can you go there and not come across literally hundreds of doddering old people with hundreds of screaming/running small children orbiting them. So, you are trying to get to a shop to get the one thing that you need and before you know it you are stuck behind a roadblock of old people stopping you from moving at a decent pace whilst kids pound into your legs from all angles.
ARGH! all of the shopping is getting to me - lets go take a break and get some food. WRONG! Bad idea - the whole of the food court area is swarming with people that are even more indecisive than the cretins in the normal shopping area - only this time they are out to splatter the floor with your freshly bought food. Thats assuming that you actually GET to the food counter before you expire - the queues of people umming and aahing over which type of quarter pounder they should buy are bad enough, but the little chinese girl that arrived in the UK just moments before starting her shift that cant understand a bloody word is even worse...
If it wasnt air conditioned, the next Hungerford-style massacre would take place in there, I'm sure of it.
Don't really like food shopping because it's just an inconvenience and takes time out of my day that I'd rather spend doing something else. However, I'm more likely to come back with what's actually on the list than Leon is and always make a list because I'm useless at remembering stuff.
I also hate all other shoppers. They're so slow and block up the ailses. Anyone would think they go and do it as part of their leisure time... it's like old people and garden centres :angry: Bah!
I've used Tesco Direct a few times and it way pretty damn good!
Von Smallhausen
09-04-2007, 10:07
Any professionalism and restraint goes out of the window when in a supermarket when some granny is in front of me with a trolley travelling at 12 nanometres per hour ....
HOW MAN ....... SHIFT !
I get my pasta, tuna, pesto and chicken then vamoose. I do like old people but they always seem to get to the checkout before me and take 3 hours to pay for some mints, tissues, Whiskas biscuits and teabags.
There should be special supermarkets for the elderly with travellators and seats ... like the Jetson's. ASDA, Tesco etc take note. I will settle for use of copyright for a riverside apartment, an Audi RS4 in black with red leather seats and the Auf Wiedershen box set.
semi-pro waster
09-04-2007, 11:35
I don't mind the idea of shopping particularly, in fact if it wasn't for people I'd be fine with it. As it is I try and go shopping late at night or in the middle of the day when most people are working but that still leaves me with all the pensioners who seem to have decided to take advantage of the free bus passes and the fact that the store is warm to spend all day inside.
The best solution I've yet found is to wander about with a slightly glazed look on my face, head down and ignoring everything. The amount of times I've walked past mates in the street for this reason is embarrassing though. :)
Justsomebloke
09-04-2007, 12:39
Personally i quite like going shopping but then i am a sociable kind of guy who chats to anyone & everyone.
I love creeping up behind old biddys and then shouting Oi come on Girl get a Move on will ya, then laughing in there faces as they turn round.
I daydream a Lot & find myself bumping into people and crashing into things quite a bit. This is ammusing for me and whoever i am bumping in to. I chat to all the girls in the shop and flirt a lot hoping there may be some new riding material about.
Life and everything that it involves is an experience to me, I try to enjoy whatever i am doing at the time no matter how mundane. I use the local Co-Op shop which is full of grannys, we have old women behind the tills, filling shelves & generally getting in the way. I shout at them for getting in the way i shout at them for having a Que at the tills, then i just piss myself laughing & others join in.
Good looking women get jumped on and have to avoid me blocking there path so i can compliment there norks or legs or whatever it is that has caught my eye. If they are proper ladys then just a cheeky smiley & a Loud "Bliiiiiiiiinding" will do, if i think they are up for a laugh then i'll make some brash comment and give my bestest cheeky grin.
Now having said all that i don't get to go shopping much these days as my current woman has been doing my shopping for me. She does it all and just brings it round leaving it in her car for me to go out & collect.
Nice people say Wow what a woman, you lucky git but synical people know she only does it to stop me going out and Flirting as much as i do ;D
Nowadays i can be found wandering around town Daydreaming and flirting and generally pestering sexy looking women.
The shops i use miss me when i don't go in so a visit to the Co-Op to freak a few old grannys out is not uncommon whether i need anything or not. As soon as i go in they shout at me and ask where i've been, then take the piss out of me for having a woman doing everything for me.
I have always found supermarkets great places to meet women & socialise which is probably why my shopping privilages have been denied. I like women & there are loads in supermarkets.
One of my oldest and favourite tricks for an introduction is Putting my WTF am i s'posed to do with this **** look on my face then looking completely helpess at the closest sexy women to me, holding the product out in a sad i need help kind of way of course :evil:
See, some people look for air miles or rewards when they shop, I look for women. No better reward than coming home with a few phone numbers with your Eggs & bacon ;)
Polite note.
Don't disrespect grannys, they were quite shaggable twenty years ago :) + ;D
Von Smallhausen
09-04-2007, 13:00
Polite note.
Don't disrespect grannys, they were quite shaggable twenty years ago :) + ;D
ROFL !
Polite note.
Don't disrespect grannys, they were quite shaggable twenty years ago :) + ;D
In their 50's? EEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!
:D
I don't mind shopping... prefer to do it at 11pm though... but unfortunately when people aren't around there also tends to be no food around either :( so the whole list isn't purchased.
Just realised my biggest bugbear of it all is that things go out of date too easily... cooking for one isn't very exciting and things get wasted (just found 12 yoghurts which went out of date on 7 april :(, several potatoes and some carrots)
And if I cook too much because I don't like to eat food I end up eating it all :embarassed:
BB x
12 yoghurts which went out of date on 7 april :(, several potatoes and some carrots
The yoghurts'll be good for another week most likely, and potatoes are only worth chucking once you have to expend more calories snapping off the tendrils than they actually contain. :D
Carrots, however, turn to orange water pretty quickly.
The yoghurts'll be good for another week most likely, and potatoes are only worth chucking once you have to expend more calories snapping off the tendrils than they actually contain. :D
Carrots, however, turn to orange water pretty quickly.
\o/ they are petit filous's anyway so I munch two at a time.
If I get poisoned by the potatoes though - on your head be it Belmit dude :p
BB x
If I get poisoned by the potatoes though - on your head be it Belmit dude :p
It's round and bald so it won't stay on it for long :p
I get stressed going with 3 kids so I order it online ;D
It's round and bald so it won't stay on it for long :p
Hahaha! The imagery... ;D
Hahaha! The imagery... ;D
Had a feeling you'd appreciate the anecdote :D
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