Pet Peeve #3 - I Think

Some of my worst pet peeves come from people in the supermarket. The reason I say this is because I went there today just to get a couple of things for dinner and some essentials. It should have only taken me about 15 minutes but it took longer because of the stupid shit I had to deal with while I was there. I’m not perfect and I never claimed to be; I’m sure I tick off people all the time, too. But whatever I’ve done is not the same crap that ticks me off at the store.

To begin with, why can’t the items in the store that belong together all be placed on the shelves together? I took Dolly to the store with me and the first stop was produce. We were on the hunt for bananas – found them; onions – found them; acorn squash – found them. The problems arose when we started looking for apples, broccoli crowns, and mushrooms – so many kinds of each all placed in different sections of the department. Three different kinds of apples were individuals and in the same aisle; the bagged, lower priced apples were all in a different aisle, and some were on an end cap even though they weren’t on sale.

The broccoli crowns were in the front of the department and the back of the department meaning that I had to look through both to see which were the fresher of the bunch. Then we couldn’t find any whole baby Bellas. We found some already cut, and dozens of whole white mushrooms in two different places. No whole baby Bellas anywhere. Buying them already cut is fine except that the price per pound is higher when the store does the work already. The sales guy told me that they don’t get new produce on Sundays so whatever was there was all they had. If they didn’t get a fresh delivery today why were they listing the broccoli crowns as “Fresh” when they obviously didn’t arrive today? Hmmm…

We got our produce and headed to find some hot dogs. There were lots of hot dogs all in the same place but they were blocked by some dude who was buying a butt-load of bacon. I’m guessing it was for some dish being made on Thanksgiving (I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt on that) but why did he have to park his cart in front of a section he wasn’t even searching? I had to stand there and wait for him to move because some lady was blocking the aisle in the other direction. We couldn’t reach the frozen juice for the same reason.

A lady pushing her two grandchildren in the tremendous cart with the two big red seats attached decided she wanted to peruse the frozen foods at the end of the aisle and left her cart, and grandchildren, parked across the entrance to the frozen food aisle. When I said “Excuse me” she looked at me, said, “Oh, I’m sorry” and pushed her cart in the exact direction I was walking, stopped to look at something in the frozen food section and parked her cart guess where – right in front of the frozen juice. Are you kidding me? Are people that oblivious to others that they can’t pay attention to what’s going on around them? Just like when I’m driving I spend my time looking all around me; when I’m shopping I do it to make sure I’m not holding up another shopper. Am I the only one who does that?

We got our goods and headed for the register. First things first – why are there self-check stations at stores today? I thought part of what I’m paying for goes to pay the salaries of the store employees. If I’m checking out my own groceries shouldn’t I get a discount? There’s no salary to be paid when there isn’t a cashier there. I went through a full serve register and left the self-serve registers for others today. I’ve used them in the past when I’ve had two or three items; I just thought I’d mention my issue with them tonight.

Anyway, we got on line, loaded our food, and waited for the people in front of us to complain about the ten cents they didn’t receive off an item that should have been on sale. It was TEN CENTS!!! Holy shit, I’ll give you the fucking dime if you’ll just shut up and be done. I didn’t say it but I sure was thinking it. They didn’t take the item, by the way, because it wasn’t on sale like they thought it was. They paid and left and thank goodness they paid with a bank or credit card. Had they pulled out a check my head might have exploded.

I got stuck behind a lady the other day who hadn’t bothered to make out the check before she got to the store so I got to wait for her to write out the check, recheck the amount, then write it in her check register before she finally put her crap in her pocketbook, gathered her receipt, and was on her way. Don’t do that!! If you’re going to write out a check and you know it ahead of time (some people don’t simply because they don’t know how much they’ll be spending) fill out the entire check before you walk into the store; leave only the amount areas blank. You know who the check is written to, you know the date, and you know your name; be ready when you’re on that line and stop holding up the rest of us.

We finally got out of the store after 45 minutes and headed home. I told you I hate shopping and that’s just a portion of why I hate it. I don’t like being around people who have no consideration for others. I think the next time I go shopping I’ll do some of the same things that are done to me and see how people like it. I doubt I will though because it’s no fun pissing off people for no reason. I just with others felt the same. Sometimes I wish magic was real and I could just zap up whatever I need. Since that won’t happen, though, I’ll have to deal with the bullshit that comes my way and try to smile through it. If I can’t smile, I’ll gripe to all of you. Just don’t get ticked off at me if you see yourself in my words; I just tell it like I see it.

Until next time…peace to all.