Grocery Grievance. Good Grief!
 

Other than long lines, what annoys you at a grocery store?

I'm asking this because today I was at Walmart picking up a couple of items. Well, I'm not the most patient person in the world :rolleyes: but this lady was holding up the line in the self checkout lane. She was just standing there staring at the screen. Finally, the cashier walked up and pushed the "finish pay" button on the screen for her. That's all she had to do. I mean my gosh this isn't rocket science. I ended up going to a different lane and when I did there was a lady with way more than the 10-12 items or less that was required in that lane. OMG, so she forgets her wallet in the car. I was standing behind her with only 2 items, and I had to wait for her to go to the car to get her wallet. I was SO annoyed. Some people are just....ooooh!:mad:

When they do not have what I want to buy.

ummm... it's Walmart. Are you expecting the entire membership of Mensa to be shopping there? As the saying goes, it takes all kinds. And the more "interesting" of those kinds tend to spend a lot of time at Walmart.

Mensa?:confused:

Unless your only choices in town are Kroger and Walmart, then you see everyone in town at Walmart or drive a half hour to get to a real store. :)

Sometimes I really miss Pittsburgh.

What's wrong with Walmart?:confused:

Lol, but it is well known that Walmart also brings all of the crazy and stupid people out from wherever they're from. I live in a yuppie area with a Walmart nearby - I have no idea where some people shopping there come from.

Cheerfulgreek, go have a cup of coffee or something because you're clearly not awake yet.

I know, but with gas prices the way they are it's hard to justify driving in to Giant Eagle or Whole Foods, or even further to Sams or Costco.

Anyone use Schwan's? I'm thinking it might be a good alternative to cut down on grocery trips with summer looming!

I was talking about the stupid people Walmart brings out because it seems the OP was surprised that someone who's swimming in the shallow end of the gene pool was shopping in Walmart. :)

Thankfully I have a super-yuppie Shop 'n Save (with an in-store liquor store! Very much a rarity in PA) about 2 miles from me.

I usually go to Farmer Jack and I hate that they keep rearranging the aisles. LEAVE THE AISLES ALONE!!!
I'm sick of trying to find items on my list and everything has been moved to a different place in the store.

People on my street use Schwan's, and I thought it was a true convenience. Then, my brother, who lives 19 miles past the "Abandon All Hope" sign, told us that the locals near him use Schwan's a lot. As in, "HOO - EEEE! We're havin' Chicken COOR DON BLUE tanight!" But he does say that their ice cream is pretty good.

LeslieAGD, I hate when they rearrange the aisles, too. I make my grocery list according to aisles, and when they're changed, I feel like leaving the store. I also hate when I need just two or three things, and they're on opposite ends of a HUGE store - and the meat doesn't even look fresh. blech.

We used to have a cheer for walmart when I was in college...

Walmart! Walmart! That's our store!
We go there because we're POOR!

lol. I hate Walmart with a passion, but it's the only grocery store in this area that's open after 9. So there are times when I go. (Only to be grumbling the whole way through it.)

I'm loving the new Dollar General Market thing though. It's a DG with groceries. And it's very very cheap. I cut our grocery bill in half by going there, and then hitting Publix for the "name brand" things I need.

Spending too much for groceries pisses me off.
I live for finding bargains, lol.

honeychile, schwans have good food, but not cheap!:(

People with more food items in cart at the express lane and then writing a check after they find out the total cost. Hell, you are in the line and in the store, you know the name. Write it down with date and sig first as is being rung up!:mad:

Moving items from one place to another. Leave it alond so we can find it for crying out loud!

I hate mega stores! GRRRR!

What ever you are looking for is at the other end of the damn store.

20 minute trip turns into 1-2 hours!:rolleyes:

I generally avoid Walmart like the plague; the one we went to in MA (Framingham/Natick area) was highly annoying, and the one around here isn't much better. If I need cheap, bulk grocery stuff, I'll just go to Target. It's quicker, and they have a Starbucks to feed my caffeine addiction.

Wal-mart is bad...but you have not LIVED until you wait in line at an Army Commissary after payday!

I don't mind Walmart.

The thing that annoys me the most about grocery stores, and someone mentioned this, when someone gets in a line and they clearly have more than the allotted items and you are standing there with like 2 and they don't offer to let you go in front of them. Heck, if I've got a whole cartful of items (even in a regular check out line) and the person behind me only has like 2 things I always let them go before me.

cheefulgreek-your nicer than I would have been I would have insisted that the Walmart associate clear her damn "order" and let everyone else keep checking out. Why the hell should the rest of the customers suffer because this women had her head up her butt and forgot her wallet?

The single best cheefulgreek post ever!

AMEN.

I don't know how big your Commissary is, but the one within walking distance to my house (next to the PH NEX) is gigantic. On payday, the lines are so long and wrap around so many damn stantions -- they rival Disneyland's lines in the summertime!

Still, for those prices...they're definitely worth it.

Does your Commissary have those people waiting to help you to your car? Most of the time I don't need help carrying my bags to the car, but I hate that I'm usually obligated to tip them out even when I didn't need them in the first place. :mad: Usually they're kids or older people...so I can't really say no.

You live in MN and are shopping at Walmart instead of the beautiful pretty Targets on every other street corner?

Edit: My family used to use Schwan's a lot until we found out how heavily involved they are with a religion that doesn't like our kind. We'll still cave and get French Toast Sticks every once in a while but I always feel guilty eating them.

It's not like a shop at Walmart.:rolleyes: I mean, I needed toothpaste and Walmart just happened to be there, so I went in. I don't shop at Target either. To me they're both places I would go only to buy small things like toothpaste, deodorant ect. Stuff like that. Plus, I think the people there look pretty trashy, so of course I wouldn't be around people like that very long. Hey, a girl has to keep her pearly whites white. Thanks Walmart.:p

Target is full of trashy people?

Centaur and I fixed it for you.

Agreed!
Soooo....you only buy toiletries (deodorant and stuff like that) b/c the groceries are bad?!?
I wanna know too!?!?!

Oh those commissary lines...
 

Double AMEN! The payday lines at the commissary are the worst! The PX/BX/NEX are all pretty bad, too. But I hate the overseas commissary with a passion! They'll carry an item for all of a week or two, then yank it off the shelf, jsut as I'm getting used to it. And sometimes they won't carry something at all that I think is just ridiculous. I came home over Easter and fell in love with the cherry coke zero, but my manager at the overseas commissary looks at me like I'm an idiot for requesting them to carry it. And ours has the baggers, too, with a huge sign over the door that says "Baggers Work For Tips Only". That must be a sucky job. I try to be nice and give $5 to the guy who carries out the groceries and puts them in the car (over here, it's usually someone from a different country or a high school student). I know there are a lot of people around here that stiff the baggers.

The baggers! Yeah, I hardly ever carry cash so I end up paying them in euro or a handful of change.

I'm overseas right now and I know exactly what you mean about items being stocked. For instance you can buy the swiffer pads...but no handle. I couldn't find a bucket to clean my floors with for the last two months. The stuff they don't carry is so random also.

You'd take Wallyworld over Target because the people at Target are trashy...then what are the people at Walmart, pray tell?

Did you really just type that?

grrr. walmart.:mad:

last year i went on what i thought would be an empty Wednesday afternoon. i had neglected to remember that it was also the first of the month, so everyone within a 44 mile radius was there.

i got into the back of a line that had 14 people in it. i know this because i counted, and couldnt believe with 28 checkouts, there were 4 open. i waited so long, that half my frozen stuff, which i always get last, was near thawed. at the register, with a new 14 people in line behind me now, the girl smacks her gum, rolls her eyes, and slams down a "register closed" sign. "this lane is closed", she said with a bit more attitude than i liked. she never told the person in front of me that they were last (i always respect that.) she then proceeds to complain as loud as she can about how she hadnt taken her break (like i cared) and needed someone to count her drawer out. everyone in line behind me was simply amazed at the rudeness, so i turned around and said (very loudly) I'M LEAVING! AND IM LEAVING MY STUFF RIGHT HERE TOO! i left probably close to $150 in groceries right there, grabbed my purse and my kid, and about 7 other people did the same thing! i found a manager, told him what happened, and promptly left. i also made sure to tell him i would not shop at that location again, and now i use Kroger. i had a sick sense of satisfaction when i saw those 7 stuffed baskets in the middle of the main aisle with no people attached!

the moral of this story is: i will pay more for better service. dont you forget it...i also heard that cashier got fired. im not proud but it should serve as a lesson well learned.

OneTimeSBX hit on my peeve: when there are over 20 checkstands, but only 2 or 3 are manned. I can understand this if it's like 3am, but there's a store near where I used to work that was consistently staffed like this at prime shopping times. Of course each stand had a line going well down the aisles!

SisterH, the worst thing about that is the fact that i will be in line @ walmart and some manager will get on the loudspeaker and ask that all employees working the registers and are on break need to come back to their stations. i can just see them now, back there sucking down a twinkie and rolling their eyes! they need to fire a few people for that, that way when new cashiers come on board all the older employees will warn them "hey, mr. so-and-so is crazy as hell. if you are on your break you better get back up here quick so he doesnt fire you!!" and the problem would be solved.

that, and from what i hear some Walmarts dont treat their employees well. i had a girlfriend get fired for taking off for her wedding!!!

My very-union dad has forbidden all of his children from going into Walmart...i guess I've been trained well because I refuse to even go near the place. I look at the parking lot and all it looks like is a mass of baby strollers and minivans and I cannot stand crying children.

You are an idiot. Really. :rolleyes:

We have a local grocery chain here that promises their customers that if there are more than 3 people in line, they'll open another checkout stand. Most of the time these cashiers are busy doing other stuff, but usually there's one or two employees just floating around doing nothing.

Only time I will ever use a Wal Mart is to get shotgun shells, clay pigeons, and my yearly hunting license.

Other than that I use HEB, Brookshires, Central Market, and Whole Foods. Target is fine too.

You're so meeeeeeeean!

I feel spoiled. We have great supermarkets in the Seattle area...QFC (Kroger), Metropolitan Markets, Whole Foods, Top Foods, Red Apple, Fred Meyer (Kroger) and if necessary, Safeway and Albertson's (I'm only teasing).

We have hardly any Walmarts in the area - I think the closest to where I live is about 20-25 minutes away - and most of them don't even carry food. I won't shop at Walmart for various reasons, including that in the few times I've been in one I've felt like I was going to have an anxiety attack thanks to the chaotic atmosphere inside. Screaming kids and parents screaming back at them, crap from the aisles thrown all over the floor and shelves, and the place is like a maze to get through. If I want a deal, I go to Target, which we have way more of here.

Boy are not BIG stores great?

They run the smaller easier to shop stores!:mad:

I do not want to spend an hour when I could shop in 1/2 of the time and get it cheaper!:rolleyes:

Boy I miss the smaller store and would drive by the big one daily!:(

Yes. Yes I am. I thrive on picking on poor GC souls who make stupid comments & then whine about why they are getting picked on. ;)

I got so caught up in the stores themselves that I forgot to mention my pet peeves :)

All the major grocery chains here have "loyalty cards," which you have to sign up for and use in order to get the sale prices. I resisted using them for as long as I could, and actually boycotted some of the stores, until I couldn't anymore. I signed up using fake info., but anyone in marketing knows that that info. is easily matched up to personal identities when used with a debit card, and then that info. is used for marketing purposes.

I also hate it when I've bought something and get home to discover it's past the expiration date!

I go to Wal-Mart to practice my Spanish speaking skills and to buy Heroin.

Woman Caught Taking Heroin In Walmart.