The biggest supermarket annoyances
Say wine, snacks or haute cuisine and the gourmands at online food magazine FavorFlav know where to drink, how to eat it and what to cook. This time our cheffies serve you: the biggest supermarket annoyances.
Besides dirty carts, warm coins, and unruly children, there are many more supermarket annoyances, we read in the comments on the article. 12x what supermarket employees find super annoying. We selected the tastiest: ‘I once got a half-chewed spit banana at my register. And if you say something about it…’
Little banana for on the go
Some people give their children something tasty to eat in the supermarket. Maybe the only way to keep junior quiet, maybe little Avalanche or Roderick-Willem would otherwise suffer a traumatic hunger pang, you never know. But to put such a slobbered currant bun on the conveyor belt… ‘I once got a half-chewed spit banana at my register,’ Marleen tells. ‘Eww! But oh dear if you say something about it, because then you don’t understand that the child is ‘just hungry.’
Can I help you?
Astrid presents herself very customer-friendly, but is that appreciated by everyone? ‘And if you ask an old person: ‘Can I help you?’, you get a big mouth. ‘I’m not disabled or stupid’ (while they can barely move forward with the walker). That look in their eyes then!’
You are air, you are invisible
‘Nothing is more annoying than customers who outright ignore you, feel too important to even give you a glance, find their phone conversation more important, and continue chatting with the neighbor while they throw you the money. As if you don’t exist,’ describes Willeke.
Important phone call in between
Customers on the phone at the register is definitely a thing. Suzy can relate: ‘When people keep calling or are busy with their phone while they should be packing or if they unpack their cart with one hand while their other hand is free, those are also annoying situations.’ Linda knows what you can do about customers who just keep calling. ‘Then I shout extra loud: ‘GOOD DAY AND THANK YOU!’ Willeke has a better solution: ’My mother taught me that it’s rude to disturb people who are in conversation. So I sit back a bit and wait until other customers in line start to interfere. Guaranteed success.‘
It’s about the principle
Mistakes are human. So if someone discovers a mistake on their receipt: no problem. But the situation Bart describes goes a bit too far… ‘When another Gerda has checked out and goes to check the receipt a meter away, only to find out she has paid twenty whole cents too much. Waving the receipt at the cashier and yelling that she has been wronged and that this needs to be resolved. That’s what we have the fucking service desk for, Gerda! And then ending with: ‘It’s not about those twenty cents, but about the principle.’ ARGH!’
Stop, stop, Gerda doesn’t find it fun anymore
Response to the irritation Bart describes: ‘Thank you for putting me in a bad light. You didn’t have to mention a name. Now they think everyone named Gerda acts like that.’ Signed: Gerda.
Nice wet receipt
Ooh, Denise describes a huge irritation. Gross too, and recognizable. ‘When the customer is placing her groceries on the belt and keeps the packaging slip between her lips. You get such a half-wet receipt.’
Just throw it there
Groceries that are put back in the wrong place are a major annoyance for supermarket employees. ‘They eat croissants and then put the packaging by the soft drinks,’ says Anita. Or even crazier: in the freezer. ‘Grab custard, fresh pastries, sandwich spread, and a jar of peanut butter. All found once in the freezer. Also found ice cream with the chips or meat with the soft drinks.’ It can get even crazier: at An’s register… A full cart was left behind. ‘Because there are too many people at the register, we (who have too much time anyway) have to clean it up.’
Where are you going to pack?
A long line, as a cashier you try to work through everything as well and efficiently as possible and then… a slow packer sticks a stick in the oiled wheel. Ada’s frustration: ‘That people take their time packing their bags at the register when there’s a line from here to Tokyo. What do you think about driving your cart to the packing table and putting your items in the bag there?’
Catch!
‘Coins that are actually thrown at you,’ writes An. ‘I then feel the urge to throw the change back.’
Hear and counter-hear
A customer asked Johan if there was still sauerkraut. Johan went to the cold storage: no, sauerkraut is out. ‘So I told the customer that. Thirty seconds later she asked the big boss, who had the same answer. Don’t ask me if you don’t believe me!’
Do you work here?
They sometimes fly low over, notes Ewout: ‘Customers who ask you if you work here (while you’re wearing the supermarket uniform).’
Don’t make the supermarket lady angry!
Parents threaten their offspring with ‘just watch out that you don’t make the store lady angry,’ Ada knows. ‘Raise your children yourself and don’t make cashiers into witches!’
Tap, tap, tap: KEEP WORKING
Everyone is in a hurry at the register. And some customers let that be known in an annoying way. ‘Tapping their fingers on the belt,’ says Tineke. ‘Or waving their customer card while you’re still busy with the previous customer.’
