Just back from doing the weekly shop...

Stop whingeing Hog!

It can't be worse than waiting in every bloody clothes shop you come across (that don't provide a bored husbands' chair!!) while the gaffer feels every item on the racks, at least twice, then goes round and feels a few more for a third time. Then she takes a couple to the changing room and tries them on, only to put them back as they are the wrong colour.
What I don't understand is how the colour changed between the rack and the changing room??  

Dave

I noticed that in Asda, the 'pickers' all use carrier bags and take them to their trolleys parked out of the way.

PB

Where my wife works (Iceland Frozen Foods) all home deliveries have to be picked before store opens at 8am. 
24hour stores could pick overnight but then there would have to a cut-off time for orders.

Just don't mention shoe shops!

Mrs Gromit is on first name terms with the owners of shops all over the UK - and France.

We just had a holiday in Brittany and one of the stops had to be the excellent free Aire in the middle of Josselin. (Lovely place btw, and well worth a visit.) She had seen an advert in a magazine for a pair of Mephisto boots that she really fancied, but they are pretty expensive as a rule.

"I wonder if that shop in Josselin would have them?" she said as we planned the holiday - assuming of course that I understood immediately where she meant by, "That shop!"     I did in fact, because we had been there the year before. It's an outlet shop that has a lot of dross, but one part is reserved for top quality shoes - probably from shop closures or over stocking.

So in we went and yes - the miracle did happen, and they had almost the identical boots at about half price. They also had a pair of Mephisto shoes that I fancied, also at half price, so the wallet was forcefully prized open, creaking loudly as it gave up the struggle!

Lovely town Josselin - even without the shoe shop.

Dave

groundhog wrote:What is going on, you can't move in Sa......ys for all the pickers filling the home delivery baskets from their blinking great trolleys, more staff than customers! Combine that with people parking trolleys across the aisle, having a chat with the seven neighbours they just met and inspecting every loaf in minute detail to count the seeds.
Driving me potty, surely there must be a better way of preparing home delivery orders!

For what it's worth, we have the same problem in our local Tesco   The "pickers" are usually very apologetic, if they happen to see you, but that's not very often. 

i would probably just shop at Morrisons, but they don't have a clothes section for one of us to browse in for half an hour every week............while I stand around like a wotsit 

Thank goodness for the pickers and packers say I. I'm not a violent woman but 5 minutes in our local Tesco has me gibbering with rage and a longing to ram my trolly into fellow shoppers or run amok screaming.

If the alternative of 30 peaceful minutes doing it all online was not available then we'd probably starve.

Don't start me on clothes shopping as that I REALLY hate.  I' m quite glad that 70s fashions are coming back as that's when most of my wardrobe started life.

I used to stand outside the changing rooms in clothes shops while wifey went inside.  When any woman came out to show her husband her probable new purchase I would look down and put my head in my hands - none bought any until wifey heard a woman say 'another man outside didn't like the dress so I'm not having it', wifey then said 'it's only my husband messing around take no notice' ..... You have to do something to break up the monotony
Another time in M&S at Exeter I was leaning against a counter while wifey went upstairs, when she came back I tried to walk away with her but my legs had gone to sleep so collapsed in a heap.  Being M&S a first aider rushed over thinking I'd suffered a heart attack but all we could do was laugh our socks off till my legs woke up. 
Rich..

Serves all you posh lot right, shopping in up market stores like Sainsburys, Tesco etc. If you shop in Aldi they don't have pickers to get in the way.

And why is it that whenever 'er indoors is shopping for clothes, you go and stand by a rail which looks as though no-one would buy anything from it, and some woman comes along and looks at you as though you're in her way.

I'm just puzzled as to why you'd want to go clothes shopping with your wife ? Does she actually want you there ?  I can't imagine dragging my husband along. The process bores me witless but at least I get new clothes out of it: what does he get ?

Never go shopping, unless its B&Q ,Halfords etc, wife does the lot even on holiday.
When at home she orders home delivery, best wife in the world.
Scottish of course.
Boaby

groundhog wrote:What is going on, you can't move in Sa......ys for all the pickers filling the home delivery baskets from their blinking great trolleys, more staff than customers! Combine that with people parking trolleys across the aisle, having a chat with the seven neighbours they just met and inspecting every loaf in minute detail to count the seeds.
Driving me potty, surely there must be a better way of preparing home delivery orders!

With all your money, and your posh Merc, surprised you even do your own shopping why don't you have just waitrose home delivery and stop being a grumpy victor to the more sociable customers of s   ys who enjoy counting the seeds on their loaves and bread. 

NORGIL wrote:Serves all you posh lot right, shopping in up market stores like Sainsburys, Tesco etc. If you shop in Aldi they don't have pickers to get in the way.

 Only occasional visitors to Sainsburys, but were regular shoppers in Aldi, Lidl, Co-op, Tesco, Morrisons and Asda (draw the line at M&S, £10 deal excepted  ).  What I can't work out is, as there's only two of us, who's eating all the food we buy  

I know where all the drink goes though

groundhog wrote:But I couldn't deprive the chauffeur of his cup of coffee that he is allowed whilst Lady G and I are mixing with the peasant folk and the butler would miss his time with the housekeeper on a Friday morning when we are out.

At least living in a motorhome you won't need a gardener

willy eckerslike wrote:

groundhog wrote:But I couldn't deprive the chauffeur of his cup of coffee that he is allowed whilst Lady G and I are mixing with the peasant folk and the butler would miss his time with the housekeeper on a Friday morning when we are out.

At least living in a motorhome you won't need a gardener

But who else will look after the greenery growing in the window channels?

And what about the hanging baskets and window boxes?

Why do I always get the trainee or someone about to go for lunch when I arrive at the only free till. And don't even mention those wretched self service tills, where when buying any single item, they demand I wait for the supervisor!!

crisp wrote:Why do I always get the trainee or someone about to go for lunch when I arrive at the only free till. And don't even mention those wretched self service tills, where when buying any single item, they demand I wait for the supervisor!!

I refuse to use those on principle :-
a) it will ultimately lead to people losing jobs
b) I pay the same price for the shopping whether a checkout operative puts it through for me or whether I put it through myself. If I am having to put it through myself the s/market's costs are lower as they are not employing someone to do it, so I should get a discount. If you decorate your house, you don't pay the same price if you buy the materials and do it yourself, as you would if you had painters and decorators do it for you!
c) have you tried doing a big trolley load on one of those self service tills? Does it take you the same amount of time as it takes a checkout person, who is trained and does it all the time, or does it take you a lot longer?

I also hate those self service tills, I refuse to use them, have been instructed by an employer to use one, when a few were in the queue at the only till where there was a checkout operative, I would sooner shop elsewhere, agree it is putting someone out of a job, raising profit for the company as no reduction for doing it yourself, will we  next be  packaging items in the boxes ourselves, tongue in cheek maybe, but never say never .   How can it be quicker ?  more actions required, putting in trolley, scanning, putting back in trolley, then taking out when at vehicle. what bright spark figured this one out it would be quicker.?  

I have shopped on line for my groceries from when it first started. Best thing I ever did.  

On the few occasions I have to use our Tesco or Waitrose ( and we have no alternatives handy) I always use the scan-as-you-shop method. Pick item off shelf, scan with the barcode reader and pack in my shopping bag in the trolley. Much quicker and I can keep a running total of what I am spending and pack it how and where I like with no queue behind me. When I've finished I scan my barcode reader, insert my credit card into the machine and wheel my sensibly packed bags to the car.  I always have a list to shop with so I can be in and out within 30 minutes with a full trolly.

When, many years ago, our Tesco was the first one to trial this method, it was a bit clunky and the reader did not always scan properly.  The technology has improved enormously over the years and it's much quicker now. We can use our Tesco and Waitrose cards all over the country and it is some years since either of us were called in for a re-scan. A real boon for shopaphobics like me.
I still do the bulk online however.

I can understand busy people (or those who dislike the process) getting their shopping delivered. We prefer to see what's available and make our own selection based on quality, sell or use by date, etc. Self service checkouts are nothing but a nuisance though, with Morrisons being the worst. The "unexpected item in baggage area" is often me assaulting the machine