Things that annoy me

Patience is a virtue

If you get your act together and put all the shopping back in the trolley ,pay for your goods, then move away from till,what's the problem .Unless of course you are one of those awkward people who like to pack it as it comes along to you.They are the ones who hold everybody up.

I haven't had my act together for a good few years.

Anyone with arthritis in feet, hips and spine has already had quite a challenge walking from car to to supermarket entrance, then round the supermarket gathering items.

To then wait in a long queue, when the 6 people in front of you all start wildly fumbling for a purse at the end of the checkout session is the last straw. This whole process lasts much longer than any 20 seconds.
Then you have to get it all out to the car again.

Fortunately, I no longer have this problem as I shop on line but pain does make one impatient.

Sorry, I am the person fumbling. I know I am doing it (not on purpose), always seem to be juggling card, purse, bag, gloves. I even embarrass and annoy myself. I just hope the person behind me is patient, and that I’ll be patient too in the same situation.
On the other hand, I am quick when I go to public loos.

Having shopped with children for many years (sometimes 1 and up to 5 at any one time), now I often shop with up to 3 Grandchildren at a time. It's like herding cats!!! I am just relieved to get all shopping and the correct children in my car in one piece, no broken eggs, squashed bread or leaking milk equals a good result.

What goes on at the checkout- stays at the checkout!!!!!

If you tried to pack away from the till in the supermarkets where I shop you'd then be blocking the way out for other customers.

By the time you've navigated past the photo booth, the food bank collection point, the animal welfare collection point, the carpet cleaning kiosk, the stands of free magazines and free recipe cards and the 'good causes' stand, there's not a lot of room.

I always use the hand held scanner when I shop in Tesco. It has made shopping so much quicker and easier. I used to hate the feeling of being rushed at the checkout so that I didn’t hold the queue up. The result was my shopping was thrown into the bag in a chaotic way. Now I just scan the barcode and place the item directly into a bag. Checking out is really quick and much easier than using the self service tills which I hate as I always seem to have an unexpected item in the bagging area. Grrr.
The only drawback is if I’m in another supermarket, usually Aldi, I have to remind myself not to pick something off the shelf and put it directly into my bag without paying as I am so used to self scanning. I do like the fact that in Aldi you pay first at the checkout and then move away from the till to pack your goods. The staff still manage to be friendly and polite even though they are obviously under pressure to hit targets.

Here in Aussie land the till girl packs for you
Unless of course you choose a self service checkout
I’m always surprised, when visiting Uk, that I need to pack myself !

I am amazed that so many people in such a dreadful hurry do a big shop in a supermarket! Occasionally when I pop in for just a couple of items then I use the basket only checkout or self checkout.

If I was doing a big trolley shop I kind of accept it will take time! Where is everyone off to in such a hurry?

Who did annoy me at the weekend was the woman who kept standing directly in front of me at the art gallery! Not once..I can understand that.. but every bloomin' picture!
Oh yes..and the couple in the tea room who came in the wrong door and refused to go to the end of the long queue! And I was already seated so it did not even affect me!

I have problems with my hands meaning I cannot pack as quickly as I used to, as for having my cards ready, loyalty tab is on my car keys & card is in my purse in my handbag, if I held these whilst packing it would make me much slower.

I'm usually patient but bad manners annoy me

Bikergran, I've always thought that everyone should be made to work in a shop or supermarket. I'm sure that being on the other side of the counter would open peoples eyes to how shop staff are treated and the problems they put up with every day.

You never know what's going on in people's lives, what they have to put up or what they are battling against. Have a bit of patience and understanding. You never know when you'll need it yourself.

Too true Gaggi3 In the summer I was enjoying a busy life, holiday in Cornwall, spending weekends walking with friends, being busy, dashing to the shops, etc etc. managed to easily meet at least my daily 10k steps even on a quiet day. Now I have done well to do 3k. My back is keeping me sofa bound and when I do venture out it is slowly plus a stick that I am not used to using. The pain, as BradfordLass said makes you slow and less alert. However I am not going to be made to feel bad for holding up any misery guts who are not prepared to wait a couple of minutes for me to get sorted.

Lovely story about the lady sitting on a chair. I had to do that once and the assistant wheeled my shopping to the car and packed it.
Glad to see most commenters agreed we need to be patient. I'm sure no one goes slowly on purpose. And you can't always tell if someone is coping with a disability or other problem. Life's too short. We should be kind and patient with each other As someone said it could be you some day.

PECS your bit about the couple in the tea room reminded me about the people who come into a café, one of them goes to claim a table, then the people who were further up the queue and have paid for their tray full of food, can't then find a free table.

It would be nice, wouldn't it, if the ever-increasing number of impatient people in this world could just take a deep breath and slow down a little, perhaps realise that they're not the centre of the universe? I was once sneered at for going too slowly in a 10k charity run ("strenuous first kilometre was it?") for the liking of an arrogant twerp less than half my age. I can't imagine that this was what the late, great Jane Tomlinson had in mind when she set up her Runs for All!

If only I could have caught him up to explain the error of his ways!

Barmeyoldbat,I have the same problem,my solution is to place a basket in the trolley and then unpack basket at basket only checkout.

You have probably summed up the whole discussion bikergran. Thankyou

Well CINDERSDAD, you might be like that one day!!!!!

oh maggiemaybe, yes but how will they know to slow down unless they get that reality shock, like when a loved one dies and time stands still. We all learn as we go through life, so now I am the annoying one who does not drive slow but I am always within the speed limit and easily get a trail of cars behind me, that is their problem not mine

My worst hate right now are nosey parkers who come to view my house for a trip out. It is an economical very unusual house in the countryside and not so expensive, so I get lookers, lots of them. A few were swept in, loved it and now have houses to sell because they want mine. All of them say how they love the house but very few are genuine

They don`t realise that it takes such a lot out of me to sparkle clean every time I have a viewing, then I go and kill half a day somewhere. I feel like cussing the ones who only come to view for the day out but it is hard to tell the genuine from the cheap awaydays, even for the EA

Well! I will be back in work tomorrow at 8 am I shall think of all the lovely smiling Gransnetters : ) as Im at my Checkout.

have a fruitful day everyone

In supermarkets I always remember my late mum. She had vascular dementia and one of her last bits of independence was to go shopping. It took me and my granddaughter to get her round ( and ensure everything went in her trolley and not her pocket) I freely admit we were slow at the checkout as she still wanted to attempt to pay. Her life closed down rapidly when we could no longer make that possible for her, so I echo those who ask that we all have patience when we do not know what difficulties folk may have.

This is why I use self checkouts . It's up to you how long you take, and nobody has to wait behind you.

well maybe you should write to the supermarket instead. on my trip to the usa there is always a 2nd person to do the packing. but if there isn't smile sweetly to the person getting impatient and say that you have arthritis in your fingers and that it is hard to grip items.never used a hand scanner its all numbers to me.