Ive noticed shoppers starting to become a little more aggressive

Shop workers are saying some people are being difficult when the self-serve machines are going wrong. Why?
Minimum wage, working twice as hard, in dangerous environment - what's not to love about shop workers?

I think that for so long we got used to the 7 day a week, extended hours type of shopping and banking.
It wasn't that long ago when banks didn't open until 10am and closed at 3pm , were not open at the weekend either!
As far as the pharmacy being busy - it seems that more people are visiting their nearest chemist for a variety of reasons - often because they are trying to do a one stop shop rather than go to more than one place. That means that what staff there is (don't forget some may be self isolating or shielding)are having to spend more time dealing with customers face to face , rather than actually dispensing prescriptions.
I would say that many men are not used to shopping - or at least avoid shopping as much as possible and it is fear that means that some people are rather short tempered!
Doesn't excuse some people's reactions at all though and some of the things that I have heard that customers have said to supermarket staff is completely unforgiveable! It's a shame that we can't take a leaf out of the customer service attitude as trained in the US where you are able to reply to customers in the same tone , rather than the "please sir/ madam, yes sir/madam" that is here!

I went to Aldi on Saturday for my fortnightly shop. No queuing , sanitizer at the entrance and
almost everything in stock. I have been very impressed as some of the prices have gone DOWN rather than up! Well done Aldi.

I am one of the unlucky ones who caught the virus 3 weeks ago now. I come into the controlled asthmatic group. The entire illness was unpleasant and I had a bad few days unable to catch my breath and with the most appalling chest pains (which, at first, I thought was my heart). My GP concocted the nearest thing to a nebuliser she could, using a spacer and a different inhalèr so that I didn't end up in hospital. Thank God, it worked. The only place I'd been was a supermarket and it hadn't been a pleasant experience mainly, I'm afraid, because of the older generation who insisted on ignoring the social distancing rules. I had to ask one lady to back off as I paid because she came to stand right next to me with no clue she shouldn't be doing so. This was all despite the two metre spaces and signs saying to wait until the person paying had finished, and staff doing their best to make people adhere to it. I was petrified of having to shop again because, as you have noted, people are now fed up and behaving even worse. As I had no food for meals (friends have dropped off essentials but I needed a proper shop and couldn't get an online delivery), rather than starve, I braved Lidls on Saturday. I came home in tears. People were standing in groups, having a chat and blocking the aisles. Others came up to reach over me. I lost my temper and became the 'mad lady' briefly because I was doing the very best I could to avoid others who, frankly, just didn't care. I shan't be doing that again - I shall eke out what I have and pray for an online slot. Why are people so utterly selfish?

I haven’t been out since the lockdown start but DH says everyone is behaving themselves ok.

Went to M& S to get food shopping. Before I even got in the store, a woman overtook me , rushing past very close. I think as she got to the trolleys, she realised what she'd done & asked if I wanted a trolley, pushing one at me! I declined and said I'd wait until she moved out of my space thanks. "Oh" she said "you're over-reacting!"
I give up!

I haven't noticed much change with shoppers, but l think people are getting restless. My road has become a very busy car park for everyone who thinks it's a good idea to drive somewhere nice for a walk.
It's probably just a matter of time before that mindset spills over into my supermarket...

I went to Sainsbury's early last Thursday, 1st time for 2 weeks but a lot of the shelves were empty and it was a free for all. Everyone going whichever way they wanted, no social distancing. However they sell things that I can't get in the local store. For everything else I use Aldi. They have tins of everything, almost fully stocked shelves and if I hit it at the right time no queuing and if there is a queue only one person allowed in when one comes out and no one seems grumpy, especially the staff. Also I can use cash if I want to.

War happens and we have to change our ways. It's not a novelty it's crisis a matter of live and death. Get real everybody. And pray we get out of it. We put up with the privations of the last war for 5 years and got out of it.

I got quite a shock last week when I went into a shop and a man (older, again) at least 3 metres away from me down the aisle shouted at me "Don't come any closer!"

It might be that it is all so very well organised but our Sainsbury's is fine. Queuing is well organised & they work on a one out- one in basis when you get to the door. No problem at all & shelves are filled. I use the scanning device so no need to queue. The staff are cheerful & plenty of them.
I have had no trouble at all.

Our local Tesco express is very organised and courteous to customers. However quite rightly we have to wait to be called into the store from the queue outside. I was next due in but the staff member on the door was temporarily called away so I waited to be called in, even though in the meantime another customer left the store. The young woman in the queue behind me (who had also not been keeping her distance behind me), then got very strident with me for not going in. I'm afraid I responded in kind. I never enjoyed food shopping before as it was, I now absolutely dread going because of the whole experience - queuing (and in the rain on Saturday), being unable to double back for items I've missed, unable to stop and compare prices (my usual shopping bill has soared), and the dread that I'm upsetting those behind me if I'm not shopping fast enough. I'm not surprised people lose patience with each other.

There again, there was one old boy hovering over tins of baked beans - did he not know that we're supposed to go in, shop and go straight out again without browsing?

This person might have learning difficulties or might have mild brain damage from TIA's or similar. It is easy to look at people and see they are not doing what they "should" be doing, it isn't always obvious if they have a hidden disability.

Went to Asda on Saturday and there was a shorter queue than the previous two weeks. People mostly obeying the directional signs and social distancing. Had to go to Tesco this morning, to get a couple of things Asda didn't have, and it was ok. However, there was a member of staff stacking the bread aisle, and she ignored social distancing by pushing passed to get to the cage. She would only have needed to wait 10 seconds for me to be passed the cage and out of her way, as I was already moving passed the cage before she came towards it.

Someone was arguing with the security officer in my Sainsbury’s last week. They couldn’t seem to understand that only ONE person can come in at a time with basket or trolley. These were a young couple with a baby in a buggy. In the end, the officer said for one of them to get a basket or trolley of their own, but they mustn’t walk round together. Of course....they did walk together once out of sight. I have found shopping as good as it could be up to now. Maybe it’s because it was a Saturday instead of my usual Friday. That’s obviously idiots day!!?

When I asked my husband who shops for me if he thought the shoppers were getting aggressive he said No not in tescos, all keeping safe distance, checkout assistants are as lovely as they always were, no one showing signs of stress, if they feel it they are keeping it under wraps, not like the other week when a couple decided to barge in,

I tend to agree with the comment that maybe it’s inevitable that impatience will set in now people possibly think the ‘novelty’ has worn off.

I try to keep telling myself how lucky we are in this country to not have the stricter lockdown inflicted on Italy and Spain.

We can go out for a walk or to a supermarket whenever we want, so when I need to do a food shop I try to enjoy the outing.

The poor souls in some European countries have been stuck inside their little flats for weeks. How they would love to pop to a food shop, even with a few arguments going on.

i think everybody is getting a bit fractiuos at waiting in a queue to get in a shop,.i see a queue at sainsbury's the other day. i cant stand for long and asked for a chair to sit on while i waited .only to be told you not old enough or disabled. i told them disability is not always visible.told them i have injections in my spine to keep me going. sadly i havent had this last lot because of the virus. i'm not complaining about hospitals and surgery but about sainsbury's not being understanding .i cannot stand in a queue for more than 10 minutes. lidl were better and offered me a stool...

I have shopped at Aldi and Tesco,both with short queues outside where everyone was patient and keeping their distance. Once in store though,a different matter,people coming up behind,stretching over to reach things and totally ignoring the one way system in Tesco. I'm in a mobility scooter so cannot just step away from people too close. In Aldi,waiting in the proper space at the tills,a lady stepped in between me and the person in front. I told her I was in the queue and that we had to space out. She just said "Oh!" but she did move behind me.
I saw a post on Instagram with a funny poster saying "If someone is close enough to punch in the face,punch them in the face." Oh,how I felt like doing so - not that it would have hurt them much with my weak wrists!

Thanks to younger kind neighbours and some Sainsbury deliveries, we've managed to avoid supermarkets. We did stock up for Brexit and more recently before lockdown.
I do think it's sensible, if you can, to get younger people to help out. Ours, with two teenage boys, seem happy to do our shopping.

I think it's because people are really frightened

It's inevitable of course, people are stressed and scared. I expect most of us have had a blow up somewhere along the line, I know I have. Even my husband who is the most tolerant person has been tetchy and irritable at times.
We can at least go for a local walk here in France and shopping at the nearest supermarket as there are no home deliveries.

Our local Boots is doing Pharmacy,medicines and baby things only. I was told for vitamins etc I was to go to the supermarket. I think it would have been better if I could have bought my usual items in Boots to save me going to the supermarket. Do any of you agree, or am I wrong? Its just some things I used to buy in Boots would save me going to the supermarket.

At the age of nearly 97. I cannot go shopping but it brings back memories of what I experienced in the freezing winter of 1946 to 1947 in
London. Newly married, pregnant living in an attic room having to go to the basement for water. Rationing was worse than in wartime so every day was spent in the freezing cold queuing fora pound of potatoes, fish, small bag of coal, a pint of paraffin for the Primas stove, off ration offal, and meagre rations plus the fear of catching flu.
My husband and I served in the Forces for this.
I feel lucky now in a warm comfortable home with food to put on the table.

Very interesting to read your reminiscences Bijou

We really have nothing to complain about now do we?

When some greedy individuals were stripping the supermarket shelves bare a few weeks ago, there was talk about whether wartime type rationing should be brought back.

I remember my parents and grandparents talking about how little they could have during the war. I bet there was no problem with obesity then?!