Supermarket etiquette

[littleheaven]

Okay, maybe I'm being overly picky here, but there's just one thing at the supermarket that really annoys me.  That's when people start loading their stuff onto the conveyor belt before you've finished putting yours on. 

I always make a point of waiting until the person in front of me has put their last item on, and then I put the little plastic divider thingy down if they haven't already.

Well, today I rocked up to an empty till and started unloading.  As I was unloading, the checkout operator was scanning and packing.  Another woman turned up with two bags of stuff, dumped them on the end of the conveyor and started unpacking them, filling up all the spare space between my groceries and hers.  I still had half a trolley (cart) full of stuff, and nowhere left to put it. 

Then the woman proceeded to ask the poor checkout girl to stop advancing the conveyor so I'd have room for the rest of my groceries on the space she was uncovering as she scanned things through.  The poor girl obviously had limited english and didn't understand the request, so kept rolling the belt forward until the other woman's groceries were covering the whole thing.  I ended up having to hand her item by item directly out of the trolley, while the stupid woman behind me had a go at her for not stopping the conveyor belt, and I quote, "you've used up all her space now."  Excuse me, lady, I think it was you that used up all my space.  I would have said that out loud if I wasn't so useless at confrontation.

So, am I being unreasonable to expect the person behind me to wait until I've finished unpacking my stuff, or is it just good supermarket etiquette?

Comments

[jaxie12.livejournal.com]

I think if your trolley is empty then they can go for it but what you described today seems pretty rude as you clearly had more groceries to load.

Oh I wish you had confronted her, she sounds like a twit.

[littleheaven70.livejournal.com]

I wish I had, too. I guess I could have just said, very politely, "do you mind waiting until I've finished, thanks." I'm always scared of offending people, even if they deserve it!

[lovinlorne.livejournal.com]

I have never, ever had any one do that to me. It must be a NZ thing. I would have given her the evil eye though and asked her to hold up a minute until I was done. Maybe. That might get you killed out here! LOL

J/K by the way. I don't want you thinking we Californian's run around shooting each other over groceries. Parking spaces, yes. But groceries, no.

[littleheaven70.livejournal.com]

It must be - because it's happened to me more than once. We're total heathens out here in the colonies ;o)

I don't want you thinking we Californian's run around shooting each other over groceries. Parking spaces, yes. But groceries, no.

ROFL! I'll remember that if I'm ever back in your neck of the woods.

[samsom.livejournal.com]

She totally should have waited. I haven't heard or seen anything quite that rude before. Sheesh.

Next time, stand at the beginning of the conveyor and unload there, let it roll forward to give you more space. That way, no one can eat up all your space from behind. It's not rude, but it will keep others from being rude.

[littleheaven70.livejournal.com]

Dude, so totally going to do that. I have to when Griffin is with me to stop him grabbing all the chocolate bars and packets of mints off the impulse shelves.

[sg-betty.livejournal.com]

That was incredibly rude. Frankly, I've never seen that happen. If someone has something really heavy, like a watermelon (and they're carrying it-not using a cart), they might rest it on the metal end, while holding it, but even doing that, people apologize for the intrusion.
I'm not even a little bit useless with confrontation. ;) She's very lucky I wasn't there-those groceries would have been back in her cart lickity-split.

[littleheaven70.livejournal.com]

Well, I did wonder whether her groceries were just heavy at first. She didn't have a cart, just a couple of plastic bags which were pretty full. I was okay with her putting them on the end of the conveyor belt, but when she started pulling the stuff out and filling up all the available space that I started to get PO'd. I'm glad I'm not being over sensitive. Can I take you to Pak'n'Save with me next time?

[sg-betty.livejournal.com]

Sure! I'll put my arm on the conveyer belt, stopping her groceries and stare at her with a raised eyebrow until she moves them. If that doesn't work, I'll start being confrontational. ;)

You weren't being overly sensitive at all!!

[jomadge.livejournal.com]

I've never experienced that, either! Very rude, indeed.

[littleheaven70.livejournal.com]

American shoppers must be very polite. It happens here fairly regularly.

[sg-betty.livejournal.com]

Really? That's amazing!

[littleheaven70.livejournal.com]

Sad but true. *sigh*

[auntyk.livejournal.com]

Very rude. I'm like samsom, I stand at the very start loading stuff on, until it's all on and then I move closer to the cashier.

There's really no excuse for her behaviour!

[littleheaven70.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm going to do that in future. Usually I have no choice but to do that because there's a queue and someone is filling the space at the front anyway. I just happened to strike them at a quiet time today because I had the day off work.

[inkbabies.livejournal.com]

oy! the lady behind you was too rude!

[lmichelle599.livejournal.com]

No, you're not being unreasonable.

[jaxie12.livejournal.com]

So you've established you shop at Pak n Save. Can I suggest the shop n go option? You sign up and get a card and each time you go shopping you swipe your card at the beginning and get your own scan machine. Then you just scan whatever it is you are putting in your trolley as you go you use the shop n go isle at the end. It's so much quicker when you get to the checkout and - unless they do a rescan - you don't have to worry about checkout ettiquette. Also, there aren't any impulse shelves (at least not at my PnS) so your little one will have to keep his hands to himself.

hahaha, look at me as a I plug shop n go.

[littleheaven70.livejournal.com]

OMG why doesn't my Pak'n'Save have this??? Although, we have a new one opening up soon near my work which will become our local, and they may well have it. In which case, I'M IN!!!