5 ‘Polite’ Things You Do at the Supermarket That Are Actually Pretty Annoying
You probably mean well, but you should stop these five supermarket habits. Why? Because they’re incredibly annoying, that’s why!
Some people do their grocery shopping so efficiently that they’re already on their bikes before anyone has noticed they were in the supermarket. Supermarket ninjas, you might call them: fast and silent. And then there are people who see their grocery run as an individual expression of their unique personality. What do you call those people? Annoying. If you recognize your own behavior in any of these five points, stop it immediately.
#1: You hand out tips and recipes
What an amazing cook you are! And you’re happy to share that talent with everyone around you. The people at home are completely done with your MasterChef-style feedback on everything that appears on the table, from speculaas to beetroot mash, but beyond your front door there’s a whole world desperately yearning for your wisdom. Or so you think. That’s why you approach people who look baffled by a celeriac and tell them about your unbelievably delicious celeriac with rosemary and sage, everything you can do with a cantaloupe and everything that always goes wrong with roasted vegetables. Hit the brakes for a moment: did anyone ask for your opinion? Do they need your help? Not really, so keep that unsolicited advice to yourself.
#2: Your ethical compass is out of control
You always pay close attention to what you buy—and what you don’t. Products that aren’t fair trade can stay right there on the shelf. And battery-farm eggs? Absolutely not; you know exactly what conditions those chickens are kept in. If you see someone with a jerrycan of milk and a few packs of bargain-basement minced meat in their cart, you can’t resist pointing out—in your most pointed manner—that their purchase contributes to animal suffering and the destruction of Mother Earth. You also know exactly where to find the organic food aisle and which local products this supermarket sells. You’re probably right, but that know-it-all behavior is unbearable, so stop it. As a critical consumer, you might be better off focusing on writing online reviews or doing some undercover work for the Consumers’ Association.
#3: The checkout divider is your responsibility
Someone puts their groceries on the conveyor belt, but the checkout divider—you know, that triangular thing used to separate your groceries from those of the person next to you—isn’t there yet. So you lean over the cart of the person ahead of you and put the divider in place, allowing yourself to start unloading your things. You’re welcome! Er, no, because you overlooked the bag of cat litter in shopper number one’s cart. And they still need to put the breakable items on the conveyor belt, too. What you’re doing this way is rushing other people into your hyperactive pace. Relax, leave the divider alone and give people time to lay out their groceries calmly.
#4: Tidying up the mess
It’s an eyesore: that rack of flyers and free magazines is a complete mess. And all the shopping bags are jumbled together. You step in, arrange all the flyers and sticker albums into neat piles, sort the empty boxes while you’re at it and throw away the leftover receipts. Hold your horses, Truus the Ant, because your fussing makes the cashier feel as though she’d been working in a pigsty until you came along to set things straight. Good job! And no, you don’t need to tidy up the noticeboard with the classified ads either, and leave that newspaper stand alone. What’s going on with you—are you a little neurotic?
#5: Here, have a cart!
You see a teenager in a supermarket shirt driving a long train of shopping carts from the parking lot to the revolving door and think: I’ll give him my cart right away so he doesn’t have to go back to the parking lot again—nice, right? But a moving train of carts has no brakes, the cart attendant is already sweating streams between his shoulder blades, and then he also has to say “thank you” to you. Don’t. Put the cart neatly in the collection area in the parking lot and let those people get on with their work in peace.
Read also:
- Say what?!? Most bakers sell supermarket croissants
- Single? This is why you need to go to the supermarket as soon as possible
- 12 things supermarket employees find really, really annoying
