People who hold reunions in the middle of the aisle at the grocery store

[ashling]

Sunday morning I was at Kroger trying to get a few things and there was a terrible back up in the main aisle. When I finally made it down in front of the dairy case, there were about six middle aged folks with two or three carts standing in the aisle talking. I frowned as I went by and on my way back they were still there. I said (in a friendly tone) "Reunion?" one of the ladies smiles and say's "yeah, old home week" like I was supposed to be impressed or something. My response as I went by: "May I suggest you go to the corner?" (this time my tone was rather judgemental. I think they broke up soon after.


%&###!&#!!!

A lot of people were having a problem getting around back there because of this shit. When I saw they manager standing up front directing stuff, I told him that maybe he should break up these little coffee klatches so that people couldactually shop. He said, if I did somebody would just complain. So I said "Oh, well, I guess you're right ... i]I'll
Why do they make these nitwits managers????!!!!!!!!!

[Adsos Letter]

1. You should have taken a few steps back (to allow for a buildup of speed)

and smashed through them with your cart, leaving a wake of misery and destruction in your path.

Hey, sometimes people learn best by example...

:D

[BlueJazz]

2. ROFL !

"smash through them with your cart, leaving a wake of misery and destruction in your path".

:rofl: :rofl:

[flvegan]

4. Seconded.

[MorningGlow]

25. I prefer the "guilt trip" myself

I just stand there and stare at them, willing the lasers of my eyes to sear holes through the backs of their skulls. If I'm not in a hurry, I'll stand there for as long as it takes for one of them to actually wake up to the fact that there are other people in the store besides their little circle. Then there's the blushing and the flurry of movement. "Oh dear! Sorry!" Yeahhhhh whatever.

[Book Lover]

3. Yeah...

When I go shopping, I like to see people starting straight ahead, never a sidelong glance. They have their lists ordered by aisle and when they reach to get something, they do so without stopping. I love the dead silence, too. It helps me calculate my basket's exact total so I don't have to hold up the line when I write my check.

Seriously, ashling, what's wrong with a "Pardon me, folks."? Like your elders should listen to you and your snotty talk.

[ashling]

5. WTF???

It is hard, sometimes, to detect someone's inflection or attitude through these posts, so I prefer to assume you were posting "tongue in cheek," but in the event you were being serious in your anlysis of my "snotty talk," I should point out that I am probably older than you...or the folks I encountered at the grocery store.

[Book Lover]

12. How sad that you thought I might have been serious

As you are my elder, I apologize for my flip attitude and assumptions. But I stand behind my assertion that grocery shopping is not meant to be a quiet, speechless affair. Rude is blocking an aisle; ruder is being rude to those folks rather than simply asking them to step aside.

[ashling]

15. I don't think I was rude

I simply suggested that they might want to move their meeting to a part of the store that wasn't so critical for the passage of other shoppers. I was by no means the only one inconvenienced by their unfortunate choice of the place to have their reunion.

"How sad" that you should have interpreted my concern as calling for shopping to be a "quiet, speechless affair." When I run into an old frien while shopping I am not above having an extended conversation, but I am courteous enough to get out of the flow of traffic...the seating area at the deli, for instance.

I spend a good bit of time wandering around the store looking for things, helping people find or reach things (I'm tall) and trying to read labels (I have trouble reading the aisle numbers and other information signs). In spite of all of this, I try to be aware of other people and am always courteous of their shopping.

[Ewellian]

7. You write a check?

How inconsiderate! :sarcasm:

[SmokingJacket]

6. So much grocery store rage these days!

At the coffee klatchers, at the check writers, at the more-than-items-in-express-laners.... I wonder what it's *really* all about?

[cuke]

19. The prices

No one complains about that

[NV Whino]

29. Grocery store rage...

it's the new road rage.

[graywarrior]

8. And how about those god damn mothers with their oversized car-carriages they put

their screaming, snotty brats in taking up the entire aisle?

:sarcasm:

[flvegan]

10. Lazy slobs and the inability to return a cart.

TBH, I honestly do fucing detest those things. I'm sure it's not pc, and I'm just whining, but it's a message board, and I'll whine if I want to.

Not that I don't want kids to enjoy the grocery experience, not in the least. But when you take a cart and supersize it like that, it just makes bigger problems both for the operator, and those sharing the aisles. It's the H2 of the supermarket.

It's much better when little Suzie (aged 3) is sitting in the seat of one of these gargantuan carts and little Tommy (age 8) is pushing it around (complete with squealing and various property damage) while vapid, brainless dad/mom compares the sodium content in the spaghetti sauce.

[skygazer]

9. You should have told the manager

"Well, I'm complaining right now."

I hate wishy-washy answers like that. There's no reason it couldn't be done without someone complaining. A friendly visit from the manager - "Hi folks, we appreciate your business but would you mind moving over here while you do your visiting? It's a little cramped in this aisle. Thank you so much..." etc.

[ashling]

11. I must have deleted that before I hit send

because that is what I told him. He would rather stand up front and act like he was being of some use thant to actually be of some use.

[DS1]

13. Plant IEDs behind soup cans

[Fleshdancer]

14. may there be a special place in hell for those people

as someone who frequently gets grocery store rage, I feel your pain. Grocery reunions annoy me as much as the idiots who pull their cart right next to someone else's cart which blocks the entire aisle. Is it too much to ask for people to be aware of their surroundings? Do they wake up one morning and think "today is the day I'm going to act like a complete ass"?

[AmyDeLune]

16. No, they're just like that all the time...

no awareness of their surroundings whatsoever. Everything exists solely for them...:eyes:

[triguy46]

17. My family is planning ours in the produce section, near the fruits.

[CBHagman]

28. Best post so far.

:rofl:

Me, I'll plan ours for the nut section.

[MorningGlow]

18. Ugh--I get that all the time

My village is halfway between one supermarket located in a "chain store hell" suburb and one in a small college town. When I choose to go to the store in the college town, I'm usually blocked in by reunions of middle-aged people (heck, everybody knows everybody, right?) and coeds traveling in packs and collectively staring slackjawed at the shelves as they try to decide on their snacks for the week. I. Cannot. Get. Through. That. Store. In. A. Timely. Manner. EVER.

Needless to say, I often choose chain store hell over the small town. It's THAT bad.

On the other side of the coin, I'm one of those awful mothers who has to push one of the behemoth carts because MG Jr. insists upon one with a steering wheel. To quote Douglas Adams, "Looks like a fish, moves like a fish, steers like a cow." They are impossible to move!

[ashling]

21. On the other hand,

did you ever hear a kid's head hit the floor after falling headfirst out of a shopping cart? Some people who go off down the aisle and leave their young kids in those things should have to hear that sound. :scared:

[MorningGlow]

24. Oh criminy I can't imagine

So far MG Jr. has preferred the carts with the "cab" down front, which has its own horrors--he has a tendency to lean out the side and I'm constantly telling him to tuck his head back in before he gets clipped in the noggin. :scared:

I swear, it's amazing that kids make it to the double digits at all...

[cuke]

20. Actually, it's the perfect place for a reunion

No worries about running out of chips or beer

[bigwillq]

22. Then never come to where I live

every time I go into the store it's like a reunion and if my mom and dad come with me...it's even worse.

I don't mind when people have "reunions", even if it does block the aisle. I can just say "excuse me" and go around them or go to the next aisle and backtrack.

Doesn't bother me b/c I've been the victim and the victee in a number of these "reunions"

[JBoy]

23. You need one of these carts

[Generator]

26. Reminds me of people that stop

as soon as they get off of escalators. I want to scream get out of the damn way! But nooo! excuse me...you almost made me trip and die! have a nice day! Or stop immediately outside revolving doors. Or stand in doorways, period. OH YES, parents do this at school too. Doors are exits and entrances. Drives me nuts. Gatherings at grocery stores huh? I have not seen that one. Of course I try to only shop at times when there are few people in the store.

[Sugar Smack]

27. Nitwit managers make the freaking world go 'round.

Or so they tell me. Mine says "on tomorrow" instead of "tomorrow". :grouphug:

[Jamastiene]

30. Aaaah, I feel exactly the same way.

It's like that here a lot of the time. The worst times are Sunday right after the churches turn them all out to overtake any place. I try to avoid shopping on Sundays especially at all possibly costs.