[Closed] Supermarkets...

Admit it, we all know what you mean.

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[url= http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/business/waitrose-top-for-organic-vegetables-customer-service-and-milfs-2013043067123 ]Waitrose top for organic vegetables, customer service and milfs[/url]

Depends if your the kinda guy that finds jamming yer nuts in a drawer repeatedly therapeutic.

Neither do it for me but the two have to be related as both would be equally excutiating.

A zombie apocalypse is only therapeutic if you're one of the zombies.

I'm quite partial to a wonder up and down the mystery isles at Lidl and Aldi.

Cougar -thats a scary way to look at it ... but I feel like a zombie some days 😳

That's fine. Get out from under the bloody feet though, I've got places to be. (-:

No, they are full of annoying people doing annoying things.

I'm in and out like a shot, so the people who treat it as a social occasion probably think I'm annoying!

Oddly if you had asked a year ago I'd have said err no. But now I have a young child, when my wife askes if I can pop to the supermarket I say gladly!!

I especially like Aldi as they always have a couple of isles of cheap crap to peruse. Idled away many a happy 15 mins pondering the workzone mini compressor, before concluding its crap.

Happy days

Ah, the random delights of the middle aidles at Aldi & Lidl - today we have trumpets and tomorrow we will have lobsters.
A true cornocopia of wonderment.
And a very decent riesling (but australian) at Aldi for £6.99; close your eyes and you could, almost, be in Alsace.

Nope, the one and only time I enjoyed shopping was when the baby was tiny and I got an hour to myself.

Although it's infinitely more tolerable with headphones and my favourite music.

Whilst on the subject of supermarkets.

After many, many years of avoiding them, and frankly being quite rude to people who used them I've started shopping in one of the discount German ones - Lidl, I have to admit it's nicer to use than Sainsburys. It's much smaller, easier to park and smells nicer thanks to their bakery. The only annoyance is the whole £1 coin for be trolley thing. There's been a bit of an adjustment with what we buy, but it's £20 a week cheaper or so.

I used to love going to the 24hr Tesco superstore around midnight when I lived in the UK. Quick, quiet and easy -)

Yep, I like a wander round a supermarket. My favourite time is 8.00am, if I'm sneaking a morning working from home.

When living in London, I found (By accident, I hasten to add) that the local Sainsburys had an unofficial singles night on a Wednesday.

I discovered this when I found my trolley being commented on by women on several visits. "Oh, I see you're buying pasta....MMMMM, I looooove pasta...." and the like.

Mentioned this to a single friend and she told me about the singles night element. Apparently it was a well known thing among online dating types. Of which I was, and am, not! 🙂

Quick, quiet and easy -)

Sounds like my ex.

(By accident, I hasten to add)

CaptainFlashheart - Member

Nuh-huh...

CFH - why would you have gone shopping?
I thought you had staff to attend to all of your requirements.
Your post may be from before your ascendancy to......whatever you are now.
Some things are best left unsaid 😉

I discovered this when I found my trolley being commented on by women on several visits. "Oh, I see you're buying pasta....MMMMM, I looooove pasta...." and the like.

And did they look like the lady on the front of the Waitrose Milf calendar? Nope? You surprise me.

Internet food shopping for the win.

Does anyone else find them strangely relaxing to zone out in and wander around after a stressful day at work??

I do, OP.

(By accident, I hasten to add)

Nope. Try and avoid them at all costs. Mrs F does an online shop and I'll nip to the corner shop if we run out of anything. Find supermarkets rather depressing, no idea why though.

Same thing with retail parks too.

I discovered this when I found my trolley being commented on by women on several visits. "Oh, I see you're buying pasta....MMMMM, I looooove pasta...." and the like.

I was once in the supermarket buying a Frey Bentos Pie, half tin of beans, and half pint of milk and a nice lady in sidled up to me and said

"I take it you're single?"

I said "You can tell that just by looking at what I've got in my trolley?"

and she said "No - its because you're ugly and you stink"

Yep, oddly relaxing, Aldi particularly, I actually enjoy the weekly shop on a Sunday. The centre aisles are always a treat, wondering if I need a socket set, some bed linen or a waffle maker.

In and out quick as possible. That's why I mostly go to the smaller express type shops now. Less choice, more expensive, but less of a waste of my time. Big shop is so much faff and I'll end up with way too much crap I don't need.

Extra frustration now is Sainsburys self-scan software has been updated and there's now no option to put your own bag on. If I just put the bag on, sure enough it wants someone to authorise it. 🙄

My Sainsburys Local is staffed by kids who will do anything to avoid going on the tills or dealing with self scan. They're usually hiding out back giggling or trying to look busy stacking shelves, usually blocking the isles.

Supermarkets stress me out.

As a teenager, I worked in Safeway (remember them?) for four years and had all the tasks and processes involved in running a supermarket practically beaten into me.
Now when I go into a supermarket I walk around tutting at the lax standards, facing up tins and find myself reflexively noting the temperatures of all the freezers.
It's like the retail version of a Vietnam flashback.

Although I try very hard to avoid the places, I do think it depends very much on where they are. After years of frequenting the big T at the bottom of the road near work and being, quite frankly, mildly traumatised on occasion, it was almost a treat to blithely wander the enchanting aisles of a branch of the very same supermarket here in East Anglia.

Perchypanther i feel your pain .

A butcher for 20 odd years private n supermarkets, i criticize meat counters look at faults much to my other half's annoyance.

Now when I go into a supermarket I walk around tutting at the lax standards, facing up tins and find myself reflexively noting the temperatures of all the freezers.

The only time I actually enjoy going to a supermarket is at about 3pm on Christmas eve. To see the great unwashed filling 5 trolleys with crap and having meltdowns because there is no streaky bacon left on the shelves is hilarious and strangely calming.

Slightly off-topic, but I heard a report on R4 a couple of days ago that supermarkets are now trialling surge or demand-led pricing, similar to Uber, using the electronic shelf front price tags similar to those used in Europe.

I enjoy them when abroad - seems different. Maybe it's the tanks of live lobsters and crabs?

Love the weekly shop. No really, I do!

No! I absolutely hate the places.

I hate driving there, I hate fighting for parking, I hate shuffling around with a trolley (when I eventually find a bloody pound coin), I hate the stupid people who stop for a chat in the middle of the aisle, I hate that they often don't have something I am looking for, I hate standing in the queue, I hate packing it all in the car, I hate the driving home, I hate carrying it all into the house, I hate unpacking it all and I hate it when I realise I forgot a few things I needed.

I much prefer sitting on the sofa and ordering online and then a nice man brings it to me at a convenient time.

If I never see the inside of a supermarket again, I will be more than happy!

Just in reply to hooli, I think one of the things that has increased my enjoyment of supermarkets is the purchase of a cargo bike. No parking wars, no idiots blocking the road, just roll past, lock up and stroll in, lovely.

Amazon fresh FTW!

I ride my bike to the supermarket and take a rucksack with me to carry my shopping. I quite like it, so much that I probably go three or four times a week to pick up a few things as and when I need them.

"[i]Brown rice and Pop Tarts? Camomile tea and economy vodka? That’s a car crash of a shopping basket.[/i]"

Can't stand 'em. Especially the massive ones where you end up walking about 2 miles to pick up 5 things. Aldi and Lidl- done in about 3 minutes. Tesco and the other monsters take forever to navigate. There's never staff and the choice is ridiculous. Capitalist consumerism at it's peak. Don't even get me started on the packaging.

Yesterday it took me about 10 minutes to find the humus in Tesco, and it was between the processed meats and ready meals.. where's the sense in that!

I'm a 20 something going on 50 😆

Especially the massive ones where you end up walking about 2 miles to pick up 5 things

Exercise is exercise.

Exercise is exercise.

Plus I don't need the exercise.

You sure?

Yes, but then my local is a Booths 🙂

I really like an empty supermarket, especially late at night when they're restocking and there's stuff everywhere, it feels a bit like getting backstage and also quite zombieish and I totally approve of both of these feels.

I also like the 24 hour Asda (closed 2am to 5am) near mine, that's proper scottish effrontery.

I also like the 24 hour Asda (closed 2am to 5am) near mine, that's proper scottish effrontery.

Something that utterly bewildered me working south of the border - popping into a supermarket in York to get some supplies before a sunday shift - round the aisles, film my basket head to the checkout.... "sorry, we're shut"

They can't sell you anything because of sunday trading laws but open the store anyway 'so that you can look'. And loads of people were doing just that- wandering around the aisles looking at stuff. Utterly bizarre.

Been working in a building next to Waitrose, Esher and I can vouch for the Milfs there! A better class of milf to boot!

Just in reply to hooli, I think one of the things that has increased my enjoyment of supermarkets is the purchase of a cargo bike. No parking wars, no idiots blocking the road, just roll past, lock up and stroll in, lovely.

I can sort of see what you mean but I still don't fully get it.

My time is fairly limited so rather than cycle down to the supermarket and back a couple times a week, I would far rather cycle (on my good bike that I enjoy riding) in the direction of the local trails. I come back feeling relaxed and happy.

Some interesting replies!
To be clear, if I have to go shopping with the Mrs and/or kid on a Sunday... it's 110% stressful, but alone after work I kinda close out all my surroundings and just chill out whilst having a mooch around.
And I do also like a quick pedal to my local Aldi, great supermarket and the best bread!

They can't sell you anything because of sunday trading laws but open the store anyway 'so that you can look'. And loads of people were doing just that- wandering around the aisles looking at stuff. Utterly bizarre.

That is utterly mental. Who goes to the supermarket just to browse? 😯

I think it's less to browse, and more to fill your trolley. Then you pay bang on when it's legal.