OT: Shopping, in general

[Irreverent Maximus]

I went to the grocery store, earlier this evening, and was wondering something. I suspect that some of you might have the same thoughts, or have come to the same, albeit, faulty conclusion; but do people shop like they drive?

Seriously, I had maybe four different items to pick up, I knew exactly where they were located at, and other than waiting in line, maybe two minutes tops to gather the items that I wished to purchase. Well, in theory.

Every isle I wanted to go down, or use as a detour, had some moron blocking the isle, or a group of morons, and I was like WTF! Seriously people? Do you not know that other people are trying to use the same isle, or are you just so self centered that you do not care, or are so oblivious to your surroundings that you are definitely not qualified for much of anything other than needlepoint, or something of that ilk?

The worst: Some dude in a gaggle of women saw me coming down the isle. Instead of moving out of the way he just stared at me. Since I was in snatch-it mode I spun around and had to weave throw another cluster of dimbulbs to come back around to the same isle. Usually I would have said excuse me and bulldozed the idiot out of the way, but...

The best: Some lady, at my second to last stop, along the final leg to the check-out, was shopping with her daughter. I am guessing the daughter was between 12-14 YO, but that really did not matter. Anyway, the daughter parked their cart sort of in front of where I was going to grab some American cheese, pulled up along the refer unit, providing at least a path around. I sort of knew exactly where I was going and was able to just reach down and grab what I wanted as her mother was telling her daughter to move the cart. I responded to the daughter, and loud enough for the mother to hear, that it was not a problem and to not worry about it. I was off and gone before they had a chance to respond or anything else. 5 seconds later I grabbed my final two items and hit the check-out line.

Now, Having drove around the south for the past three and a half years I have come upon quite a few idiots on the road. This includes Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Miscopy, Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas (the people in Arkansas and Memphis must be brain dead, or something). Anyway, I wonder if these people shop the way that they drive. I will not go into specifics, but I have been through all of the West Coast states, Southern states(excluding Georgia) -- I-10/20/30/40--, Nevada, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado. Growing up in California might have me a bit biased, but wow, some people just don't know how to drive. I thought Cali was bad, but some of these other places take the cake and make Cali look professional, in the least. Minus La La Land and parts of the Gay Area. Though, I blame the problems around the bay to bad planning. La La Land is just that. Self absorbed me only types, and millions of them. I hear Boston sucks, and I could only be glad I have zero plans on going to NYC.

So, I think the worst drivers that I have come upon are centralized around Arkansas. Whether just passing through, or what, I cannot say. All I know is that the truckers on I-30 need to be shot, and that the I-30 corridor, in general, is way too fubar'd for such a small population. When one nears Memphis, it is a total CF until one is lucky enough to escape south or south east. North and east really did not give much relief for some distance.

Well, I am done with blathering. Anyone care to share their thoughts on shopping and how it correlates to driving, or the worst place you have ever driven?

[Tony Hwang]

Hmmm, On groccery shopping we always go early or late of the day avoiding week end. Regarding idiots on the road, first getting driver's licence is too easy on this part of the world. Second distracted driving ie. texting, yaking on cell, even reading book, etc., etc. Here distracted driving ticket costs 175.00 which has no effect.

And winter comes they don't put on winter tires, drive like summer, not turning on tail lights during dawn/dusk hours. Last week we had major cold snap with snow and wind. This idiots caused 13 million dollar worth of damage ensuring body shops all summer work. What a waste. I've been driving ~60 years. I was hit by two kids running stop sign and red light. Worst on my part was getting a speeding ticket responding to a emergency call at remote hydro dam construction site and some parking tickets.

[Irreverent Maximus]

Sometimes, one may only go when the time permits. My local grocery is always busy.

I have witnessed the icy moron syndrome in a few different states, down here. Denver was funny since you think that they would know. But, after a blizzard blew through on top of a already frozen road...

I did not see that many, er...um, dumb people in Wyoming. They had really cheap gasoline, too.

[WW]

I went to the grocery store, So, I think the worst drivers that I have come upon are centralized around Arkansas. Whether just passing through, or what, I cannot say. All I know is that the truckers on I-30 need to be shot, and that the I-30 corridor, in general, is way too fubar'd for such a small population. When one nears Memphis, it is a total CF until one is lucky enough to escape south or south east. North and east really did not give much relief for some distance.

Well, I am done with blathering. Anyone care to share their thoughts on shopping and how it correlates to driving, or the worst place you have ever driven?

Now living in a fairly small town. People here (most) are polite drivers. Where we have 4 way stop signs The first person goes first and others follow in order they had arrived. That does NOT happen in larger city's. When living in a large city I was hit in the rear 4 times while sitting at a red light. 2 of those were by drunk drivers. I had one speeding ticked in 1958 on an open road by not watching the speedometer. Have been in one accident in 2000 where a girl ran a stop sign. Have driven about 1 million 300 thousand miles so I feel lucky to only have few problems. WW

[Norminn]

clipped

I once thought that all morons lived in Indiana, but now I believe they all moved to Florida to take advantage of the market for hillbilly heroin. Well, most. Yesterday, I went out for a brief errand. On my way home, some moron in an old Ford pickup got on my ass, laid on his horn, and followed me that way for about a mile...being a not-very-young woman, it scared the crap out of me! When I finally had a chance to pull off the road, he kept going. I was going the speed limit, 35 mph, and sped up a little at first. He was probably less than a car length behind me. Other than that, no really outstanding events since leaving Florida, other than being stopped by a cop a year ago on my way home from vacation - 45! in a 30 zone and improper turn....second stop in 53 years of driving! Whew! Never a ticket.

A couple of remarkable drivers were two, in Florida, who stopped at traffic lights alongside me in right lane who proceeded to turn left from the right lane when the light changed! Takes some brass.

[VinnyB]

On Fri, 13 Dec 2013 21:58:07 -0600, "Irreverent Maximus" wrote in Re OT: Shopping, in general:

That's the answer. It's why I prefer to avoid contact with the public.

[willshak]

In line at the checkout. Woman a couple of people ahead of me having her goods scanned. Waits till all the stuff is passed through the scanner and the total comes up on the screen. Now she fumbles through her purse and brings out the checkbook. Starts writing out the check, holding up the line. She knows she was going to use a check. Why didn't she take out the checkbook while she was waiting for the persons ahead to check out? She could have written the date (that's not going to change), the store name (ditto), and signed the check (ditto). All before, or while watching her stuff being scanned.

[Unquestionably Confused]

Because, as George Carlin used to say in one of his shows, "She's a f**king moron who needs to be beaten with a baseball bat, taken up in a helicopter and pushed out the door.

Many people today honestly believe that they are the only people in the world and/or the world revolves around them. All you have to do is put down YOUR cell phone when you're driving around town and watch the antics of some of the other drivers. They are in their own little world and the only thing that seems to matter is what they want at that particular instant in time.

There are so many of them these days that Darwin has a tough time keeping up with his cleansing of the gene pool.

[Irreverent Maximus]

The dreaded check book! Arrg. I had one old lady do the same, and she insisted on going over every item that she had purchased, against the receipt.

One of the hardest tongue biting episodes my smart-ass ever endured. :-)

[Irreverent Maximus]

Ever been bored on the road and come across one of these tools and decide to mess with them? Find their speed, pass them then set the cruise control to 5mph below their speed. Once they come out of their coma they want to pass you. Floor it then hit resume. Repeat until it loses its novelty.

[Dean Hoffman]

Add slowly searching for coupons. Add searching for exact change.

[Wes Groleau]

To put it another way, what makes HER more self-centered than the fellow who wants her to not verify the prices so that HE can get through the line twenty seconds sooner?

[Ralph Mowery]

Here is something I picked up off the internet.

Car Crash Stats: There were nearly 6,420,000 auto accidents in the United States in 2005. The financial cost of these crashes is more than 230 Billion dollars. 2.9 million people were injured and 42,636 people killed. About 115 people die every day in vehicle crashes in the United States -- one death every 13 minutes.

Sounds like the car crashes are good for business. Generating over 200 billion dollars of business every year. Also some population control with

40,000 or so killed every year.

The nation is morning the school killings of about 20 people. In the nation that many are killed every day in car crashes and not too much is ever said about that.

[Unquestionably Confused]

[snip]

LOL! SWMBO pointed that one out as were were chuckling over this thread earlier. Typically these clueless ones wait until everything has been rung up AND the check written or card swiped or... and only THEN do they remember the coupons and ask for a "do over." Arrrgh, indeed!

[Tony Hwang]

No self serve check out? No express check out?

[Frank]

Retired, I go to a fitness center a few times a week in mid-morning when traffic is light. This past Black Friday, I noted much heavier traffic and impolite motorists apparently rushing to the stores.

According to my wife, if you want to go nuts this time of year, go to the post office. Half the people with armloads of packages act like it was their first time there.

[Wes Groleau]

If I ran a store, there would be a five-percent surcharge for people who exceed the number of items specified for the express lane. Ten percent if three items over.

And for those who pretend they can't count, a map on how to get to a different store.

(Consoled my wife, a retail cashier, with similar words when she stressed out over the jerks she was required to be polite to.)

But now, I take it back. My express lanes would have no item limit. Just a flat five percent "convenience fee." My thinking is that the more items you have, the higher the fee, and therefore the lane would be avoided by anyone not truly in a hurry.

And I would be closed "Black Friday." And on any other day, anyone trying to take an item from another shopper would be escorted out of the store without purchases and asked not to return. If they argued they had it first, "Are you willing to pay double the price if our security videos say otherwise?"

I figure the only customers I would lose would be the ones I don't want, and I'd get even more customers from the civilized people.

[krw]

Do you propose banning all black cars?

[krw]

Express checkout? Is that the one with the woman with two carts full of crap, checking out?

[gonjah]

It seems like there are usually not enough checkers and there are always issues with the self checkout. Surprising considering how much money they have. I never buy ice cream there.