Shoppers abandoning fresh food where? ‘How lazy have we become?’
- Replies 10
For most of us, grocery shopping isn’t the most exciting activity. We enter the premises, grab what we need, check out, and then go.
But at times, it can also be irritating, especially when we encounter inconsiderate customers.
One Aussie was spectacularly angry about shoppers who couldn’t be bothered to return fresh items that they eventually decided not to buy.
We had to clean up the language, but this is what they posted on the social news website Reddit: ‘Seriously, how lazy have we become as a people that we can’t be ar**d to walk back to the bread aisle, or the hot chicken shelf, or the freezer and put stuff back? Tonight, I saw a tub of Streets just tucked into the shelf next to the tea, melting its a**e off.’
They continued: ‘It doesn't matter what area, Coles or Woolies, I will always see some customers leave the deli goods, hot chicken, seafood, bread in some random aisle instead of bothering to take it back.’
‘There are millions of people starving Australians who can't even afford food, and wasteful pr***s are walking around doing this! I looked it up, $27 million in fresh food had to be disposed of last year because they have no idea how long it's been sitting on the shelf or out of the cold, so they have to put it in the damage bin!’
But it wasn’t the only behaviour they found irritating: ‘Also a side note: Why do people leave the trolley in the parking bay? Stop!’
You are free to leave items wherever you want, but remember: store workers will have to deal with them eventually. Credit: Shutterstock
Some supermarket employees shared their experiences having to deal with food items left out to rot. One said: ‘Ugh, I used to work for Coles and we had someone leave a tray of meat on the biscuit shelf! They’d hidden it fairly well, too. No one knew it was there until the smell started. Of course, they sent me, the newbie, down to investigate and clean it up… it was absolutely feral.’
Another said: ‘I once found 1.5kg of raw prawns decomposing at the back of the treats section in the pet food aisle. Worst thing I've ever smelled! They'd seemingly intentionally hidden it behind everything, so it wasn't found for days.’
Another Redditor was baffled at people putting things inside a freezer, even if they weren’t shelved there: ‘Every day I will find 2-litre milk and heaps of things that should not be frozen in the freezer, solid as a rock. It’s as if people go out of their way to ruin what they can't be bothered taking back. it boggles the mind.’
Misplaced things can also inconvenience or, at worst, harm an innocent shopper getting food supplies. One time, an ALDI shopper almost ate kangaroo pet mince food after it was placed in a fridge containing human food.
The inconsiderate behaviour seems to have been practised long before today. An Aussie said: ‘I worked in a supermarket as a teen in the mid-90s and can confirm this is not at all a new thing. People have always been lazy and inconsiderate.’ They provided useful advice: ‘PSA: if you decide you don’t want a fresh item but don’t have time or can’t be bothered taking it back to where you got it, at least give it to the checkout staff or service desk so they can make sure it gets quickly returned.’
Another comment conjured a disgusting image: ‘Finding random food left on a shelf was always better than finding dirty nappies. People are gross and lazy.’
But as it turns out, this is not news to store workers. A comment said: ‘Just started at a new supermarket, and you hear some really, really gross stories. People are disgusting.’ If you have the stomach for it, you can read others share their horror stories working at a supermarket on Buzzfeed.
Others reacted to the author’s comment about misplaced trolleys. A Redditor wrote: ‘I get genuinely furious about the trolley thing because I go to pull into a parking spot like once every week at least just to have to turn my indicator off. How lazy can you be that you can’t take the extra 200 steps to take your trolley back to the designated place and then back to your car?’
A response to the comment shared an interesting YouTube recommendation: ‘I reckon you’d love Cart Narcs!’
Cart Narcs is an American content creator who confronts people who leave their trolleys anywhere else besides the trolley corral. The callouts are not exclusive to Americans – check out his video doing his schtick in Ibiza, Spain:
Many others remarked that other people are just the way they are: rude. One said: ‘They are inconsiderate c**ts, but they just see themselves as cheeky.'
Another seemed resigned: ‘There are some very inconsiderate, positively hateful people out there.’
Annoying shopping behaviours are not exclusive to Australians. All over the world, shoppers complain of the lack of etiquette from fellow customers. Touching fresh produce without buying it, disrespecting personal space, and picking items from another person’s trolley, are common complaints. Here are some of the rudest things you can do at a supermarket, according to etiquette experts.
Would you consider yourself a generally considerate shopper, or are you guilty of some of the behaviours we’ve mentioned? Let us know in the comments below!
But at times, it can also be irritating, especially when we encounter inconsiderate customers.
One Aussie was spectacularly angry about shoppers who couldn’t be bothered to return fresh items that they eventually decided not to buy.
We had to clean up the language, but this is what they posted on the social news website Reddit: ‘Seriously, how lazy have we become as a people that we can’t be ar**d to walk back to the bread aisle, or the hot chicken shelf, or the freezer and put stuff back? Tonight, I saw a tub of Streets just tucked into the shelf next to the tea, melting its a**e off.’
They continued: ‘It doesn't matter what area, Coles or Woolies, I will always see some customers leave the deli goods, hot chicken, seafood, bread in some random aisle instead of bothering to take it back.’
‘There are millions of people starving Australians who can't even afford food, and wasteful pr***s are walking around doing this! I looked it up, $27 million in fresh food had to be disposed of last year because they have no idea how long it's been sitting on the shelf or out of the cold, so they have to put it in the damage bin!’
But it wasn’t the only behaviour they found irritating: ‘Also a side note: Why do people leave the trolley in the parking bay? Stop!’
You are free to leave items wherever you want, but remember: store workers will have to deal with them eventually. Credit: Shutterstock
Some supermarket employees shared their experiences having to deal with food items left out to rot. One said: ‘Ugh, I used to work for Coles and we had someone leave a tray of meat on the biscuit shelf! They’d hidden it fairly well, too. No one knew it was there until the smell started. Of course, they sent me, the newbie, down to investigate and clean it up… it was absolutely feral.’
Another said: ‘I once found 1.5kg of raw prawns decomposing at the back of the treats section in the pet food aisle. Worst thing I've ever smelled! They'd seemingly intentionally hidden it behind everything, so it wasn't found for days.’
Another Redditor was baffled at people putting things inside a freezer, even if they weren’t shelved there: ‘Every day I will find 2-litre milk and heaps of things that should not be frozen in the freezer, solid as a rock. It’s as if people go out of their way to ruin what they can't be bothered taking back. it boggles the mind.’
Misplaced things can also inconvenience or, at worst, harm an innocent shopper getting food supplies. One time, an ALDI shopper almost ate kangaroo pet mince food after it was placed in a fridge containing human food.
The inconsiderate behaviour seems to have been practised long before today. An Aussie said: ‘I worked in a supermarket as a teen in the mid-90s and can confirm this is not at all a new thing. People have always been lazy and inconsiderate.’ They provided useful advice: ‘PSA: if you decide you don’t want a fresh item but don’t have time or can’t be bothered taking it back to where you got it, at least give it to the checkout staff or service desk so they can make sure it gets quickly returned.’
Another comment conjured a disgusting image: ‘Finding random food left on a shelf was always better than finding dirty nappies. People are gross and lazy.’
But as it turns out, this is not news to store workers. A comment said: ‘Just started at a new supermarket, and you hear some really, really gross stories. People are disgusting.’ If you have the stomach for it, you can read others share their horror stories working at a supermarket on Buzzfeed.
Others reacted to the author’s comment about misplaced trolleys. A Redditor wrote: ‘I get genuinely furious about the trolley thing because I go to pull into a parking spot like once every week at least just to have to turn my indicator off. How lazy can you be that you can’t take the extra 200 steps to take your trolley back to the designated place and then back to your car?’
A response to the comment shared an interesting YouTube recommendation: ‘I reckon you’d love Cart Narcs!’
Cart Narcs is an American content creator who confronts people who leave their trolleys anywhere else besides the trolley corral. The callouts are not exclusive to Americans – check out his video doing his schtick in Ibiza, Spain:
Many others remarked that other people are just the way they are: rude. One said: ‘They are inconsiderate c**ts, but they just see themselves as cheeky.'
Another seemed resigned: ‘There are some very inconsiderate, positively hateful people out there.’
Annoying shopping behaviours are not exclusive to Australians. All over the world, shoppers complain of the lack of etiquette from fellow customers. Touching fresh produce without buying it, disrespecting personal space, and picking items from another person’s trolley, are common complaints. Here are some of the rudest things you can do at a supermarket, according to etiquette experts.
Would you consider yourself a generally considerate shopper, or are you guilty of some of the behaviours we’ve mentioned? Let us know in the comments below!
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