Take your time...no, really....

[Severen13]

I was at the grocery store and get in line behind a SC who is finishing up with a rather large order that required two carts (the total was over $300). No problem, she's almost done and I don't mind a little wait so I set my stuff and on the belt and take my place in line. And wait. And wait. And wait some more as SC proceeds to go through all her grocery bags and find stuff for the cashier to take off. This went on for a good 15 minutes as SC dug through her groceries like she was the only customer in the place and had all the time in the world. The cashier apologized to me. SConly offered the half-hearted excuse of having a family for why she took so freakin' long.

So just because I'm single I have to wait for people who don't know how make a grocery list or do simple addition and subtraction?

Aarrrghhhh!!! *tears hair out*

[bainsidhe]

I feel your pain. What's even more delightful is when they customer tells you "Tell me when I reach $50.00" and they reach it before even half their stuff is scanned. And off to the trash with the raw chicken and steaks, because that seems to be the first things customers change their minds about

[Kogarashi]

Oh, I hear you. I've had to deal with that often enough from the cashier's side of things.

This is why when I go grocery shopping, Hubby and I first make a menu for the next two weeks (because we buy two weeks' worth of groceries in one run, and then just follow up the next week with essentials like bread and milk that run out quickly). Then, from that menu, we make a shopping list (sorted by section of the grocery store so it's easier to grab everything without having to backtrack). I have the food budget in mind when I go shopping, and I keep a running tally (rounding up or down as necessary) as I shop. Our budget has some bit of flexibility, thank goodness, but if I go way over by the time I pick up everything, I go back and replace things until it's a reasonable total again. Only then do I head up to the registers.

Only once have I had to hand things to the cashier, and that was because I'd forgotten my credit card and had no other payment method on me. Luckily, it was during a "small items" run (all non-food) rather than the Big Grocery Trip.