"I don't care if I'm pissing you off. I have nothing but time on my hands!"

[greensinestro]

I swear I at times tell myself I will never do the grocery shopping again. Only because of the customers who are in front of you, and will do everything possible to hold up the line just because they have nowhere else to go and nothing better to be doing. I was at the local Publix the other day, waiting in line at the deli. This old woman, about 65 to 75 years of age, bought three things: a pound of roast beef, a pound of ham, and a pound of turkey. Each time she told the young man behind the counter what she wanted, it was, "Oh, do not start slicing any more meat until I've had a taste test of it." She would have the guy cut a slice, then we had to wait and watch her not only taste it, but actually chew, savor, and enjoy every bite before the next line, "Okay, you have my permission to start slicing."

When she got to her second item, which was the ham, the guy behind me and in front of me, as well as myself, were all ready to kill this woman. Again, she tells the guy not to start slicing any ham until she taste tested it, and this took at least two minutes being she told the guy to give her another slice being she was uncertain about the first one. It then took her another full minute to chew and savor this slice of ham before she decided it was all right for this guy to slice her pound of ham.

By the time she was ready for her last item, the turkey, another deli employee started waiting on the other customers. Yet this time, the old woman took her sample but did not tell the young man to wait for her approval. He just began slicing, and she took her turkey. One of the guys behind me asked her, "Excuse me, maam, but would you like some of the bread and mustard in my cart for that sandwich we all just had to wait for you to approve?" Too hilarious.

In any case, I think the summary of this story is this woman deliberately was doing this being only one person was in the deli, and she knew other people were waiting to be served, but did not care how upset they became with this. In addition, as the guy behind me in line said, she also had her lunch while the rest of us waited for her to approve it as being delicious enough to eat!

My grandfather, God rest his soul, lived to be 78 years of age, and yet always found much better things to do with his time than piss off people he did not know from Adam. Why people like this exist for us to tolerate is beyond me, but I sure wish they would all go shop somewhere else where eveyone else is like that.

[friendofjimmyk]

,
In any case, I think the summary of this story is this woman deliberately was doing this being only one person was in the deli, and she knew other people were waiting to be served, but did not care how upset they became with this. In addition, as the guy behind me in line said, she also had her lunch while the rest of us waited for her to approve it as being delicious enough to eat!

I don't know about her doing it deliberately to upset everyone. I do agree with you when you say she was getting a free lunch...she was probably blissfully unaware of the line behind her. Maybe she was even unaware of the person in front of her...hell, she was probably just unaware.

[Argabarga]

Motivation is irrelevant, point is, she's holding up a line with unreasonable requests, if you don't like the cuts, return them at a later date and we'll discuss compensation, but, if the meat doesn't look bad in the case, it's not going to look any worse sliced, so you can either take it or I'll serve the next person.

[Knifeman]

"I need to buy a single piece of fruit with a coupon, and then return it!"

[AFpheonix]

And you didn't take this perfect opportunity to give her hell?

[greensinestro]

And you didn't take this perfect opportunity to give her hell?

No, I did not do that. She was already satisfied to be holding up the line. Why give her the satisfaction of getting response from me? That's probably what she wanted and why she was doing this in the first place.

However, she did make me want to right before all of us did this:

[Tito]

One of the guys behind me asked her, "Excuse me, maam, but would you like some of the bread and mustard in my cart for that sandwich we all just had to wait for you to approve?" Too hilarious.

That's too funny! What was her reaction to that?

[Becks]

The store I work at will allow customers to sample items from the deli (and occasionally hot foods) before they buy. Can't say that we have any who take their time savoring the flavors and gumming the things to death first, though.

[Dark Psion]

Got behind a scavenger hunt in the check out line today.

Just when you think they are done, they need pop & candy, but one wants Coke, one wants Dr Pepper and one needs something diet and caffine free, so off they go to nearby check outs to find their pops.

But wait, now they need candy, but there are no M&Ms here, check the next isle.



The only other SC I saw was unfortunatly my dad.

I got him to try growing an Amarylis bulb to keep him busy over winter and now that it is blooming, he wanted more. But the bulbs had no ID or barcodes on them, the cashier is looking at charts, in books, calls another cashier but cannot find a SKU# for them.

She was going to just put them under the department and when she asked me to spell Amarylis, my dad hands me the tags he took off "So they would not lose them."



I'd left him if he wasn't driving.

[powerboy]

"I need to buy a single piece of fruit with a coupon, and then return it!"

Nice Futurama reference.

[TNT]

I'm always very patient with older people because I'm know that when I'm in my seventies, I'm going to set records for suckiness.

I'm only in my forties and already, I avoid even the simplest new technology because it looks really hard. I prattle on endlessly about "my generation" and how we're either the greatest or the worst depending on which better suits the point I insist on making. I get irritated when the neighbor kids walk on my lawn (even if it isn't technically my lawn, since I live in an apartment). And since my mid-life crisis started when I was fifteen, I expect it will still be going strong then.

The retail people of tomorrow are going to hide in the back room when I walk in a store.

[Jester]

I sample things at the deli too, but there is a way to do it. If there is no one in line, no big deal, but if there are others in line, I will take my sample, sample it, and let the line move along while I ponder my decision. I am rarely in a hurry, and if I AM in a hurry, I am not at the deli, I am buying the pre-packaged stuff! I do the sampling thing because different brands and styles vary, sometimes within themselves. And because of sampling, I have discovered some good stuff, including my new favorite Swiss cheese (Emmthaler, I think it is called, from Germany. Delicious!) This lady could have very simply asked for samples of the three things she wanted, sampled them while the deli folks waited on others, and then got what she wanted, or didn't. She was just difficult, even if it was not intentional.