Grocery Store Etiquette

[Shores]

If I'm shopping with my children and one of drops something, we will pick it up.  If we didn't drop it, I may not be inclined to pick it up.  I'm certainly not going to go through the trouble of finding where it goes to put it back.  I'm a customer not an employee.  I just realized it was another poster who said always put stuff back where it goes.  I'm putting the responses together and can't imagine the expectation of picking up what someone else dropped AND putting it away elsewhere in the store.

If it's not your fault, then there's no reason to make anyone else's life easier? I mean, I get that no one should EXPECT the extra courtesy out of you as in following your around saying "you didn't pick that up!", but I can't imagine purposely ignoring something that you see on the floor that could potentially be a hazard just because "Well, I didn't drop it!" I don't wander around putting things back where they belong,but I pick up fallen items when I see them. I figure that .5 seconds of my time could prevent someone from getting hurt later, so why not?

[Danismom]

2. If you decide you don't want something, please either put it back where you got it or give it the cashier. Don't just leave it wherever you happen to be, ie: chips in with the cans, toys crammed into bins, etc. This goes doubly for frozen/perishable items. Finding bags of frozen whatever that have thawed and leaked is not enjoyable, plus it causes the store to loose money.

I used to work in a grocery store, so this is from both employee and customer:

*If something's on the floor, pick it up!  Even if it's not in the exact right place.

To clarify, I had these two combined in my mind.  I'm not going to go all over the store trying to figure out where this particular kind of cold medicine goes.  If an item is on the floor and in the way, I will pick it up.  If it is out of the way, then I may or may not bother to pick it up from the edge of the aisle and up it on the shelf. 

[Danismom]

If I'm shopping with my children and one of drops something, we will pick it up.  If we didn't drop it, I may not be inclined to pick it up.  I'm certainly not going to go through the trouble of finding where it goes to put it back.  I'm a customer not an employee.  I just realized it was another poster who said always put stuff back where it goes.  I'm putting the responses together and can't imagine the expectation of picking up what someone else dropped AND putting it away elsewhere in the store.

If it's not your fault, then there's no reason to make anyone else's life easier? I mean, I get that no one should EXPECT the extra courtesy out of you as in following your around saying "you didn't pick that up!", but I can't imagine purposely ignoring something that you see on the floor that could potentially be a hazard just because "Well, I didn't drop it!" I don't wander around putting things back where they belong,but I pick up fallen items when I see them. I figure that .5 seconds of my time could prevent someone from getting hurt later, so why not?

When I said "may not" I meant that I may or may not be inclined to do so.  Usually I will, but frankly, I don't this it is rude to not pick up someone else's napkin from the floor.

[Mopsy428]

Express lanes: If you have more than the max # allowed, please go to a different line. 1 or 2 items over is OK. Filling up your carriage with enough groceries to feed all of the Miss Universe contestants for a month and then going into the express lane is not OK.

Please do not leave your carriage in the middle of the parking lot. Put it in the designated area or bring it back to the store.

[Danismom]

Self Checkouts:
If you are checking out all your own items (be it 1 or 100) don't stop in the middle to hug a friend that just walked up and then proceed to catch up on all the latest family news.  Finish your transaction and move away from the checkstand first.

[o_gal]

Really?  I guess there is a much larger range of opinions than I previously expected.  Wow!

2. When someone has completed their purchase, it is up to them if they want to move their groceries down so they can put down the divider. It is not up to you, the next customer, to either demand that they put the divider down or for you to start moving groceries for them. I may have a lot of groceries and no, I may not want to pile them up on top of each other so you can begin scanning. And do not call the supervising person over to make me.

Our stores in this area don't have the full size self-scan registers, just the small ones.  But if they are designed with a divider why is it wrong that the next customer expects you to use it?

Usually I do, when I have a smaller order or I get to the point where it can be put down. But I can scan a lot of groceries on these - in my case, sometimes I have enough groceries that it fills the entire bagging area and backs up onto the belt (pinging the annoying "Remove excess items from the belt" announcement from the scanner and it won't continue until I do.) I would have to move literally half of my groceries on top of the other half in order to put the divider down. And I won't have any place to put my bags. I have the reusable canvas bags and they don't fit very well on the small shelves that the store has its plastic bags on. So I am trying to be polite and bag as fast as I can, and I state that politely to the next customer. I use the self scanner because I want to keep certain groceries together, and one of my bags is insulated for cold stuff, so I have a definite bagging "protocol" and I'm pretty darn fast.

But one morning, I had this woman (or SS?) behind me. First she called down for me to use the divider. I apologized and said I'd be done as soon as I could but I wasn't going to be able to put it down for awhile. Then she comes down and starts SHOVING my groceries down until I again told her that I would be done as soon as possible. Then she calls for assistance and the supervising person starts to shove my groceries down. At that point, I wouldn't talk to anyone else and just bagged and got out of there quickly, never once putting the divider down. If she'd been polite and accepted my first explanation, I would have put it down when it was possible.

[iridaceae]

Express lanes: If you have more than the max # allowed, please go to a different line. 1 or 2 items over is OK. Filling up your carriage with enough groceries to feed all of the Miss Universe contestants for a month and then going into the express lane is not OK.

But please don't glare at the person ahead of you who is being checked out who has a full cart; I've had full carts and been pulled over by the staff because there was NO ONE in the express lane, even after they announced it and went over to lines to tell people.

Also, in 24-hour stores the express lane may be the only open lane.


*************

It is always nice when someone with a full cart lets you go ahead of them when you have only one or two items, but don't expect that everyone will do this.

[MommyPenguin]

In regards picking things up off the floor... I don't think it's a social requirement, but I think it's a nice thing to do.  Whether it's reasonable depends on what the item is, whether you know where it goes and whether it's close, and it can also depend on what kind of item it is and whether getting dirty is an issue.  Customers can't wash their hands as easily as staff can.  Also, would you want a customer picking up, say, a nectarine, and putting it back on top of the others?  It's probably bruised because it fell, but the bruise may not show immediately.  Another customer would pick it up without knowing that it fell on the floor.

I try to, in other circumstances, pick/clean things up.  In fact, the city we used to live in actually had signs asking people to pick up 5 pieces of trash.  Perhaps because of the signs, I rarely saw that much trash.    But I do try to pick up trash, clean out the paintbrushes/paint left on the counter at the play place, etc.

[Elfmama]

Please do not leave your carriage in the middle of the parking lot. Put it in the designated area or bring it back to the store.

I would love to feel well enough to be able to do that 100% of the time, but sometimes it just isn't possible.  Making it from the parking lot into the store, around the store to get what I need, and back to the car takes every ounce of strength I have left. If I have to walk another 100 feet to put it back in a cart corral, I won't be able to get my purchases into the house.

And because fibro ebbs and flares, I don't qualify for a handicapped tag. Please don't assume that someone who looks "perfectly healthy" actually is.

[Yvaine]

3. Don't eat something you haven't paid for, this is really important when the item is priced per pound. Also it sucks having to clean up a bunch of crackers/chips/cookies that have fallen out of the open bag you didn't warn us about. Also, eating a donut, cookie, fruit or veggie before you pay is not cool. How am I supposed to know your telling the truth and you didn't eat more?

This seems to vary by store.  Many stores encourage you to eat while you shop or certainly have no problem with it.  This tends to be a hot button issue here though with no real consensus, so I'm guessing it varies by store or region.

It does. I don't think most stores would want people to eat items priced by the pound! But self-contained things like a soda, it varies. Some of the stores in MyTown actually have a bottle/can holder attached to the cart that says "Enjoy a (BrandNameSoda) while you shop!"

I imagine it helps encourage sales of the sodas and puts the empty bottle in an obvious place so the customer doesn't forget to pay for it and the cashier doesn't miss ringing it up.

[Shoo]

If there is an express lane (or multiple express lanes), and there are also self-check lanes, please don't get behind someone in a regular lane and roll your eyes, sigh loudly, and shift from one foot to the next in an attempt to guilt the person with a full cart of groceries into letting you, with your few groceries, go ahead of them.  Use one of the speedy lanes available to you!  You are making me question your intelligence!!

[Mopsy428]

Please do not leave your carriage in the middle of the parking lot. Put it in the designated area or bring it back to the store.

I would love to feel well enough to be able to do that 100% of the time, but sometimes it just isn't possible.  Making it from the parking lot into the store, around the store to get what I need, and back to the car takes every ounce of strength I have left. If I have to walk another 100 feet to put it back in a cart corral, I won't be able to get my purchases into the house.

And because fibro ebbs and flares, I don't qualify for a handicapped tag. Please don't assume that someone who looks "perfectly healthy" actually is.

That's understandable. But if you are healthy, you should be able to put your carriage away. I seriously doubt that the amount of people who just leave their carriages in the middle of the lot are not healthy enough to put theirs back in its proper spot.

And for the love of Pete, if you (general you) must leave your carriage in the lot, please be careful where you leave it. Do not leave it in the middle of the road or push it into another vehicle.

[kareng57]

Please do not leave your carriage in the middle of the parking lot. Put it in the designated area or bring it back to the store.

I would love to feel well enough to be able to do that 100% of the time, but sometimes it just isn't possible.  Making it from the parking lot into the store, around the store to get what I need, and back to the car takes every ounce of strength I have left. If I have to walk another 100 feet to put it back in a cart corral, I won't be able to get my purchases into the house.

And because fibro ebbs and flares, I don't qualify for a handicapped tag. Please don't assume that someone who looks "perfectly healthy" actually is.

Can you not request that store staff member give you some assistance with getting your groceries to the car?  Your situation is understandable and I don't think any staff would be judgemental just because you look "perfectly healthy".

The fact is that unsecured carts can be a hazard.  It might look as though you're leaving it on level ground, but all it might take would be a gust of wind - and the cart slams into either a person or a car.

[Vall]

In my area, every grocery store will assist me in taking my groceries to my car.  All I have to do is ask.  I've used this service many times in the last 20 years.  I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis when I was still in my 20's.  During a flare up, even doing simple tasks can be very difficult.  When I need help, I simply ask for it.  The assistance is usually friendly and non-judgmental.  They load the groceries, I thank them and tip them, then they take the cart with them.

If I need help and there are staff there who are willing to help me, I use that service.  I really don't think that the staff cares whether I have a handicapped tag (I don't) or what my physical issues are.  They are simply there to help if I ask.

[snowdragon]

Do not put your purchases on the belt and go back and shop some more. the person who comes in and gets in line is not rude for not allowing you to continue shopping and come back, they are now next because you left.

Similarly, if someone is ahead of you and has not had the chance to put their purchases on the belt, don't put yours in their way effectively blocking them from the belt. They are not the rude one if they move to another line, you are for pretty much forcing them to. And asking  AFTER you have emptied your cart to the belt "can I put these here" when it is obvious that you are cutting them off does not make it any less rude.  Berating them after they move makes you even MORE rude.