Pet Peeves: Aka Things That Make You Go "Gah!"

[BookWoman56]

My peeve right now is customer service reps who don't know the answer to something, and just make shit up to get you off the phone. I have a flexible spending account through my employer; the FSA card and account are administered by a third party vendor. Most of the time when I use the FSA card, the provider (doctor, pharmacy, etc.) uploads documentation concerning what the card was used for, and I don't have to provide any additional documentation. However, some providers don't do that, and so the website of the third party vendor will notify me that I need to upload a receipt. The easiest type of receipt is an EOB (explanation of benefits) from the health insurance company because it lists all the info required: patient's name, date of service, name of provider, medical codes for the services provided, cost per service, what the insurance plan paid, and the amount that is the patient's responsibility. 

I had an unexpected trip to the ER late last year, and my insurance paid 80% of the charges, leaving me responsible for the other 20%. I had used the FSA card to pay roughly half of the charges, waiting to see what other expenses I might have that would need to go on the card, and then figured I would go ahead and use whatever was left on the card to pay off the rest of the ER bill. So I had previously had to submit a receipt for the first payment to the ER, and the EOB I uploaded was approved with no problem. I had made the final payment about 6 weeks ago, using the FSA card, and then the third party vendor notified me, as expected, that I needed to submit a receipt. So I submitted the exact same EOB I had used for the initial payment. Imagine my surprise when I got notified last week that my receipt had been rejected. 

I called the FSA provider to ask what was going on. The customer service rep put me on hold to research why the receipt was rejected, supposedly consulted with a claims manager, and came back with this answer: The EOB I submitted didn't say "Explanation of Benefits;" it said "Claim Recap" (or something very similar). Customer service rep tells me I need to get an actual EOB from my insurance company. I politely explain that the document I had already uploaded was the only thing available; on the insurance site, when you click the link that says "EOB", the Claim Recap document is what pops up in a PDF. I also politely asked why this was an issue, since the exact same receipt had been approved in late 2018; the answer was that the company has put in stricter rules on receipts effective the first of the new year. Customer service rep tells me I need to talk to a live person at the insurance company and ask for a real EOB, because customer service rep has a real EOB from the same insurance provider right there, and it says "Explanation of Benefits," plus the insurance company's logo is in the upper right corner instead of the upper left corner. 

As directed by the customer service rep, I called my health insurance provider to get a live person, who was seriously taken aback when I explained what the FSA customer service rep had said. Insurance rep says they changed their format of EOBs over a year ago, and replaced the term "Explanation of Benefits" with "Claim Recap" because people kept calling them and asking them what an EOB was. Insurance rep also says they are in the process of rolling out a  new format for the document, and if this FSA site (which is a major national provider of the FSA service) is going to reject receipts because the document doesn't explicitly call itself an EOB, there's the potential for major system problems. So, insurance rep volunteers to do a 3-way call with himself, me, and the FSA provider. Of course, we did not get the same customer service rep I previously had gotten. But I gave a blow-by-blow account of exactly what the previous one had said, using my notes from the call. New customer service rep says my receipt was probably rejected through some kind of system glitch, and he will resubmit it with notes to ensure it gets approved asap. And has never heard of any rule that the receipt must say "Explanation of Benefits." He didn't come right out and say so, but from his tone of voice it was pretty clear that the previous rep was completely clueless about the process and the requirements. By the time all this got resolved, it was nearly 30 minutes of my time, plus the insurance rep's time, plus the second customer service rep's time. 

I understand that sometimes a customer service rep will not know the answer to something and may not be able to find out immediately. But FFS, just tell me you don't know, the person who would  know is temporarily unavailable, and you will call me back once you find out. Don't waste my time spinning some BS story that is not in any way accurate. 

[bilgistic]

Dear 5% of grocery store customers who are assholes:

1) Hang up your phone call or (gasp!) wait to make a call until you are done with your transaction. You are not that important, but you are rude.

2) Do not come into the store to buy your week's worth of groceries at 9:52 when the store closes at 10.

3) NEVER reach over the partition into my area. Do not touch the bags, don't scan your loyalty card, don't scan an item, don't put your or your kids' fingers on the moving belt where they can be pinched. Just stop it all. It's not helpful; it's highly annoying and most of all, it's dangerous.

4) Keep your kids from walking into my station. There are sharp edges and protrusions at their head and eye level. I also need to be able to move. It's not cute; I don't like your kids. Be a parent.

5) We sell probably 200 different kinds of tobacco products. Don't get pissed off if I don't know every kind by heart. Just tell me which kind you want, what the package looks like, and enunciate. I don't know what "Emanmbumenol" is.

6) Don't get pissed off if I automatically, reflexively start bagging because my ESP didn't tell me that you had bags hidden that you brought in, mean lady from the other day. Don't yell at me, "No!" like I'm a dog, instead of saying, "I brought my own bags." Then don't yank the groceries from my hand because you are still pissed about it. Get over yourself.

7) Don't be a huge, gaping asshole and throw down money on the belt and leave with items because you got tired of waiting on another customer's price check. This isn't a general store or a restaurant in a movie. That's not how any of this works. You essentially shoplifted. I hope every single one of your items has a problem with the price the next time you have a transaction.

All that said, 95% of our customers are great. They are kind, "working class" folks who don't act like they are better than me because I'm "serving" them. The rest have been out of control over the past three days. I'd blame a full moon, but there wasn't one.

[2727]

I use a grocery pickup service; order online and employees bring it all out to my car.

I can specify whether or not I want substitutions if something is out of stock. I do usually want it but only if the employees use their heads.

Order: liter bottle of Fresca. Seems like a six pack of Fresca would be the logical substitute, but no. Twice they've given me a liter bottle of Sprite. I would have accepted that if it  had at least been diet.

Order: [X] brand jar of spicy salsa. What is the operative descriptor there? Not spicy, apparently, because they selected [X] brand in mild.

Along the same lines, [X] brand barbecue potato chips. They decided [X] brand regular chips would do.

Not to mention the two times I got cucumbers instead of zucchini.

I don't think I'm asking them to be mind-readers here. Isn't it just a bit of common sense?

[Bastet]

27 minutes ago, 2727 said:

I don't think I'm asking them to be mind-readers here. Isn't it just a bit of common sense?

I don't know, it seems like a bit of a no-win situation.  The Fresca example is pretty straightforward - same thing in a six pack or two small bottles.  Then again, maybe a customer would be annoyed by the increased cost and would rather have a liter bottle of another soda.

Salsa?  Spicy would be the key for me, too, but taste/quality varies significantly from brand to brand, so maybe I'd rather have the mild version of Brand A than the spicy version of Brand B if I hate Brand B.  (What I'd really prefer is to skip it if they didn't have the spicy kind I liked, but I'll get to that in a minute.)

And there really isn't a substitute for zucchini, except for maybe another type of squash, but different customers would prefer different ones.

Cucumber was fucking dumb, yes, but otherwise I think it is asking for more guessing than the employee should have to undertake.  Rather than a general substitutions yay or nay option (which is what I assumed from your post, but I may be wrong), you should be able to select yes or no for each item, and then have a field to specify what you want instead for those you select substitutions.  So, for example, you could select substitutions okay for the chips, and then in the field say you'd like Brand #2 barbecue or Brand #1 different flavor. 

Edited March 1, 2019 by Bastet

[ABay]

My usual shopping time is sunrise on a Saturday, sometimes sunrise on a Sunday. But with the moths and all, I haven't done the shopping in over a week. I'm down to frozen ravioli and 2 eggs. It's going to snow overnight and the roads will be a mess in the morning, so I had to go to the store after work this afternoon. OMG. It's the apocalypse and people just can't face it without their french toast. And none of the people using the self-check knew how to self-check. Now is not the time to puzzle through it. I felt so bad for the guy who had to come over and fix things 3 times for the same dimwit.

And put your fucking phone away and use both hands. Moron. She wasn't even talking on it, just clutching it in one hand while pulling things out of the basket and scanning with one hand.

Edited March 1, 2019 by ABay

[bilgistic]

GAH! I ordered a refill insert from Amazon for the cats' turbo scratcher and the delivery person (Amazon uses their own) didn't leave it at my door yesterday. I have it in my delivery instructions to leave things at my door. Instead, I had an email saying they "attempted delivery". Well, they could've at least left it at the leasing office.

Today I was home all day. I left a note on the door saying to leave the delivery at the door and ring the bell because I'm home. I just got a recorded call saying they attempted delivery. NO, YOU DIDN'T!

Edited March 2, 2019 by bilgistic

[Guest]

31 minutes ago, 2727 said:

I use a grocery pickup service; order online and employees bring it all out to my car.

I can specify whether or not I want substitutions if something is out of stock. I do usually want it but only if the employees use their heads.

Order: liter bottle of Fresca. Seems like a six pack of Fresca would be the logical substitute, but no. Twice they've given me a liter bottle of Sprite. I would have accepted that if it  had at least been diet.

Order: [X] brand jar of spicy salsa. What is the operative descriptor there? Not spicy, apparently, because they selected [X] brand in mild.

Along the same lines, [X] brand barbecue potato chips. They decided [X] brand regular chips would do.

Not to mention the two times I got cucumbers instead of zucchini.

I don't think I'm asking them to be mind-readers here. Isn't it just a bit of common sense?

I tend to agree with @Bastet  that there is too much variation in substitutions to assume there is an approach that works for the majority of customers.  They can't read minds on whether price, brand, or flavor is the motivator.  Heck, I wouldn't be consistent item to item.

The one I used had notes where you could leave instructions.  I basically did the ordering with substitute vs substitute with a simple note (used sparingly) vs no substitute (because the note I would have to write would make me a total PIA). 

There was one thing that made me nuts.  I thought about leaving a note about it ahead of time but didn't because I thought it would come across as so obvious that I was calling them stupid.  It was expiration dates.  Given the number of items that had the current day as the expiration date they must either not pay attention or the store must instruct them to move the aging inventory.  Its why I only used it once.  I had to bring a bunch of stuff back in to exchange and it put me in a mood.

[bilgistic]

I get probably an average of two or three Instacart shoppers in my lane daily. Some don't seem to be the brightest bulbs. One guy brings his wife and kid with him to shop, which OK, but that seems distracting? They distract me when I'm trying to complete the transaction because the kid is crawling all over everywhere and they think it's just adorable. It's not.

There are a couple of regular Instacart shoppers that seem to know their stuff. I assume you can keep using the same shopper because one woman gives me the same bagging directions every time (double bag because customer lives upstairs in an apartment).

I've seen only some of them buy our "manager's specials", which is stuff that's going out of date soon, is marked down, and includes meat. I definitely don't think the store has anything to do with Instacart shoppers buying those products. If it were me using the service, I'd instruct the shopper to never buy those items (if there's an option for that). I'd definitely buy them myself, but others blindly buy them for me? No.

My sister uses Walmart's in-house grocery shopping service (she picks it up when it's ready) and loves it. I don't know anything more about it, though.

Edited March 1, 2019 by bilgistic

[bilgistic]

47 minutes ago, forumfish said:

The other day in Walgreens, an older man in front of me picked up two Snickers bars, there was a "two-fer" sale. After a few minutes, he put one back and then put the other one, HALF EATEN, down on a pack of gum and WALKED OUT. The woman who had been in front of him turned to me, we were amazed. And disgusted. The clerk called for an employee to come clean up the half-eaten bar. Who in their right mind does that? He was as guilty of shoplifting as if he'd walked out with a still-wrapped bar. (I said "older man" to get across the point that he was definitely old enough to have been taught better. Heck, most toddlers know better.)

WTF!

[2727]

52 minutes ago, forumfish said:

I will refrain from sharing a lengthy peeve about the grocery online ordering trend because some of you would be offended and I like y'all.

Isn't that what we're here for?? Now I'm curious!

The lengthier the better.  :-)

[Annber03]

8 hours ago, bilgistic said:

1) Hang up your phone call or (gasp!) wait to make a call until you are done with your transaction. You are not that important, but you are rude.

Seriously. Customers complain all the time about having to wait at the counter while the employee is talking to somebody on the phone, and rightly so. But apparently customers can yak away on their phones while the employee is trying to ring up their stuff, and that's totally okay. 

Quote

2) Do not come into the store to buy your week's worth of groceries at 9:52 when the store closes at 10.

Good. Freaking. Lord. THIS. Food, even, I could maybe, maybe understand doing that for, if it were some kind of emergency situation or something.

But I worked in a bookstore and remember having a few customers who came in two minutes before the store closed for the night and decided they needed to find a particular book right then and there (and that was if they remembered the name of the book, which of course, many of them didn't). Really? You can't possibly wait until the next day? 

And I remember when my mom worked at Pier 1, there was one night she actually came home in tears because these two snotty women decided they needed to come into the store a few minutes before it closed for the night...and they started walking around in a way that made it clear that they weren't planning on just a quick browse before leaving. They wound up staying well past the time the store closed, and every time my mom tried to remind them that they needed to, y'know, leave, they got super bitchy and threatened to make a complaint to the higher ups and pretty much made it clear that they were rich and therefore they could do whatever they wanted. They were just flat out beyond rude to her, and thanks to them, my mom was late getting home because she missed the usual bus she took and had to wait for the late one. 

It's just truly amazing. Store hours are posted for a reason, people. Read them. Understand them. Plan accordingly. Those workers want to leave and get home on time, just like everyone else. 

Quote

3) NEVER reach over the partition into my area. Do not touch the bags, don't scan your loyalty card, don't scan an item, don't put your or your kids' fingers on the moving belt where they can be pinched. Just stop it all. It's not helpful; it's highly annoying and most of all, it's dangerous.

4) Keep your kids from walking into my station. There are sharp edges and protrusions at their head and eye level. I also need to be able to move. It's not cute; I don't like your kids. Be a parent.

Yes to all of this as well. Another thing with kids, sometimes the parents give them the money to pay for the stuff, and I get they think it's cute and the kids feel all grown up and stuff, but all that usually winds up happening is that it takes longer for the cashier to get everything because the kids are being all goofy and playing around with the cash and stuff. 

3 hours ago, forumfish said:

The other day in Walgreens, an older man in front of me picked up two Snickers bars, there was a "two-fer" sale. After a few minutes, he put one back and then put the other one, HALF EATEN, down on a pack of gum and WALKED OUT. The woman who had been in front of him turned to me, we were amazed. And disgusted. The clerk called for an employee to come clean up the half-eaten bar. Who in their right mind does that? He was as guilty of shoplifting as if he'd walked out with a still-wrapped bar. (I said "older man" to get across the point that he was definitely old enough to have been taught better. Heck, most toddlers know better.)

I will refrain from sharing a lengthy peeve about the grocery online ordering trend because some of you would be offended and I like y'all.

Okay, what the ever-loving hell?!?! That's disgusting. 

That was another thing that drove me nuts when I worked at the bookstore. The store was in the mall, so sometimes people would bring their drinks and food from the food court area into the store while they browsed.

And sure enough, if I were cleaning the store or going around to put stuff away or whatever, I'd find wrappers and half full cups and whatnot just sitting around on the shelves or on the floor. It was even more infuriating considering there was a trashcan right outside the bookstore, and that trashcan has always been there for as long as I can remember. Yet apparently people just couldn't be bothered to walk the few extra steps to throw their stuff away out there, or even bring it up to the counter and ask us if we had a trashcan we could throw the stuff into (we did). 

I also remember having to scrape some gum off from underneath a bookshelf one day. 

Add me to the list of people who want to hear your rant!

[Bastet]

5 hours ago, forumfish said:

I will refrain from sharing a lengthy peeve about the grocery online ordering trend because some of you would be offended and I like y'all.

Add me to the curiosity list; I don't even use self check-out for a variety of reasons, let alone online ordering (but for this I have no real objections other than control), so I want to hear what irks you about the latter.

Grocery peeves bring me to ...

A while back, I complained about my local Ralphs (Kroger) undergoing renovation that involved moving things around seemingly just for the purpose of moving them around.  I mostly shop at a couple of independent markets, but I read the sale ads at the chains each week and sometimes drop in at Ralphs or Vons if there's a good enough deal on something I want; it's sporadic enough I get easily discombobulated by reconfiguration.  A minor quibble about this renovation was replacing some of the regular checkout lanes with self-checkout lanes.

Well, it turns out they didn't only add more self-checkout lanes, they eliminated the express lanes.  Seriously?  They now have the dubious distinction of being the only grocery store in the area - other food markets whether independent or chain, multi-purpose store with grocery like Smart & Final, etc. - not to offer at least one express lane.  It's now take your chances or use the self-checkout. 

Because I have tremendous flexibility with my schedule and can thus shop at off-peak hours (that plus only occasionally shopping at the chain to begin with is why it took me a while to notice the change), it's usually not an issue, but twice I have been stuck in heavy "traffic" with my little basket.

Thankfully, both times, an employee (who knows - from prior conversations - that one of the reasons I don't use self-checkout is it being designed to replace human workers) has sidled up and offered to do the self-checkout for me, so I don't have to be unreasonably delayed by waiting OR deal with the annoying quirks of this increasingly-inevitable system.

Basically, grocery stores are a minefield of nuisances for everyone involved.

Edited March 2, 2019 by Bastet

[tinkerbell]

My pet peeve right now: 

ANTS

They're everywhere all of a sudden.  on my counters, in the pantry, by the coffee maker, in the sink.  

UGH! 

[2727]

@tinkerbell, I swear by Terro brand ant poison. When I was living in the South Pacific, the roaches were stomach churning but the pest that annoyed me most were the ants.

6 hours ago, Bastet said:

Well, it turns out they didn't only add more self-checkout lanes, they eliminated the express lanes.

It just occurred to me that the Publix stores near me don't offer self-checkout at all. Maybe because they're a private company partially owned by the employees? Another possibility is that I live in a retirement community and nobody got time for that amount of hand holding.

I always use self-checkout when getting groceries at Walmart, mostly because those 10 machines are all in a corral area next to the doors and it saves me 40 steps of walking. (My anti Fitbit lifestyle at work.) I avoid shopping during busy hours, but there's never a line, there are always 1-3 employees stationed there to help, and it's pretty breezy.

[theredhead77]

18 hours ago, bilgistic said:

1) Hang up your phone call or (gasp!) wait to make a call until you are done with your transaction. You are not that important, but you are rude.

I used to tell people I'd help them when they were off the phone and as a customer I've suggested people hang up the phone when they have trouble completing their transaction. I'm lucky I haven't been murdered for it, really.

In college, many years ago, I was the manager at a Baskin Robbins. I still clearly remember a mom bringing in her two kids, a boy around 8-10 and a toddler girl. The mom was on the phone and clearly told her son to get whatever he wanted. So he ordered a brownie sundae. He ordered something his sister was allergic to and I just remember the mom getting pissed at me for making this 'deluxe' sundae with something the girl was allergic to. She told me I should have checked with her first.

I just looked at her and said something like "ma'am, you clearly told him to order whatever he wanted and were too busy talking on your phone instead of paying attention to stop us before making something you deem excessive with flavors your daughter is allergic to." Of course that pissed her off and she asked for a manager. Oh, that's me! Anyway, one of the boys working ended up eating it, I had to explain that to the manager who saw it on the cameras and we made her something she approved. And her kid was pissed at her. Good.

[Katy M]

I had a friend call me one time. I suppose I may have called her.  Either way, I didn't know what she was doing at the time, of course.  Anyway, we're talking for a few minutes and she says to me that the guy at the (I forgot what kind) counter at the grocery store wasn't helping her and I tole her it was probably because she was on the phone.  She asked me if I was telling her to hang up. I said "I don't care what you do, but it's only polite not to be talking on the phone when you want to interact with someone face to face."  

[theredhead77]

My other cell phone peeve are people who yammer on at the gym.  If your call is that important take it outside, otherwise you're not getting a real workout while talking loudly on with someone who isn't there.. I've also called people out for that by telling them I can hear them over my full blast music and asking them to keep it down.

TL;DR - if your call is that important where you have to be talking to someone while shopping, working out or otherwise in public be aware that you are probably being rude and annoying others. If you're just chatting with a friend call!them!later!

Thank you for listening to my TED talk.

[2727]

3 hours ago, forumfish said:

Rant over, hope it was entertaining!

Thanks and yes! :-)

With regard to a store's profits, I switched my grocery shopping almost exclusively to Walmart when they implemented curbside pickup, so that's a win for them. (Loss for Publix, though.) I also primarily buy Walmart store brands, which I guess are more profitable?

According to my favorite curbside person, they hired 26 new staff members for the department (or existing staff transferred), which seems like a lot of overhead. I'd be sad if the number crunchers ever decide it's no longer worth it. Publix partners with Instacart, but Walmart is the only one that's free.

Other food-related services like Grub Hub or Postmates aren't in this area or I'd probably be all over them, too.

Edited March 3, 2019 by 2727

[bilgistic]

4 hours ago, forumfish said:

From a customer standpoint, if I can't see and touch/smell produce, I'm not buying it. I don't trust some highschool clerk to pick out the freshest peppers, squash or peaches.

The only issue I have is the bolded. This is a common misconception, but the Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median age of grocery store employees at 34.3. I have found that to be true in the two stores in which I work. Only one teenager (still in high school) works in each store.

[NutMeg]

7 hours ago, theredhead77 said:

My other cell phone peeve are people who yammer on at the gym.  If your call is that important take it outside, otherwise you're not getting a real workout while talking loudly on with someone who isn't there.. I've also called people out for that by telling them I can hear them over my full blast music and asking them to keep it down.

TL;DR - if your call is that important where you have to be talking to someone while shopping, working out or otherwise in public be aware that you are probably being rude and annoying others. If you're just chatting with a friend call!them!later!

Thank you for listening to my TED talk.

And on the other side of the call, sometimes there's me, on a receiving call, getting a "hello" and then hearing what food the person is ordering or whatever convo they have with the cashier. Super rude. I usually say "let's talk later, when you're free". Some insist that they're free and still continue talking with the cashier ☹️ 

[auntlada]

10 hours ago, forumfish said:

I then went to Amy's to see if they had a special flavor of ice cream for Texas Independence Day (Happy 183rd Birthday, Texas!). They did have "Texas Butterscotch," but the young people working there had no clue it was Texas Independence Day, or even that it's a real thing. The ice cream was good, though.

I feel old.

I was in a work meeting with one person younger than me who moved here from out of state a few years ago and two people older than me who have lived in this state for at least 30 years. We're in Oklahoma. Normally, I don't mention where I live, but it's important to the story. One person said something about statehood day happening in April. I told her that statehood day (which I've never really heard called that, but I suppose it is) is not in April. It's in November. Nov. 16, to be exact. She wanted to know what was in April. I told her Land Run Day was April 22 (the same day as Earth Day). I tried to tell them we might not want to put anything on social media about it though because it's a little controversial now, but no one was listening.

So then she asked about the Oklahoma City bombing (the Murrah Building) and when it was. She is one of the ones who have lived here at least 30 years, I believe in this town, where the bombing could be felt, although only faintly. Every year there's a memorial run and ceremony. I said it was April 19. The other one who has lived here that long asked what we normally did, and I said we normally just put something up saying something like, "We remember." That's what most businesses do. Then she said, "What year was that?" I just looked at her, and she said, "Why are you looking at me like I should know that?" I said, "Because you should." She claimed not to because so many other huge, bad things have happened since then.

She's right; they have. But this was just down the road, and it was huge. And it's not like she's too young to remember. She's older than me. She was an adult when it happened. To me it's like someone who was an adult when JFK was assassinated saying she couldn't remember the year it happened because so many other people were assassinated after that. (I'm also pretty sure she's been to the memorial, which I haven't even got up the stamina to visit yet. I'm just not sure I can handle seeing it and thinking about the children; there was a daycare in the building. I'm going this summer, though, because I want to take my son before he starts learning about it in school. I want to handle the first exposure.)

[palmaire]

Speaking of food, the serving sizes on nutritional labels are largely based on nationwide consumption surveys conducted in 1977 and 1987. The FDA used that data to create "reference amount customarily consumed (RACC)". Manufacturers are required to make the serving sizes on their labels as close as possible to those amounts.

To which I say, bullshit, sir. Seems like a lot of serving sizes are purposely ridiculous to try to fool consumers into thinking an item has fewer calories, fat, carbs, etc. than it does. What would you guess is the recommended serving size of instant mashed potatoes?

Spoiler

Four tablespoons, is what.

Sure.

Even if you buy the explanation that "people ate less" in the 70s and 80s when the surveys were conducted, my elementary school cafeteria of the 50s served an ice cream scoop of mashed potatoes, which was closer to a cup depending on how generous the lunch lady was with the scoop.

From Slate: "For simplicity’s sake, the FDA encourages manufacturers to label a container as a single-serving if the entire contents of the package can reasonably be consumed at a single-eating. For example, someone who buys a 20 oz. soda bottle is probably going to drink it all at once, even though the RACC is 8 fluid ounces. Nevertheless, manufacturers insist on labeling soda bottles as 2.5 servings."

[auntlada]

The 20-ounce Cokes I drink are all labeled as one serving. Now the microwave soups that say they have two servings in one container, on the other hand, just make me mad. The whole point of buying the microwave soups in the microwaveable container is so I don't have to use a bowl. One person is going to eat the whole thing. It's one serving. (According to Campbell's website, some are now labeled as one serving, but others aren't. I don't get that either.)

[theredhead77]

11 hours ago, forumfish said:

When I asked the clerk at the desk, she stared blankly and said she didn't know what laid-finish paper was. She turned to her coworker who asked, "rice paper?"

I ran into Petco to pick up some of treats for the kitties and was having trouble finding them. Someone who was stocking shelves asked if I needed help and I told them what I was looking for. Their response was "I don't think we carry that, do we?" as they turned to another employee. I looked down and right there, on the shelf was exactly what I was looking for.

[janestclair]

14 hours ago, bilgistic said:

The only issue I have is the bolded. This is a common misconception, but the Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median age of grocery store employees at 34.3. I have found that to be true in the two stores in which I work. Only one teenager (still in high school) works in each store.

It's definitely changed in the last 20 or so years. When I worked as a cashier in a grocery store from 16-22ish, most of the employees, at least on the front end, were high school and college age, but now they are mostly older.  I'm a high school teacher these days, and I'm finding that the biggest majority of my students don't even have after school jobs.   

I've never done online grocery shopping because I like to be able to pick out the produce and meat myself, but I do love the self-checkouts.  Probably because I used to be a cashier myself, I find that I can do it faster, and as a bonus I don't have to make idle chit chat with the cashier.  I still remember the produce PLUs, at least for the things I buy regularly.  My closest grocery store where I worked, had them and then removed them for a few years, and now they just put them back in again.  I don't think they're costing anyone jobs any more than anything other cost cutting measures.  Even before self checkouts, they were having fewer and fewer registers open at any given time.  Certain times of the day, it was only me by my lonesome.  If they're only going to have X number of cashiers on during a given shift, at least one of those cashiers on shift is covering 4 registers, so the lines aren't as ridiculous.

I have to go grocery shopping today, and I'm dreading the french toast crowd.  They're predicting 4-8 inches of snow overnight.  I should've gone already.

[2727]

I would definitely cheese off @auntlada because I cannot remember dates at all. 

Like, I know 9/11 but honestly couldn't say what year it was. I was in 7th grade when JFK was killed but I'd have to do some arithmetic to figure out when I was in 7th grade.

Unless there's a rhyme for it, I'm lost on most big historical dates.

A recent Jeopardy! question was the year the last POTUS who had no previous experience as an elected official won. I knew it was Eisenhower ... at some point in the 50s.

If that isn't irritating enough, I also have no sense of direction

[theredhead77]

I was at Costco earlier today. I know what I'm getting into when I go on a Sunday and can deal with the wanderers, crowds and lines. What I could not deal with was the woman who left her full cart of items for the line expediter and cashier to unload. This wasn't a couple of large items that you leave, or heavy items. It was bags of chips, jars of olives and the like.

I waited a moment to see if the woman was going to assist (though she could have started to unload during her time in line) or mention that she couldn't unload and ask for assistance (injury, disability) but nope. She just stood there, watching. People don't need to broadcast they are disabled or injured but in my life experience people who need assistance ask for it so they don't look like an entitled asshole.

I got so annoyed I stepped in front of the person next in line (in front of me) and started to help the line expediter unload and said something loudly about just trying to make the line move faster when the line expediter asked if I was with her. Then I looked at the woman, still standing there and said you could help us unload your shit. She said "I'd be happy to" without moving.  As I set her last item down I said "seriously, next time unload your own fucking cart".

When I got to the front of the line the cashier, line expediter and the dude at the next check stand started cracking up. Do you even Costco, lady? Even if that was her first trip, ever, to Costco surely she would have noticed everyone around her unloading their own fucking carts.

[theredhead77]

50 minutes ago, LucindaWalsh said:

Did you really have the right to touch items she was purchasing?

You mean the items that were still property of the store? Yes. Yes I did. Her holier than thou attitude directly impeded my pursuit of happiness (if you want to talk about 'rights').

She could have stepped in at any time to assist. She could have unloaded her cart per societal norms. She could have asked for assistance, per societal norms. Instead she chose to stand there like an entitled ass-hat making the Costco employees her servants and cause the rest of us to wait longer since the people ringing up the order now have to do something she should have done.

Thanks for asking!

[BookWoman56]

23 hours ago, forumfish said:

I'm irritated when I can't park anywhere close to the store entrance because the best spots are reserved for "curb pickup." This doesn't happen at every store, but most I've seen do this. If the point is avoiding getting out of the car and going inside, why does the curbside spot need to be so close to the door? Yes, the store's employees who have to load the purchases have to walk a bit more, but again, from a marketing standpoint, why discourage in-person shoppers by making it more difficult for them to come in?

At the HEB (regional TX grocery chain) where I do most of my grocery shopping, and at a few others I've driven past, they've actually created a separate building of sorts (I'm sure there's a connecting hallway to the main building somewhere) specifically for curbside pickup, with a dozen or so dedicated parking spots created in front of that building. So there's not that problem with fewer parking spots close to the entrance, and it results in minimal interference with the traffic flow of the parking lot overall. 

I haven't used the curbside pickup option, but I have used the delivery service several times, and never had any problem with the produce or meat the clerks had selected. I don't know if there is any major training those clerks go through, but if I were a manager, I'd be telling them to make sure they select the best-looking produce and meat they can find, because nobody wants to deal with a pissed-off customer calling the store to complain about it. Another thing I like about their online ordering is that you can specify for each item whether substitutions are allowed, and there is a text field for notes, so if I'm okay with Brand X rather than Brand Y, or if I'm okay with a smaller size of Brand A but not at all okay with substituting Brand B, I can specify that. I don't know if the curbside pickup is free at the grocery store, but there is a fee for delivery, which is understandable. However, I haven't used the delivery service lately, because as much as I despise grocery shopping, it does give me an excuse to get out of the house for a couple of hours.

I don't mind self checkout at all, except for the fact that every single one I've been to has only the smallest possible bags there, so if you get anything larger than that, it has to stay unbagged. (At the grocery store, I use my own bags so it's not an issue, but at Walmart I swear if you have an item that is larger than a box of kleenex, it won't fit into the bags they provide at the self checkout.) There are still a lot of full-service checkout aisles, and I figure that most of the employees who used to do checkout are being transitioned over to fulfilling the curbside pickup or delivery orders, or are now assigned to the troubleshooting station for the self checkout aisles. 

[emma675]

theredhead77, I love it! Bitchy people like that don't last long in the Costcos around here. The one I go to is full of people who help others with their heavier items and I've never seen anyone just stand there and not unload their own freaking carts.

[theredhead77]

On 3/2/2019 at 3:19 PM, forumfish said:

I'm irritated when I can't park anywhere close to the store entrance because the best spots are reserved for "curb pickup."

Yes! The Target by my office has an awkwardly designed parking lot to start with and now the decent spots are  reserved for pick-up. I've noticed people started parking in the 'reserved for pick-up' spots at my local Target.

6 minutes ago, emma675 said:

he one I go to is full of people who help others with their heavier items and I've never seen anyone just stand there and not unload their own freaking carts.

I've seen people help unload, I've helped unload more carts than I can count (not just at Costco, I'll offer to help someone with their hands full, or someone who is elderly or someone who just looks like they could use a hand. I've never seen someone just stand there making zero effort.

Edited March 3, 2019 by theredhead77

[Guest]

Curb side pick up where the employees are taking something out to the car doesn't bother me as much as the 15 min spots for on line ordering when the customer is going in the store to pick it up.

That is something that I don't get the logic behind.  

The online options are to be competitive with Amazon.  Most people are going to pick the free shipping to their home option.  So why if the online customer given preferential treatment over the in store shopper.  Especially when the stores are in a fight for their very survival against on line shopping.

Insult is added to injury because I have never seen anyone park in those spaces.  They basically tied up premium spots for theoretical customers.

[Guest]

A certain big box store just left me an automated message that they are delivering something tomorrow morning that I have to be home to receive.  This is 100% certain the first time they made contact about a delivery.  The automated message was delivered after the delivery service and the store was closed.  National customer service can't do anything before the store is closed.  Now I have to deal with this at the butt crack of dawn tomorrow morning before work.  Because I have a job.  I can't just randomly work from home tomorrow morning.

I am beyond peeved.  Beyond.

[GHScorpiosRule]

Well. I did use online grocery shopping when I was in chemo because I was by myself. And I had them deliver it to my home. However. It wasn’t via instant kart. Though it was from a chain, the groceries came not from the actual store, but a warehouse, I think. Because things that I KNOW are in the store, weren’t available to order online. And the packaging of fruits and vegetables was different. I also used it when I fractured my pinky last Fall and couldn’t drive. Those were more limited as I couldn’t cook. Ended up ordering food from restaurants for a month!

[walnutqueen]

I don't use grocery delivery, but I do use Walmart.com for my heavy cat food, litter, birdseed & misc items. My peeve with them is the too heavy to lift boxes I have to open & empty on my front porch, and all those plastic air snakes I have to pop and recycle back at the store.  Still better than hurting my already wrecked arms with all the heavy lifting.

But back when my Mum in Canada got too sick to shop much, I used SaveOn Foods delivery, and they were THE BEST.  Their customer service went above & beyond, they chose the freshest and best items, always "upgraded" any necessary substitutions, and they continued to deliver special chocolate and floral treats while she was in hospice.  I will never forget their kindness and care in selecting the very best for my very dear Mum.  So, shout out to SaveOn Foods, Abbotsford, B.C., Canada and their most excellent customer service rep, Jade.

A peeve just turned into a kudo ... 

[theredhead77]

45 minutes ago, LucindaWalsh said:

I have been told when checking out at Costco that the expediter is there to unload the carts and usually wants to choose if the item is put on the counter and put there in their own order and quickly. Every time I have been to Costco the expediter has immediately put the separator stick behind the last order and started taking my things out of my cart as soon as they have finished with the person in front of me

You have an awesome Costco if they do all the work for you. Every Costco I've ever been at has an expediter to help, not do all the work and when they are clearly loading up the cart for the customer in front of you and the belt is empty you should be unloading your own cart.
I wasn't swearing at her. I didn't call her names and I didn't yell at her. Not my problem if people get offended by my swearing and I think more people need to call out people for their rude, entitled behavior including but not limited to this nonsense, yakking on the phone in public during inappropriate times, and on and on.
 

8 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Well. I did use online grocery shopping when I was in chemo because I was by myself. And I had them deliver it to my home

Good for you! I used it years and years ago, before it was a thing, when I broke my ankle and my roommates were useless in helping me. Online grocery delivery is a great service and one I hope my elderly parents start using as it gets harder for them to go to the store.

I work in eCommerce and the line between making things easier for the customer and running stores out of business is very fine. I promote our 'will-call' ordering as a cost control measure. The buyer or manager can order online for someone to run over and pick it up, or for someone to get what they need, without buying unapproved items when out of town.

I used the Target 'will-call' once and the pick-up is at the regular guest services window. I think it's great to help keep personal spending in check but it's too annoying since some of the items are up front and others they have to go get form another location. Kohl's will-call is way better.

My other current peeve is litter. Throw your trash out, people! 

[Katy M]

9 hours ago, theredhead77 said:

I wasn't swearing at her.

17 hours ago, theredhead77 said:

As I set her last item down I said "seriously, next time unload your own fucking cart".

I'm not sure what you're definition of swearing at someone is, but that definitely meets mine.  

10 hours ago, LucindaWalsh said:

I have been told when checking out at Costco that the expediter is there to unload the carts and usually wants to choose if the item is put on the counter and put there in their own order and quickly.

I've never been to a Costco. Think I'll stay away.  Sounds complicated as to what you are and aren't supposed to do.

Reminds me of the time a TSA agent yelled at me for taking off my sneakers even though that's what I'd done every other time I'd gone through security (at the same airport for that matter).

[ABay]

Chewy has been great for getting cat food and bird food (pantry moths aside) but damn those boxes are heavy! Like @walnutqueen, I've had to unload a few on the front steps. Other times, I tipped the box end over end to get it onto the door ledge so I could push it into the house. It still beats the hell out of loading a shopping cart and scanning cans at the store, if they even have the flavors Girl Cat prefers, and hauling them to the car and then out of the car and into the house.

[ALenore]

I've been doing self-checkout for several years now.   At the supermarket I go to (Stop & Shop) I do "Scan-It" where I pick up scanner at the door, put it in a holder on the cart, and just can each item as I put it into a bag.   I love it because I can put each item into specific bags as I go along.  A green bag for produce, blue for frozen items, orange for pantry items.   When I get home I put the bags on the counter closest to where they go.  There's almost never a line for checkout.  All I have to do is scan the scanner and pay for the groceries, they're already bagged.

I occasionally use online grocery ordering.  The groceries come from a warehouse, not from the local store.  It is possible to go and pick up your groceries, but the nearest pick up location is 5 times as far away as my local store, so that wouldn't make any sense.   The last time I got groceries delivered is when there was an ice storm and my driveway was iced over.  The delivery guy stopped at the top of the driveway and my husband and he walked the bags of groceries down.   I might have to do that again this week, as we just had 8 inches of snow last night.

[walnutqueen]

I don't use the self scan, because I wrecked my wrists, forearms, elbows and shoulders at my J.O.B. and have chronic tendinitis & nerve damage.  It's not that I CAN'T scan these items, but every extra move I make with my arms guarantees pain & suffering as a result.  As it is, the personal shopping and unpacking items I do results in hours, if not days of ICE, ICE, ICE, BABY.  The few times I've afforded to shop at Trader Joe's, I've appreciated the fact that they take items directly out of your cart, because it saves me a whole lot of arm action.

But I always put my stuff on the "belt" at my local stores, and I really like my "checkout people".  I know them all (because I've shopped locally for decades), and they know me.  It is always a pleasant encounter.

Also, I swear like Trixie The Whore (from Deadwood), and fuck is my favorite word.  But even I would never use it in public, at a checkout line, because that would be rude and insensitive to innocents who might be within earshot.

So, back to the pet peeve part - Just about every day is filled with frustration, anger, resentment, or a bunch of other personal shit.  Doesn't mean I get to take out ANY of that with the people who are working for a living, or those in line who don't meet my standards of checkout etiquette.

(Besides, you never know when the person you are tempted to publicly excoriate might turn around & shank you, or just start shooting people!).  :~D

[theredhead77]

5 hours ago, Katy M said:

I've never been to a Costco. Think I'll stay away.  Sounds complicated as to what you are and aren't supposed to do.

It's not complicated at all. Load up your cart, go to the register, unload your cart on the conveyor belt, pay for your items and leave. It works like every other grocery store.

[Katy M]

49 minutes ago, theredhead77 said:

It's not complicated at all. Load up your cart, go to the register, unload your cart on the conveyor belt, pay for your items and leave. It works like every other grocery store.

I just meant that there seems to be confusion as to who is supposed to unload the cart. No grocery store I have ever been in has there ever been an employee that even looked like they would unload any part of your cart onto the belt.

[GaT]

5 hours ago, ABay said:

Chewy has been great for getting cat food and bird food (pantry moths aside) but damn those boxes are heavy! Like @walnutqueen, I've had to unload a few on the front steps. Other times, I tipped the box end over end to get it onto the door ledge so I could push it into the house. 

We use them too, but they really suck at packing the boxes. I've lost count at how many orders they've comped us on because they didn't put any kind of packaging inside the box so that the big, heavy bag of food or litter crushed the non can cat food. 

[walnutqueen]

10 hours ago, GaT said:

We use them too, but they really suck at packing the boxes. I've lost count at how many orders they've comped us on because they didn't put any kind of packaging inside the box so that the big, heavy bag of food or litter crushed the non can cat food. 

Hah!  Too little packaging with Chewy, too much with Walmart.  Meanwhile, I'm with Goldilocks trying to find one that's "just right".

Actually, I'm still going with the cheapest option, because I'm a poor pensionnaire.

Edited March 5, 2019 by walnutqueen
fat fumbling fingers

[Kelly]

7 hours ago, Katy M said:

I just meant that there seems to be confusion as to who is supposed to unload the cart. No grocery store I have ever been in has there ever been an employee that even looked like they would unload any part of your cart onto the belt.

Truly...there is no confusion.  At every Costco I've shopped at - you check-out just like a grocery store except that heavy/large items - you leave in your cart and they hand scan them.  Sometimes there is someone (besides the cashier) that will assist unloading small items from my cart and sometimes not...it's really not a big deal.

[auntlada]

7 hours ago, Katy M said:

I just meant that there seems to be confusion as to who is supposed to unload the cart. No grocery store I have ever been in has there ever been an employee that even looked like they would unload any part of your cart onto the belt.

We used to have one that was old-fashioned, and you pushed your cart onto the cashier's side of the register. The cashier unloaded and scanned your groceries, and then the bagger bagged them and took them to your car for you. Sometimes the owner (it was our last locally owned grocery) was the bagger. There was no belt. I'm still mad that the owner of the lot basically forced them out of business so a Sprouts could go in there.

(When I say "used to," I don't mean 40 years ago. I mean about four years ago.)

Edited March 5, 2019 by auntlada

[emma675]

My pet peeve today is Southwest airlines. First they cancel my flight this morning, less than 4 hours before takeoff, then the only remaining flights to rebook are less than 2 hours away or at 6:30pm. I haul ass to the airport, get a late bag check in, and I'm the last person to board. When we finally land, my bag doesn't show up. It's apparently on a later flight (4 hours later) and they tried to refuse to deliver it to my hotel because it was a late check in. IT WAS A LATE CHECK IN BECAUSE YOU CANCELED MY FLIGHT, JERKS. A few very tense phone calls later, it will be delivered but late tonight. 

My short vacation is off to a great start.

Edited March 5, 2019 by emma675d

[GHScorpiosRule]

1 hour ago, auntlada said:

We used to have one that was old-fashioned, and you pushed your cart onto the cashier's side of the register. The cashier unloaded and scanned your groceries, and then the bagger bagged them and took them to your car for you. Sometimes the owner (it was our last locally owned grocery) was the bagger. There was no belt. I'm still mad that the owner of the lot basically forced them out of business so a Sprouts could go in there.

(When I say "used to," I don't mean 40 years ago. I mean about four years ago.)

The cashiers at my Trader Joe's unloads my cart because the cart is pushed to their side. They bag it and I pick up the bag on my end.🤷‍♀️

But yeah, at Costco, I unload and pack my stuff into the boxes they provide and roll my cart to my car. Because Costco sells groceries in bulk. No bags.

[emma675]

Update, my bag was delivered a little before midnight. It took over 12 hours to get to my destination, which is a 2 hour flight from home, lol.

[partofme]

I guess mine is currently people who leave their dogs in the hallway unattended.  Yesterday I left my apartment to go to the supermarket and these 2 dogs(not very large dogs mind you) started barking viciously at me and had me backed up in the corner of the hall so that I couldn't make it to the staircase.  At one point the one that looked like a pit bull ran into the open apartment door and I tried inching up a bit towards the stairs as the other one that looked like a mountain lion kept barking viciously at me, then the pit bull looking one came back out and joined in.  Eventually the guy who lives in the apartment came up the staircase and told them to go into the apartment.  It was really frightening, they weren't big dogs but I was really afraid they would bite.