h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

but imagine sitting/standing there all day with no human interaction.

My PHotD: it's a "bridge" day here. Half the country have the day off. I, however, need to do my usual weekly shop (postponed from yesterday due to the public holiday)

Why oh why oh why is the flippin' supermarket full of pensioners and entire families (mum, dad and 2 kids often teenagers blocking an aisle staring into space...) at LUNCHTIME. Get out of my way!

Appologies to all mums who read this, its really only meant for a specific type of mum...

The ones who think they have a god given right to push past you hitting you with the pram/buggy, who then park said pram/buggy in the middle of the aisle and give you the filthiest look when you politely ask to get by...

What bugs me is that checkout staff keep asking if I want any help packing... not because the question itself is annoying but that there are sufficient able-bodied people who don't pack for themselves that the question needs to exist in the first place!

Sadly I believe it's down to the Wal-Mart connections, the American "Have a nice day" mentality. It's meant well, but it's been changed into a requirement - staff *have* to offer, otherwise they can be in trouble.
I'm guessing, knowing modern legislation, that if they only offered help to those who appear less able, they could be accused of discrimination...

well, MrD sometimes I'd like help packing. If I do a big shop, and the checkout staff whizz the stuff through so it's piling up on the other side.
Because if I pack properly, I get the guy behind me buying a playboy and a mars bar giving me daggers because I then have to get out my purse instead of standing ready to pay...


other PHotD: Gruesome Twosome are off school today. They are now big enough to be home alone for the few hours. And persist in calling me to say things like: I broke my camera. And then hanging up with that teenage-sigh when I say "I can't do anything about it now - wait until I get home"



KIDS!

"but imagine sitting/standing there all day with no human interaction."

Absolutely agree, and I always try to engage the staff in conversation.

It's interesting how many moan about being there. Heck we'd all be bored if we sat there just scanning items for 7 hours per day. The trick is to find ways to make it interesting. Given that you're dealing with people isn't it just obvious that being pleasant and genuinely interested in them might be one way of achieving that?

I tried that in Asda a while ago, and I got a tirade of how awful this girls boyfriend was, how she was fed up with her job and wanted to walk out and she would stop talking even after I started walking away... It just wasnt worth it in my opinion.

My petty hate re supermarkets is checkout staff who think it's a race. If there are more than 2 items waiting to be packed, just slow down a bit and let me catch up. It doesn't deal with the queue any quicker as I still have to finish my packing once everything's rung through, but if you're still packing when there are no more goods left to scan, as someone has already mentioned (Sho?), you get daggers from the next in line.

And I know women are traditionally good at multi-tasking, but I just can't maintain a conversation with the checkout operator whilst frantically trying to catch my shopping before it disappears under a pile of free bags they are supposedly no longer leaving out.

Deb

Forgive me if someone already mentioned this somewhere in the 7000 posts, but I am new and haven't been able to get through the all. Yet.

When referring to physical exertion, I find it extremely irritating when people say they gave more than 100%. If I gave 110% to playing a sport, wouldn't you expect to find me dead on the ground?

Children whose teachers don't have them under control

We just had a very big group in - 58 children - whose teachers were more or less absent. One of them actually put his hands around my throat and choked me, with one of them looking on, and she didn't do anything!

I had no idea how to react (I'd have loved to just slap the little ), so I just ignored him.

Mal - I personally favour re-introducing scaphism for little terrors like that

"We just had a very big group in - 58 children - whose teachers were more or less absent. One of them actually put his hands around my throat and choked me, with one of them looking on, and she didn't do anything!"

Please clarify ... was it one of the teachers or children that tried to choke you?

~*~If I gave 110% to playing a sport, wouldn't you expect to find me dead on the ground?~*~

I completely agree.

Another supermarket-related petty hate - the way people just abandon their trolleys in the trolley parking area. How hard is it to push your trolley into the back of the one in front? I had to arrange the trolleys today just to get mine (one of the smaller ones) in.

A lesser hate is that the supermarket don't employ enough staff to move the trolleys back to the entrance regularly enough.

Deb

I've had plenty of evil looks in my time from people who leave their trolleys in the middle of the aisle, only for me to shove them to the side. I usually just look at them and say "don't leave your trolley there then"

You call these hates petty? Ha! Try this:

having to use a non-graphic smiley in parentheses, thus obtaining something like ; )) or : -()

Oh, and having to use less elegant graphic smileys elsewhere. Notably, I miss hootoo's and

My current petty hate is when my cat comes over, sits at my feet, gazes lovingly upwards then pukes on my socks

Nice

My pet hates are mostly motoring related these days, thanks to my daily commute on the city bypass five days a week. People, what is so damn wrong with using your indicators? If you indicate that you want to be let into the fast lane, I'll slow down and let you! Don't just cut in, causing me to slam my brakes

Yep ... I reckon half this thread is travel related (e.g. cars/cyclists).

My PHoD yesterday was the women who cut me up when the lanes merged after the traffic lights. At the lights I was level with another car, I pulled away slowly and the other car got in front THEN some silly cow came haring down the outside and cut in front of me ...

nononononono

Don't pull out unless I leave space, Your indicators are *not* a magic forcefield.