The "I don't want to talk about AI" thread, and the new topic is: adventures in shopping

[Erozetta]

I don't know, some of these modern "smart" cars might know about horses "retiring" to the glue factory.

Sorry, I wasn't supposed to talk about AI.

It's okay, my car is dumb.

 

[Erozetta]

I bet your car is disappointed. "I'm being retired!" it told all its car friends. "No more daily commute for me. I'll be sent to a big farm in the countryside, where I can sit in the sun all day and watch the world pass me by."

Nah, I told it ahead of time it was just a doctor's visit to fix its feet.

 

[UsuallyPresent]

Nah, I told it ahead of time it was just a doctor's visit to fix its feet.

Aww, no more lil feetlings? How sad - them lil things're CWOOT!

 

[Erozetta]

Aww, no more lil feetlings? How sad - them lil things're CWOOT!

Even better: brand new feet with an 80k mile warranty.

 

[old_prof]

Even better: brand new feet with an 80k mile warranty.

I need to find a better doctor. I don't think my new knee gets an 80K warranty.

 

[TheLobster]

They warmed up when he started showing her memes on his phone

I cannot decide whether to react to this with "Kids these days!" or "There is yet hope for humanity..."

 

[PennyThompson]

are we still talking about grocery shopping? because today I had to witness just the most uncomfortable grocery store encounter I think I've ever seen

I was in line to check out, and the two people in front of me were an older woman in a grocery store scooter thing followed by what I assume was her adult son. She went first and excruciatingly slowly loaded her groceries from the scooter's literally overflowing basket onto the conveyor belt, just an enormous amount of stuff. I was starting to regret choosing this line.

Eventually she got it all unloaded, the checker rang her up for like two hundred dollars, and the bagger got everything (just barely) crammed back into the scooter's cart. Then she tried to pay with a card, and it wouldn't work. She tried to run it like five times, claimed the machine was broken, that she only had twenty dollars cash on her, started giving a complicated sob story, hinting that... I don't know, the store should just let her take the stuff?

(At this point I wanted to just leave the checkout line and go to another one, but someone had come in behind me. I was trapped.)

The checker wasn't having it, and voided the entire order. Then the lady asked to try paying with a different card that she hadn't mentioned previously, and the checker said it was too late, they would need to re-stock everything in her cart.

Then she said she couldn't make it to her vehicle without the scooter, and demanded that the girl bagging groceries let her drive the scooter out to her vehicle, with all of the unpaid groceries in it, and then the bagger could drive it back to the store. After hemming and hawing, the checker agreed to let the bagger do this, and the lady and the bag girl left with the scooter full of unpaid groceries.

(I am dying. I can feel my soul leaving my body.)

The lady's adult son (or whatever, I'm 90% sure they were there together) then loads his cart full of groceries onto the conveyor, rings up, and then tries to pull the exact same thing! His card works, but only for like $30. He starts to try and take his groceries and leave, but the bagger says he still owes another $75. At this point a manager is hovering around nearby, watching the situation.

(I want to close my eyes and plug my ears, but I am an adult. I stare into the middle distance and pretend like I'm not aware of what's happening.)

After further whining and wheedling, the adult son (I realize all adult men are somebody's son, but this guy was the most Adult Son guy I have ever seen. I don't know how else to explain it) grumbles and pulls out a grimy wad of twenty dollar bills and pays for the remainder of his groceries, and leaves.

The bag girl finally comes back, driving the scooter full of bagged, voided, unpaid groceries.

All I can do is make a face at the checker as she rings me up. I pay for my half-cart of groceries with my debit card. It goes through on the first try.

 

[Bamagan]

are we still talking about grocery shopping? because today I had to witness just the most uncomfortable grocery store encounter I think I've ever seen

I was in line to check out, and the two people in front of me were an older woman in a grocery store scooter thing followed by what I assume was her adult son. She went first and excruciatingly slowly loaded her groceries from the scooter's literally overflowing basket onto the conveyor belt, just an enormous amount of stuff. I was starting to regret choosing this line.

Eventually she got it all unloaded, the checker rang her up for like two hundred dollars, and the bagger got everything (just barely) crammed back into the scooter's cart. Then she tried to pay with a card, and it wouldn't work. She tried to run it like five times, claimed the machine was broken, that she only had twenty dollars cash on her, started giving complicated a sob story, hinting that... I don't know, the store should just let her take the stuff?

(At this point I wanted to just leave the checkout line and go to another one, but someone had come in behind me. I was trapped.)

The checker wasn't having it, and voided the entire order. Then she asked to try paying with a different card that she hadn't mentioned previously, and the checker said it was too late, they would need to re-stock everything in her cart.

Then she said she couldn't make it to her vehicle without the scooter, and demanded that the girl bagging groceries let her drive the scooter out to her vehicle, with all of the unpaid groceries in it, and then the bagger could drive it back to the store. After hemming and hawing, the checker agreed to let the bagger do this, and the lady and the bag girl left with the scooter full of unpaid groceries.

(I am dying. I can feel my soul leaving my body.)

The lady's adult son (or whatever, I'm 90% sure they were there together) then loads his cart full of groceries onto the conveyor, rings up, and then tries to pull the exact same thing! His card works, but only for like $30. He starts to try and take his groceries and leave, but the bagger says he still owes another $75. At this point a manager is hovering around nearby, watching the situation.

(I want to close my eyes and plug my ears, but I am an adult. I stare into the middle distance and pretend like I'm not aware of what's happening.)

After further whining and wheedling, the adult son (I realize all adult men are somebody's son, but this guy was the most Adult Son guy I have ever seen. I don't know how else to explain it) grumbles and pulls out a grimy wad of twenty dollar bills and pays for the remainder of his groceries, and leaves.

The bag girl finally comes back, driving the scooter full of bagged, voided, unpaid groceries.

All I can do is make a face at the checker as she rings me up. I pay for my half-cart of groceries with my debit card. It goes through on the first try.

Retail PTSD flashback...

 

[PennyThompson]

Retail PTSD flashback...
View attachment 2587945

thank you for your service

 

[stickygirl]

I have a poor relationship with big stores and have refused/begged not to go into some ( my poor mother ). Even now, there are some stores I avoid because of their environment: weird lighting, distance between aisles, colour schemes.... so normally we do 'click and collect' or I can bring myself to visit a local cavernous Sainsbury's.

When I'm in battle-trolley-mode I'm amazed by 'older people' using a store's check out gun ( Self check out?? ). They make me feel thoroughly inadequate, but because I'm in fight or flight mode I've never bothered to find out how they work. How do they work UKers?

 

[Noor]

I have a poor relationship with big stores and have refused/begged not to go into some ( my poor mother ). Even now, there are some stores I avoid because of their environment: weird lighting, distance between aisles, colour schemes.... so normally we do 'click and collect' or I can bring myself to visit a local cavernous Sainsbury's.

When I'm in battle-trolley-mode I'm amazed by 'older people' using a store's check out gun ( Self check out?? ). They make me feel thoroughly inadequate, but because I'm in fight or flight mode I've never bothered to find out how they work. How do they work UKers?

Not a uk person but basically you point and shoot at the bar code. It’s a scanner. The company I was part of wrote software for them back in the dark ages of data collection

 

[PennyThompson]

I have a poor relationship with big stores and have refused/begged not to go into some ( my poor mother ). Even now, there are some stores I avoid because of their environment: weird lighting, distance between aisles, colour schemes.... so normally we do 'click and collect' or I can bring myself to visit a local cavernous Sainsbury's.

When I'm in battle-trolley-mode I'm amazed by 'older people' using a store's check out gun ( Self check out?? ). They make me feel thoroughly inadequate, but because I'm in fight or flight mode I've never bothered to find out how they work. How do they work UKers?

Self checkout is great if you just need a hand basket worth of groceries! I don't like them if I have a larger load or lots of produce that don't have bar codes though, I'm happy to let a human checker help out with that!

 

[stickygirl]

Self checkout is great if you just need a hand cart worth of groceries! I don't like them if I have a larger load or lots of produce that don't have bar codes though, I'm happy to let a human checker help out with that!

omg - no! Stand in line, with people behind you?! **shudders** People in lines do weird things!
Although... I once dated a girl who was really kind to the staff on the tills: she demonstrated how to be nice to them and make them feel noticed and valued. I loved that and now try to do the same if I'm ever trapped in a check out line. It's the kind of thing you have to learn as an autistic person.

 

[TheLobster]

are we still talking about grocery shopping? because today I had to witness just the most uncomfortable grocery store encounter I think I've ever seen

I was in line to check out, and the two people in front of me were an older woman in a grocery store scooter thing followed by what I assume was her adult son. She went first and excruciatingly slowly loaded her groceries from the scooter's literally overflowing basket onto the conveyor belt, just an enormous amount of stuff. I was starting to regret choosing this line.

Eventually she got it all unloaded, the checker rang her up for like two hundred dollars, and the bagger got everything (just barely) crammed back into the scooter's cart. Then she tried to pay with a card, and it wouldn't work. She tried to run it like five times, claimed the machine was broken, that she only had twenty dollars cash on her, started giving a complicated sob story, hinting that... I don't know, the store should just let her take the stuff?

(At this point I wanted to just leave the checkout line and go to another one, but someone had come in behind me. I was trapped.)

The checker wasn't having it, and voided the entire order. Then the lady asked to try paying with a different card that she hadn't mentioned previously, and the checker said it was too late, they would need to re-stock everything in her cart.

Then she said she couldn't make it to her vehicle without the scooter, and demanded that the girl bagging groceries let her drive the scooter out to her vehicle, with all of the unpaid groceries in it, and then the bagger could drive it back to the store. After hemming and hawing, the checker agreed to let the bagger do this, and the lady and the bag girl left with the scooter full of unpaid groceries.

(I am dying. I can feel my soul leaving my body.)

The lady's adult son (or whatever, I'm 90% sure they were there together) then loads his cart full of groceries onto the conveyor, rings up, and then tries to pull the exact same thing! His card works, but only for like $30. He starts to try and take his groceries and leave, but the bagger says he still owes another $75. At this point a manager is hovering around nearby, watching the situation.

(I want to close my eyes and plug my ears, but I am an adult. I stare into the middle distance and pretend like I'm not aware of what's happening.)

After further whining and wheedling, the adult son (I realize all adult men are somebody's son, but this guy was the most Adult Son guy I have ever seen. I don't know how else to explain it) grumbles and pulls out a grimy wad of twenty dollar bills and pays for the remainder of his groceries, and leaves.

The bag girl finally comes back, driving the scooter full of bagged, voided, unpaid groceries.

All I can do is make a face at the checker as she rings me up. I pay for my half-cart of groceries with my debit card. It goes through on the first try.

Well, that’s just terrible.

I mean, paying with a debit card? Really? Do you not value your social credit score, ma’am?

 

[onehitwanda]

Bright halogen lights and narrow aisles full of people with the spatial awareness of a cadaver are nightmare fuel to me. I need to be able to go in with a hand scanner, scan as i go, get to self checkout, pay immediately, and escape in under fifteen minutes tops. "I just want to see what there is" is not a phrase in my lexicon.

Just the thought of IKEA makes me manifest ectoplasm.

@PennyThompson you're better than me; I'd have got loudly sarcastic with those two. In Sainsbury's they'd have been clubbed to the ground with a bottle of Reisling by a mum with a pram. In Argos they'd have been stabbed within 30s

 

[StillStunned]

One of life's great pleasures is visiting supermarkets in other countries. The wife and I can spend hours and hours just wandering around.

 

[onehitwanda]

One of life's great pleasures is visiting supermarkets in other countries. The wife and I can spend hours and hours just wandering around.

Always knew there was something intrinsically untrustworthy about you, doppelganger!

 

[StillStunned]

Always knew there was something intrinsically untrustworthy about you, doppelganger!

Perhaps I should add that this doesn't apply if the supermarket is too crowded, or the aisles are too narrow. Also, it has to have things like an extensive cake section, or wine section, or useless gadgets section.

 

[MrPixel]

Our local (major chain) supermarket is quiet in the late evening; sometimes I'm the only one in the store. I make it a point to be friendly with the checkout staff, always smile, and even crack jokes. And roll my eyes appropriately with them when the person in front is being an ass, an idiot, or worse. I also try hard to remember names, and address them first not having to read their name tags. Even Willy, the night manager, who tends to be a little gruff and standoffish, has been friendly of late.

It makes a difference.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Perhaps I should add that this doesn't apply if the supermarket is too crowded, or the aisles are too narrow. Also, it has to have things like an extensive cake section, or wine section, or useless gadgets section.

Y’all come to Texas and I’ll set up a tour of an H‑E‑B for you.

 

[StillStunned]

Y’all come to Texas and I’ll set up a tour of an H‑E‑B for you.

If I ever find myself in Texas, I'll take you up on that offer!

 

[stickygirl]

Our local (major chain) supermarket is quiet in the late evening; sometimes I'm the only one in the store. I make it a point to be friendly with the checkout staff, always smile, and even crack jokes. And roll my eyes appropriately with them when the person in front is being an ass, an idiot, or worse. I also try hard to remember names, and address them first not having to read their name tags. Even Willy, the night manager, who tends to be a little gruff and standoffish, has been friendly of late.

It makes a difference.

Now there's a thing. I read some time ago, maybe even pre-covid, that stores had selected times for people with sensitivities to environmental chaff, when lights were dimmed a little, the top-fricking-Abba-30 was switched off and kids were drugged with Calpol to anaesthetise them.

Well they succeeded in keeping the noise down, because I've never found out when these magical times are, but I guess ££$$ speaks louder than some cranky halfwits like me.

 

[TheLobster]

Now there's a thing. I read some time ago, maybe even pre-covid, that stores had selected times for people with sensitivities to environmental chaff, when lights were dimmed a little, the top-fricking-Abba-30 was switched off and kids were drugged with Calpol to anaesthetise them.

Well they succeeded in keeping the noise down, because I've never found out when these magical times are, but I guess ££$$ speaks louder than some cranky halfwits like me.

Quiet hours are a thing in grocery stores around here, but they’re usually in the middle of the day on weekdays; it’s only elderly and retired people who take advantage of them, for the most part.

 

[PennyThompson]

Well, that’s just terrible.

I mean, paying with a debit card? Really? Do you not value your social credit score, ma’am?

I don't actually own a credit card, they stress me out

 

[stickygirl]

Quiet hours are a thing in grocery stores around here, but they’re usually in the middle of the day on weekdays; it’s only elderly and retired people who take advantage of them, for the most part.

Fair enough. I’m going to google Sainsbury’s right now