Just finished the weekly shop and the assistants were encouraging everyone to have a go on the new self-serve checkouts.  We asked whether it was just limited to a few items or whether we could do our trolley-load.  Go ahead they said.

Well the scanning is OK, but it’s putting the items in the bag that seems to be the problem.  When one bag is full and you lift it off to make room for the next then the machine thinks you’re walking off without paying.  It bleeps and makes a racket, the assistant comes and types in codes and then you continue.  We had 11 bags!!  So it was a bit of a do.  But you do get to pack your own stuff, no-one throwing your food about and treating it disrespectfully.

One other problem – while you’re doing this an enormous queue builds up behind you, and you try to go faster because you think you are holding everyone up.  So maybe the self-serve checkout is best reserved for those with just a few items, a basketful at most.

If you read my blog you’ll know that I’m always moaning about the supermarket checkout operatives.  Last week our local supermarket had some of those self-serve gizmos fitted.  Now is this a good thing or not?  My initial response is that I’d rather deal with a human being than a machine, but then I complain about most of the humans who serve me - chewing gum, talking across the tills, not meeting my eye, treating my food in a heavy-handed way.

My wife says that the solution is not machines, but better training and pay for the operatives.  I’m not so sure, so I’ll be having a go with the machines to see what they’re like.

Further reports to follow …..

I was at the supermarket this weekend and I felt that the shelves looked different but it took me a while to work it out.  All the stuff was still in the boxes!  They’ve just plonked them on the shelves and cut the end of the box off.  What happened to taking things out, to unpacking them and placing them on the shelves.  Years ago there was a supermarket that sold out of the boxes - pile ‘em high and sell ‘em cheap.  And it was cheap and the stuff was pretty rubbish too.

The difference now is that it’s not cheap.  Oh no, it’s well pricey.  And on top of that quite a lot of the own brand stuff is going down in quality.  I wonder if they think we won’t notice?  That because it used to be good quality at reasonable prices then we’ll just carry on?  I’m not sure that we will.  I’m already noticing that we are buying less, and that we are beginning to favour more local stores where people know your name - because if you’re going to have to pay high prices then you might as well get the quality and the good service to go with it.

Have just arrived home from the supermarket - exhausted!.  I couldn’t believe how busy it was.  I had to actually queue for a parking space.  And this on a Monday morning.  I’ve never shopped on a Monday before - I always go at the weekend, but didn’t have time this week.  I was expecting it to be very quiet, but no, it was packed.  People didn’t seem to be doing their weekly shop, it was mainly small trolleys or a basket.

Nowadays, with all this 24 hour shopping you would think that the shops would be quieter because the shoppers are spread more thinly but this doesn’t seem to happen - so I can only conclude that we are spending more time shopping.  When I was a kid then the supermarket was closed not only on a Sunday but also on a Monday - so that the shelves could be re-stocked ready for the week.  And of course they were all closed by 5.00pm apart from Thursdays and Fridays when they were open until 8.00pm.  However did we manage?!?!

This week my usual trip to the supermarket has left me feeling that I might have been conned. 

The item responsible for this is orange that you dilute with water to drink.
I usually buy the supermarket’s own brand - it’s cheap and it tastes OK.  But this week they’ve changed it.  It has been replaced with ’super-concentrate’ which costs more.  The old was 59p for 1 litre.  The new is 83p for 750ml.  But you are supposed to only need half as much.  So when you do the maths it works out at almost exactly the same cost.  The trouble is that it’s really hard to put less concentrate into your glass - so you use more - so it costs you more.
And on top of this, they have removed all the other orange juice from the shelves - they are forcing me to buy this product or go to another shop for an alternative.
No choice and a rip-off.  This isn’t the first example of this kind of behaviour over the years - and it certainly won’t be the last. 

But I keep on shopping there.  I suppose the bigger picture is that the supermarket has so moulded my habits that I find it hard to imagine an alternative - now that’s real power.

I’ve noticed how grumpy I can get when shopping - especially in the supermarket.

I approach it as a military operation: I decide my menu for the week, write the list to reflect this, then write it in order of the goods in the local store.  I could whizz round and have it done in fifteen minutes.

But there are a few things that get in the way:  firstly, the family - they are always looking at things that aren’t on the list; secondly, other shoppers - they get in the way, stopping to chatter and letting their trolleys block the aisles; and thirdly, me! - yes that’s right - I distract myself, I just can’t help it.  That’s the trouble with all these places - all that temptation.

But it does make me grumpy.  Maybe if I shopped on my own and there were no other people in the shop then I’d stay focused and just get on with it - but there again, maybe I wouldn’t…

Out and about over the Easter weekend and it was amazing how many people park in spaces set aside for disabled people - even though they have no blue badge, and no disability.
Who do these people think they are?  More important than the rest of us - or maybe they know themselves to be so lazy that their only option is to put themselves first?
It’s all sorts of people - you can’t just blame it on the young - or the old.
I suppose the difficulty is that it’s hard to challenge it - people can be so aggressive these days.  So what are we to do?

There’s a real shop in Manchester.  The people behind the counter know what they are talking about.  They are pleasant and friendly - they are well mannered.  They don’t chew gum!!
It’s a shop for photographers - they sell cameras and accessories - secondhand, film cameras - not digital.
I’ve been in a couple of times now and it’s always been the same.  It’s one of those Aladdin’s Cave type of shops - your eyes just don’t know which way to look there is so much to see.
In fact, it’s so different from the other shops - especially the supermarkets - that I visit, that I wonder if it’s not real at all - just a dream.  But no, it’s there alright - 7 Dale Street, M1 1JA.

This is something that really annoys me.  I just get used to where everything is, and then they move it!
They do it on purpose of course.  A manufacturer pays them or offers them a special deal if they’ll put their product at eye-level or in a more prominent place.
Or they do it so that I’ll be forced to go down aisles I don’t want to, to see new products that I’ve never seen before.  I don’t want them and I don’t need them - but they’re intent on thrusting them in front of me.
That’s why I prefer a smaller supermarket.  The space restriction means that it’s harder for things to be continually re-arranged.  I also like to be able to see the walls in a supermarket.  Some of these mega-stores are now so big that you can’t see the end of them!  I fear that I may never find my way out.
It seems that the argument about size is one about choice and convenience - but that’s a rant I’ll save for another day.

Just think about it for a minute.
You walk for miles, pushing a trolley basket larger than yourself.  You fill it with items that you don’t necessarily need.  People look grim, babies cry, children whine.
At the end of it, you hand over wads of money and you feel exhausted.
Then there’s the long walk through the car park - dodging the drivers trying to knock you down.  You empty the contents of your trolley into the car - and then find it’s a long walk back to return your empty trolley.
We are slaves to the aliens.  They are sucking the life and the money out of us.
And we want to do this 24 hours a day?