BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??

Subject: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: saulgoldie
Date: 11 Feb 11 - 04:23 PM

It is more of a rhetorical question which, when a particular coworker predictably asks it his usual 5 or 6 times a day, I answer that humanity will never fail to disappoint.

Why'd they leave the breakroom counter a mess?
Why'd they leave the water filter pitcher empty?
Why'd they leave that trash box in the middle of the floor for someone to trip over?
Why didn't they clean the microwave when they spilt yucky, smelly seafood drizzlings on the m/w plate?
And so on...

Nevertheless, I add this one to the long list.

I make it a habit of parking my car by itself, with three or four spaces all around for easy access and to make less likely door dings and paint chips. I don't mind the extra steps--need 'em, actually, since my waggon IS draggin'--and I leave the closer in spaces for those who need them more than I do. You see where this is going, I can tell.

So why is there almost always a car right next to mine when I come back? I caught someone doing this parking thing today as I returned, and I asked her. Her answer was every bit as logical as a Glenn Beck comment. And she had that "deer in the headlights" look. Given my new civility, I restrained myself from yelling, "WTF?!!"

So yes, it is a rhetorical question. My answer is that many (most?) people go through life without thinking about where they are or what they are doing in the moment. A kind of "studied obliviousness" (my expression; please give me credit when you use it, and you WILL).

Other insights or incidents of "studied obliviousness" from other Catters?

Saul

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: GUEST,999
Date: 11 Feb 11 - 04:26 PM

Idiots who stew coffee in staff rooms when all they have to do is make a pot and then turn off the coffee maker. When ya want a cup, nuke it for a minute. Letting it stew makes the coffee taste like shit, imo.

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: wysiwyg
Date: 11 Feb 11 - 04:34 PM

There is plenty in daily life we can choose to judge, but it's not a happy way to live the day, is it?

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: Ed T
Date: 11 Feb 11 - 04:46 PM

A few years ago a spinster very near retirement worked next to me. Near the end of the day, I noticed, she would leave her jacket in another location, so she could sneak out five minutes early each day. She never really got it that no one cared when she came or left.

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: GUEST,999
Date: 11 Feb 11 - 04:52 PM

"There is plenty in daily life we can choose to judge, but it's not a happy way to live the day, is it?"

It friggin' well is when it comes to coffee!

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: gnu
Date: 11 Feb 11 - 04:53 PM

Same thing happened to me today with the parking. When I returned a van was parked askew such that I could not open my door all the way... FIFTY FEET FROM ANY OTHER VEHICLES! Of course, my immediate thought was to wait a few minutes as the parking lot was at a fast return business but then reason took over... whoever parked like that was obviously as stunned as me arse and I really shouldn't ask "WTF?" of them.

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: saulgoldie
Date: 11 Feb 11 - 04:59 PM

No, it is not a happy way to live. Did I say I was happy? Let's just say that today, I am breathing. that is considerably better than...

999: After about 15 minutes, the coffee not only sucks, but it is turning poison. I am not going to look for the corroboration. But I remember hearing/reading not so long ago that after a very short time, the chemicals in the coffee start to turn carcinogenic.

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 11 Feb 11 - 05:00 PM

I make it a habit of parking my car by itself, with three or four spaces all around ......... So why is there almost always a car right next to mine when I come back?


Three quarters of the country would have to be concreted over to provide car parks big enough if every one played that game. I'm afraid you would ge more than a look of "studied obliviousness" if you complained to me about correctly parking my car in a space next to yours.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: GUEST,999
Date: 11 Feb 11 - 05:01 PM

Thanks for the info, Saul.

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 11 Feb 11 - 05:14 PM

Why not make just enough coffee as you want it instead of making a whole pot and letting it go cold. Freshly brewed has got to be better than warmed up surely?

DC

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: GUEST,999
Date: 11 Feb 11 - 05:17 PM

In a staff room?

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: Slag
Date: 11 Feb 11 - 05:48 PM

How about bathroom practices? Public bathrooms? Some folks seem to go out of their ways to make a shitty disgusting mess and are proud of it. This is so frequently seen when traveling that I came up with an alternative. I will look for a professional building, a high-end Dr.'s office or hospital. Very seldom have I ever found one that is lacking for cleanliness. Ok, I feel a little guilty but not half as bad as I would feel gagging at the sight and smell of some gas station RRs. And believe me I always leave the place as clean or cleaner than I found it.

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 11 Feb 11 - 05:53 PM

Wondered why someone will drive their car so that they are in your blind spot - and then stay in lock step whether you speed up or slow down?

It's human 'flocking behaviour' ... and it's flocking annoying! :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 11 Feb 11 - 06:00 PM

In a staff room?

Why not? I have my own, one mug size, cafetière in work. So does my colleague. All that is required is a kettle, and a couple of minutes to let it brew. Even when we choose to have coffee at the same time, we make our own. That way we can have it the blend and strength that we each prefer.


DC

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: Slag
Date: 11 Feb 11 - 06:23 PM

When I did the "coffee grind" also known as "the Old Grind" I said a pox on the breakroom and carried my own "best" coffee to work in a stainless steel Thermos bottle and kept a coffee cozy (a cup warmer) on my desk. I know not everyone has or had that luxury but such was my practice.

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: olddude
Date: 11 Feb 11 - 06:28 PM

With a wife and girl children I would hear, "Why did you leave the toilet lid up again"

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: Slag
Date: 11 Feb 11 - 06:36 PM

Yes FT, I made that observation many years ago and it has a general application which involves all matter in the universe. It is more than just gravity. Like things tend to flock together. There are always a few of us who like to buck that trend and I see you and I are together (!) on this one. I can't stand the bumper-huggers either. In addition to the annoyance, they create a traffic hazzard in the event that you have to take evasive action or if you should fail to remember they are there in your blind spot.

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: Jeri
Date: 11 Feb 11 - 06:42 PM

Then there are people who ride your ass (in a car) right up until the time they can pass, and then they back off.

Olddude, the first time you sit on a toilet WITH THE SEAT UP you will understand. Submerging one's ass at 0-friggin'-thirty AM is grounds for some serious bitching!

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: Bill D
Date: 11 Feb 11 - 06:45 PM

Oh the "studied obliviousness" that I notice most is shopping in grocery stores. I make a point of 'parking' my shopping cart to one side and/or at the end of an aisle...and watching that I'm not in peoples way as I study the shelves.
   I don't think I EVER go shopping where I encounter someone who pays NO attention and blocks traffic and/or ambles slowly down the aisle, making no effort to pay attention to others progress.
The other day it was two women who knew each other and stood, each with one hand on their respective carts, chatting while making it impossible to get into an aisle. It took three "excuse me's" each one louder to get their attention. I guess I'm getting crotchety.... or maybe I'm making up for the years I worked in a store and could not say ANYTHING to customers.

As to cars... I worked once at an office with very limited parking, and the lots were always full. One day I arrived to see a new (still with price sticker in rear window) SUV parked diagonally across two spaces! Next day...same thing. The 3rd day, it seems he found a note on his window reading "If you do this again, you may get intentionally what you are trying to avoid accidentally". The 4th day, he only took one spot.

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: olddude
Date: 11 Feb 11 - 06:45 PM

LOL yes Jeri, I heard many times Dad left the seat up again and I fell in last night ... LOL

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: Les from Hull
Date: 11 Feb 11 - 06:47 PM

Yes a cafetiere or an espresso machine is much preferable. You can always tell a bad restaurent if it has one of those 'Cona' machines half full of stale coffee. I'm not sure that the taste changes but the aromatics all get up and leave, so it's like having coffee if you're suffering from a bunged up nose!

The solvent they used to use to decaffinate instant coffee was a known carcinogen. I don't think they use it any more.

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: GUEST,PeterC
Date: 11 Feb 11 - 06:51 PM

Olddude, the first time you sit on a toilet WITH THE SEAT UP you will understand.
Why would anybody do that? As every guy knows the default postion is the UP position so you would always put it down before sitting on it.
Its just these damn women who insist on leaving it down.

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: GUEST, topsie
Date: 11 Feb 11 - 07:13 PM

I don't mind if people leave the seat up - just so long as they don't leave it wet.

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: gnu
Date: 11 Feb 11 - 07:24 PM

Bill D... my biggest complaint indeed... no need to block the aisles with shopping carts and fat asses. I have posted many times that my 84 year old nearly blind mother should not be hindered by rude idiots at the shops.

My bro used to grab the carts and wheel them into the next aisle every chance he got.

I was never so brave. I grab something off the shelf and drop it into their cart and then move it just enough to get by. They then say "Sorry." and I say "No problem." Sounds childish but I think it's appropriate.

I also like to say, "No, if you were sorry you wouldn't have blocked the aisle in the first place." but nowadays I would get a smack from Mum when she's with.

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: saulgoldie
Date: 11 Feb 11 - 07:35 PM

Men/women...seat goes up, seat goes down. Both takies on this conflict have been turning up in my "Battle of the Sexes" forwarded emails for years. If it is a household, "the group" agrees on where it should be, and that is how they leave it. OTOH, if it ISN'T where it "should" be, how hard is it to adjust it? Moving on...

OTOH OTOH, in the public bathroom, I have just gotten into the habit of cleaning the seat before I...(you know) BTW, men do not have an exclusive on "wetting the seat," according to the women I work with. (Need I paint a vivid picture?)

Grocery carts? (After reasonable "Excuse me,s") "On the count of three, I am going to go down this aisle. One, two, three...here I go."

Coffee? I have my own personal machine that I keep clean and ready to my own needs. The "public" machine is someone else's problem.

Bill D: Remember the columnist Bill Gold who wrote the pieces in the comics section (back when they were REAL comics) of the Washington Post? He told about a reader who had a chronic problem with a self-centered driver who took up three spots in a crowded parking lot at work. One day, two coworkers who had lost their patience with these shenanigans, parked next to the culprit. On both sides. With not even enough room to insert the key to unlock the door (back when doors had keys. They stayed at work a l-o-n-g time. Point made, and case closed.

But so many of these things are so small and require such a leetle civility and consideration for our fellow travelers on this short trip called "life." People spend so much energy trying to cause actual harm, or at least significant inconvenience to others. But I am rambling.

On with the thread, which is already in progress...

Saul

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: gnu
Date: 11 Feb 11 - 07:57 PM

saul... nope... fine for you and me but me mum don't need rudeness at the shops at 84 years old. She is civil and she needs that from others at her "age". "Small"? Nope.

Sorry to harp on my pet peeve but I, and you, all of us, are gonna be old eventually and I think we should expect good manners from other people. Respect for everyone is "civility and consideration for our fellow travelers on this short trip called "life.""

I was waiting for my turn to look at the sirloin tip roasts on sale for $2.49 a pound today behind three women jostling to get at them. Two more women walked in front of me and tried to get at the roasts. I said, "Fuckin unreal." in a low voice and started away and an old lad obviously waiting off to the side with a shopping cart chuckled and said, "You need to bring your wife when there's a sale on." Obviously a wise man with years of experience in grocery combat.

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: Bobert
Date: 11 Feb 11 - 08:07 PM

Why do people do insensitive things???

Unfortunately, it's the American way, Saul...

We don't teach socialization skills... We don't teach sensitivity... We don't encourage folks to learn to be aware...

What we do teach is win-lose, I got mine, me first nihilism... It permeates our culture... It is destroying our country from its politics to sports to everything...

Losers need not apply...

Until we get a culture shift (if ever) then just buck up, Saul...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: Gurney
Date: 11 Feb 11 - 08:30 PM

Not just America, Bobert.

My wife doesn't mind me leaving the seat up. She does object to me leaving the LID up, since that rat swam around the bend.....
I point out that it was a YOUNG rat, and it was probably more scared than she was. This results in further disapprobation arriving on my head.

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: Amos
Date: 11 Feb 11 - 08:52 PM

Half the people at COSTCO would get arrested if they drove cars the way they drive shopping carts, stalling in the middle of the lane, turning blindly into the lane, abandoning their carts mid-lane, etc., etc. It's mind-boggling. I have gotten calloused enough that I don't think twice about reaching out and shifting someone else's cart if it's been left in a blocking position. No bloody excuse for it!!! Oooo!! I am SOOOO grumpy!!! LOL!

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: Bobert
Date: 11 Feb 11 - 09:06 PM

Heck, Amos... Maybe in California the cops arrest people fir driving stupid... Here in Virgina, who cares... People do whatever they want... I took the P-Vine to Richmond today fir a garden show and had I been a cop I could have written over a hundred tickets for dumb shit that drivers did (and do) everyday...

I mean, stupid stuff that could get 'um killed... They are too stupid to even have a clue how stupid they actually are??? That is bone-stock stupid!!!

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: gnu
Date: 11 Feb 11 - 09:30 PM

I noticed many years ago, going to work in an engineering office, that I was lucky to be working with intelligent and witty people all day long on acconta the drive to work and back was littered with idiots... the shops were litterd with all manner of twits. Why, ya even run into some here at The Café... but less often than on the streets.

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: Bobert
Date: 11 Feb 11 - 09:41 PM

That's why I come here, gn-ze... Hey we have our share but compared to the real world this joint is Utopia...

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: Bill D
Date: 11 Feb 11 - 10:40 PM

re: toilet seats.

I generally try to leave it the way I found it...but many years ago, before I was married, I was tempted when I visited a girlfriend. Her apartment was lovely and spotless....except when I raised the seat. It looked like it hadn't been scrubbed in months. I was tempted to leave it up and let her 'discover' it, but chivalry won out and I never mentioned it.

Ladies, it DOES require raising now & then....

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: Janie
Date: 11 Feb 11 - 11:57 PM

Let s/he who is without sin....

I am often irritated by people blocking the narrow isles which are further cluttered by temporary cardboard displays - I'm in a hurry, you know? Then, on the next isle, I'll hear some one clear their throat or say, "excuse me," to draw my attention from searching the shelves to the fact that I stopped in the middle of the isle. Just like the people I shooed out of the way on the previous isle, I make apologetic noises or gestures and move my fat a$$ to the side.

One thing that really gripes me is the person who pays with a check and does not even pull the checkbook out until the groceries are all rung up. Other folks here have ranted about the same. However, checkout lines are so fast now, and my fine motor skills have deteriorated enough that I find it impossible to be ready to walk away from the register by the time my groceries are bagged and check out has started for the person behind me. By the time I get everything tucked back in where it belongs, and am gathering the bag handles for my own purchases, the person behind me is often shifting impatiently, waiting for me to get out of the way. When the store is busy I will find myself choosing slightly longer lines so that there is time for me to pull out the wallet and wiggle out the "preferred shopper" discount card, my debit card, a pen and the checkbook opened to the proper page in the register, just so I have some chance of finishing the payment transaction by the time the groceries are all bagged. Rarely happens, and even when it does, I still have all those items, or the change if I paid with cash, to handle back into the wallet and purse. I don't have tremors and my hands and fingers don't look impaired or abnormal. They simply don't work well anymore. It must drive the people in line behind me, who are in as big a hurry after work to get home as am I, absolutely nuts.

I'm a bit more patient with other folks these days, and also find myself reluctant on occasion to face going to the store because of my embarrassment at my slowness and awareness of the impatience of others.

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 12 Feb 11 - 12:13 AM

Apart from the wife of the gentleman a few posts back who had been scared by a rat, I sometimes think I must be the only person in the entire universe who always closes the lid of the lavatory at the end. My first wife used to also, & agreed with me about this. My present wife doesn't generally. I mean, why do they make them with lids if nobody uses them?

~Michael~

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 12 Feb 11 - 12:18 AM

"By the time I get everything tucked back in where it belongs"

Wear tighter clothes - oh sorry, wrong post ... :-P

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: Bobert
Date: 12 Feb 11 - 08:49 AM

I'm with you, Janie, on the folks who seem clueless that part of the check out is, ahhhhh, having to pay??? As you know, I have carped on these folks going back many years here... Seems that it's gettin' even worse... But here's another one... The folks who not only are clueless that they have to pay but also once they figure out that they indeed do they not only spend an inordinate amount of time doing that but once that has been accomplished they discover that "$1 Off" coupon for the Frosty Flakes and tie the cashier up another 5 minutes while she or he has to get a manager involved...

Now it'd be one thing if this was an occasional Reagan moment for folks but I'd bet that the same people do this over and over...

It's called passive aggressive behavior and these folks do it to give themselves a little power jolt in a live otherwise empty...

Dr. Bobert

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: Maryrrf
Date: 12 Feb 11 - 09:03 AM

People who block the aisles in the supermarket annoy me, so like Bill I tend to "park" my cart in a place where it won't interfere and go get the item(s) in the aisle that I need. But I find I get carried away, and maybe step into the next aisle and then the next, and before you know it I can't remember where I "parked" that cart...

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 12 Feb 11 - 09:32 AM

I have sat on a toilet seat maybe 20,000 times in my life (I did the math) and I don't think I have EVER sat on it with the seat up. It seems to be a problem peculiar to women, especially those who are not used to having a man in the house, or those who are used to making the rules.

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: acegardener
Date: 12 Feb 11 - 09:53 AM

Parking in a nice big space ain't a problem, use the disabled spaces, loads of room, when some busybody starts moaning that you don't look disabled, just say 'well I am effing psychotic, does that count' they usually leave you alone after that.

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: Bobert
Date: 12 Feb 11 - 09:56 AM

I have been warned in the past not to get into the toilet seat issue, Jim, so I think I'll just step back from this one...

(That's the problem, Boberdz... Steppin' back cuts down on the accuracy...)

Nevermind...

B'~)

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: GUEST, topsie
Date: 12 Feb 11 - 10:17 AM

My problem in supermarkets isn't the other shoppers or the trolleys/carts. It's the fact that if you check the bill you usually find it is wrong - and almost always in the shop's favour.

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: GUEST,999
Date: 12 Feb 11 - 11:04 AM

I care nothing really about the lid up or down, the seat up or down. I check before I sit, and I`d expect everyone else to check also.

The supermarket thing has always interested me. That last-minute surprise when people realize that they have to pay and THEN they start looking for credit cards, debit cards, cash, whatever. Yesterday I was behind a lady in an express lane. I shit you not, she checked through about 100 items and her cart was filled with bags that seemed to hold about 12 items each. I realized that each bag represented a 12-item purchase. And every time she gave the same air miles card, the same credit card and she continued to wear the same stunned look on her face. I was buying a loaf of bread and some cheese. I left them with her purchases. I hope she likes brown bread and Velveeta.

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 12 Feb 11 - 11:18 AM

With a wife and girl children I would hear, "Why did you leave the toilet lid up again"

'Tis said that you can tell whether a man respects his wife and mother by whether the seat's put down.

But I wonder about who it is who puts the seat down in the grubby beer hall "men's" room where hardly anyone goes except to "change the beer."

Does he really expect his wife (or other female companion) to be using that facility???

John

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: saulgoldie
Date: 12 Feb 11 - 11:31 AM

In the grocery express lane once, (15 items or "fewer," not "less"), I found myself behind a well dressed--you could see from the material and stitching--bejeweled woman who spoke with a mildly faint accent and had 21 items. I could see her (angry, but must stay civil to maintain my aire of dignified superiority) mental gears turning when I said, to the visible delight of the several people behind me and the stifled bemusement of the clerk, who is told by mgmt not to confront Xpress violators--yes, they are--"Let me help you count those items." In her carefully rehearsed repressed annoyance, she huffed off.

She was clearly trying to play that "I'm a simple person, not from here and I do not understand your strange customs." card. Her entire demeanor totally gave her away. Five people got checked through in short order. I hope I made the day for all involved, and hope (but doubt) that I gently taught the woman a lesson.

Saul

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: Jeri
Date: 12 Feb 11 - 11:41 AM

Truth is, it doesn't bother me to put the seat down. The whole splashing/swearing thing in the middle of thenight really pisses me off, though. And then, do you use a towel or a half roll of TP to dry off? What's the etiquette for THAT situation?

I appreciate that guys don't pee on the seat. That's nice. Now if women would just stop it! I guess they think they're gonna get some sort of toilet seat transmitted disease and hover, in the vain hope that they can actually AIM and hit the water from the airspace above it. Maybe they don't want to take the chance other people have previously peed on the seat and sit in it, so they make sure the next person will... unless she is also a hoverer.

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 12 Feb 11 - 01:04 PM

It occurs to me that the grocery stores could easily program their cash registers to add a surcharge when someone goes through the "15 items or less fewer" lane with more than 15 items. This would take the pressure off the operator who clearly doesn't like to confront people who violate the policy. (Would you?)

Maybe some people would want to pay the surcharge rather than stand in a longer line. That would be OK, too. That would bring in more revenue for the supermarket and help them keep prices low for the rest of us.

How does 15 cents per item sound?

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: GUEST, topsie
Date: 12 Feb 11 - 01:10 PM

Last time I went into Sainsbury's I only bought a couple of items. There were long queues at the express tills but only one customer at each main till, so I went to one of those.

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: Bill D
Date: 12 Feb 11 - 02:09 PM

Jeri reminded me with this :"I guess they think they're gonna get some sort of toilet seat transmitted disease and hover, in the vain hope that they can actually AIM and hit the water from the airspace above it."
of a time many years ago when I worked at a business school, and made a little extra by doing some of janitorial work...

The secretary was a very nice, 'aware' woman who had a sense of humor, and one day, just after all the students had left and I was getting ready to empty waste baskets and such, she called me to follow her to the ladies room.
   Puzzled, I went in ...and she pointed to the seat on one toilet, where clearly could be seen a pair of dusty sneaker prints. We laughed & shrugged at the fact that the prints were so clear...and that evidently whoever left them had good aim & control! Not a drop on seat or floor. (Still not sure why Lady Anon was worried...we kept the place pretty clean.) I wish MEN took as much care as that woman had.

People's 'personal' habits seem to vary extremely widely...

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: GUEST,999
Date: 12 Feb 11 - 02:15 PM

I too cleaned a few washrooms in my life, Bill. There was one place where I came to call the staff member `The Crapper`. I gotta tell you, even if ya tried, ya couldn`t get anywhere near this guy for taking a shit that turned a toilet bowl into an abstract art masterpiece. The guy (or gal--unisex bathroom) was incredible.

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: Bill D
Date: 12 Feb 11 - 02:34 PM

Yep, Bruce...People's personal 'orifices' seem to vary widely, also...(pun not intended)

I have had overnight guests who, each time after they left, I had to use the plunger. I cannot imagine what they do at home..(perhaps a special toilet?) It's just not a topic one brings up easily.

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: Bert
Date: 12 Feb 11 - 02:52 PM

If you park with spaces on either side you get two chances of someone parking next to you an opening their doors into yours.

If you park next to somebody already there you reduce the chance of a newcomer banging your door. So you should always park next to somebody if you wish to reduce your chances of getting dinged.

Or buy an old car. The chances of getting dinged seem to be in direct proportion to the newness of your car.

------------------------

...They are too stupid to even have a clue how stupid they actually are??? That is bone-stock stupid!!!

like too stupid to check to see if the seat is up?

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: gnu
Date: 12 Feb 11 - 03:12 PM

Jim Dixon is an IDEA MAN!

There is a checkout lass here that counts the items. When she rings in the limit, she hits the total and asks for the money. People say they have more items. She says, "Well, the limit is 8 so wou will have to pay for these and take the rest back to the end of line or take them all to another checkout." I LIKE her.

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 12 Feb 11 - 03:13 PM

Having travelled widely in West Africa, I'm rather amused at the complaints about seats up or down. They don't have toilets like that there. They call such things 'chaises anglaises' (English seats). Over there, you squat over a stinking hole with several weeks' deposits staring you in the face. The flies are thick in the air and you gag while performing. There isn't any loo paper either, you go in with a small plastic jug of water and wash your rear end. It's unspeakably dreadful. So I never bother about a seat left up or down. I'm only too glad to own a 'chaise anglaise' !

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 12 Feb 11 - 03:30 PM

Now that I think about it, 15 cents per item is probably far too low to have much effect on people's behavior. Too many people wouldn't even notice or care. What would it take? 50 cents? A dollar? We still want to have an express line that is free for people with small purchases (in my opinion--maybe the store managers don't really care.)

Here's a complication: Sometimes there is nobody standing in the express line, so the clerk invites someone else to come through her line, even though they have more than 15 items. It's better than having her stand there idle. She would have to remember to switch off her surcharging temporarily.

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 12 Feb 11 - 03:48 PM

Can anyone tell me, please: in an express line, do three of the same item, carefully placed together on the belt, so that the checkout person needs only to click on 3x-+a·single·barcode, count as one item or three?

~M~

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: Bobert
Date: 12 Feb 11 - 03:59 PM

Well, I reckon if we're gonna continue down Toidy Lane then here's one for the books... I used to play a couple times a month at Massanutten Ski Lodge and one night during a break I ventured into the men's room and discovered that someone had figured out how to do a #2 in the urinal... Hmmmmmmm??? Very disgusting...

Nevermind, ya' had to be there... No, actually you didn't... Wish I had missed that little memory myself...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: saulgoldie
Date: 12 Feb 11 - 04:04 PM

Bert,
Yes, I have done the same arithmetic. That is why if the lot is big enough, I park 8 or more spaces from the nearest other car. THEY have to go OUTOFTHEIRWAY to park next to me.

Gnu,
I like that clerk! That makes perfect, elegant sense. Wonder how long she'll last??

Saul

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 12 Feb 11 - 04:20 PM

Pity this thread has turned so lavatorial. Why don't we just stick to parking & checkout queues from now on, huh?

Sorry, Bobert; my interest in your coprophiliac recollections has it limits.

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: Bill D
Date: 12 Feb 11 - 04:34 PM

Michael... if it's three tiny candy bars, it's almost irrelevant, but 3 large boxes of crackers and it becomes a problem.

When *I* was a grocery checker..50 years ago & more, we slid 3 of an item down with one push and manually entered ONE price. Now, the computer reads the bar code and 'knows' if you had 3 items, whether or not they are even together. Thus, most checkers I see do not even try to enter the "do this three times" key....they just manually wave ONE item over the scanner 3 times. So...in my opinion, "5 for $1.00" is NOT one item. The point is to have smaller orders on certain counters, so that scanning & bagging are fast. Some items in the local stores are priced "10 for $10"... which means NOTHING except that they are $1 apiece....it is just a trick to get you to buy 10. (When I was a checker, 3 for 88¢ meant one was 30¢ unless you bought all three!)

   I do NOT care to be behind someone in a 10 items or fewer lane who think they have contrived to get 40 items thru just because they are advertised 4-for xx.

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 12 Feb 11 - 07:49 PM

"someone had figured out how to do a #2 in the urinal"

A drunk Japanese?

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 12 Feb 11 - 07:59 PM

"So you should always park next to somebody if you wish to reduce your chances of getting dinged."

Same theory as 'take a bomb on the plane with you', cause the odds of two bombs is lower?

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: GUEST,number 6
Date: 12 Feb 11 - 11:01 PM

"So you should always park next to somebody if you wish to reduce your chances of getting dinged."

I parked way out at the end of the Sears Parking lot on tiem at least 20 parking spots away from everyone else ... when I came out of the store I noticed a van in front of my car and some guy looking down at the front end of my car ... he had smashed into my car ... $1400 worth of damage .... I aked how in the hell did ya do it ... he repkied he didn't see my car.

true story

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 13 Feb 11 - 12:38 AM

'sneaker prints on the seat'

Same as the other answer - 'English seats' are not all that common in other parts of the world - though a couple of decades ago the Japanese got infatuated with them and started produced all electric, all singing all dancing toilets....


Hmmm, now that's not quite the image I started off with ....

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 13 Feb 11 - 07:21 PM

I used to wonder why somebody always parked a great, big honking SUV next to my little car, blocking my vision on the way out, until a friend who owns a great, big honking SUV herself explained that it's easier for THEM to see past ME.

Well, sure.

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: Janie
Date: 13 Feb 11 - 10:01 PM

I do most of my grocery shopping at a store I dislike (Food Lion) because it is less than a mile from my house and I drive right by it on my way home from the 45 minute drive home from work. Practicality trumps preference.

This store will not open an additional register until lines are backing up into the aisles and people still shopping can't get through the traffic to turn down the next aisle. When that is the case, if I have 18-20 items instead of the 15 specified by the express line, ya'll are just gonna have to wait for those 3-5 additional items to be rung up, because I am not about to get behind 6 people with brimming carts at the only other register that is open. 5 over the express lane number is my limit, and then only when the situation is described as above. As far as I am concerned, you can blame the store and not me. I am not responsible for their lousy customer service, and not about to stand in line for an extra 10 minutes to save the person behind me from standing in line an extra 1 minute.

The store I prefer but which is 4 miles from home and 6 miles out of the way if I go after work has excellent customer service, and opens additional registers as soon as anything remotely resembling a line begins to form at the non-express registers. They will also open an additional express register if more than 4 people are in line at the express register. At that store, I never, ever, get in the express lane if the number of items in my cart exceeds the 12 item limit they specify.

We did not used to be in such a hurry as a society, at least in rural areas such as where I grew up. It is a comment on how our society has changed that we are all in such a hurry, me included. I grew up in a rural community that had a grocery, a pharmacy, a dry cleaners, a doctor's office and a tavern (beer garden) at the main crossroads, which eventually featured the only traffic light within a 15 mile radius until I was in high school. For my stay-at-home Mom during the 50's to mid-60's, home-bound through the week like all the other Moms because families had only 1 car (remember when milk, bread, and eggs got delivered to the front porch early mornings 3-4 days per week and if Mom ran out sugar mid-week, a kid was sent next door, measuring cup in hand, to ask to borrow, and the same kid would be sent back asap, full cup of sugar in hand, to pay it back?), the Saturday trip to the grocery and pharmacy were relished outings to be savored, and a time to meet and greet friends in the community that did not live next door, and get an hour away from the kids.

There were square dances on Saturday nights, the only social doin's other than church and PTA meetings. In preparation for Saturday night and Sunday morning, moms shampooed and put their hair up in rollers on Saturday morning and left them that way all day to air dry. The only hair dryers were the big commercial hoods in beauty shops, which were visited for haircuts and perms every 2-3 months. Saturday mid-morning to mid-afternoon, the grocery was packed with women bedecked with pink or brush rollers covered with a net cap, care worn and carefully budgeting their scant grocery dollars, but also enjoying the opportunity to get out and touch base with friends and acquaintances in the community.

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: Fossil
Date: 13 Feb 11 - 10:43 PM

I read some of these threads with amazement. Paying by cheques? In supermarkets? How charmingly antediluvian you Americans are!

In most civilised nations (New Zealand for only one example), in 2011, you scan the goods yourself with a hand scanner as you pick them off the shelves.

You wheel your full basket to the checkout, scan the checkout code into the scanner and replace it in a socket. Your items bought/total is displayed at the speed of a fast computer (as near instantaneous as makes no difference). Then you pull out your cashcard, swipe that through the machine, enter your pin, and you're gone, gone, gone.

Once in a while you'll get a random check, when the computer decides to ask for it: this involves a member of the staff re-scanning everything to see that you are being honest. But really, having to stand behind anyone hand-writing in a checkbook certainly wouldn't cut it in the convenience stakes, here!

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: Bill D
Date: 13 Feb 11 - 11:16 PM

"In most civilised nations (New Zealand for only one example), in 2011, you scan the goods yourself with a hand scanner as you pick them off the shelves."

Yes...we have a few stores like that, but they have NOT figured out how to handle produce** easily, and it is expensive to set up the computer system & hardware for it, and we have such a diverse demographic that explaining the system in 14 languages is daunting!
The GUI (graphical user interface) at the register is awkward, as there are about 4 screens and scanning devices to follow and IF anything goes wrong, you must wait for a harried store clerk who has to monitor about 5 counters.
We do have lots of credit/debit swiping devices, and I seldom see actual check-writing these days....but there is a LONG way to go to gradually educate large metropolitan areas with 6-7 different chains, all with slightly different register systems.

I'd LOVE to shop in a system like New Zealand where it likely more uniform.

(**..Produce must be either all pre-wrapped --blah!--or stickers placed on individual items with a code and weighed at the register.

I see why store want to reduce total employees and send us all thru machines which do not require breaks or lunch hours, but frankly, the human element, with clerks who know the store & products, can make it all work better.
I worked for years in grocery stores during my high school & college years, and can SEE what really works 'better' and what is nothing but cost-cutting devices for the stores.

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 14 Feb 11 - 10:11 AM

Supermarket trollies, I hate the fact that they are tethered and require pound coins to remove them - I appreciate that it is to deter people from stealing them but they still do anyway. Some trolleys are in such a bad condition so you have to go through a few to find one to be able get the coin in or one that won't get it stuck at the end of the shop. Even more irritating finding no other trollies there to push the coin out with at the end of the shop. There must be some other device they could use to release the coins.

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 14 Feb 11 - 10:19 AM

Go to another supermarket. None of the ones I go to regularly ~~ Tesco in Ely and at Milton, Cambridge: Waitrose in Ely & in Trumpington, Cambridge; Sainsbury's in Sidney St, Cambridge; Spar in Haddenham, Cambs ~~ requires a coin-slot deposit for a trolley.

~Michael~

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: G-Force
Date: 14 Feb 11 - 11:19 AM

At least the coin slots almost guarantee that the trollies (carts) are put back tidily, rather than just abandoned anyhow.

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: Bill D
Date: 14 Feb 11 - 12:50 PM

Wow! coin operated releases for carts/trollies? I have NEVER seen that. Stores used to have spaced posts that would allow a person thru, but too narrow for carts, to keep them from straying....but the newer system is to actually put covered 'parking areas' out in the lot, so that people can take their groceries to their cars, then leave the carts there.
   I suppose that in smaller towns and certain areas, carts/trollies might tend to go all the way home with people who walk....but in large urban areas, 99.8436% of everyone drives to the market, it is seldom a problem. The biggest problem they have is with people NOT putting them in assigned places, but leaving them between cars or in front of other stores...etc.

I say again...wow...COINS?

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: Bill D
Date: 14 Feb 11 - 01:10 PM

This is a slight problem

as is this
(note carts properly placed in background sheds)
But this is the usual trend at larger stores here. (even though that picture is from Germany)

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: GUEST, topsie
Date: 14 Feb 11 - 01:13 PM

And then there are the people who leave them in the canal.

You can get key-ring attachments that are the same size as pound coins (and euro-sized ones if that's what you need). I got some on ebay at two for a pound, though sometimes they are more. They are easier to remove as you have the key ring to pull them by.

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: Amos
Date: 14 Feb 11 - 02:06 PM

I do most of my weekly provisioning at a big CostCo. THere are plenty of big white carts--you just pull on eout of the rack and roll on in. They have everything you could need from batteries to filet mignon (which I buy once in a blue moon) and the checkout lines are pretty darn good and very friendly. Occasionally you'll get stuck behind somneone who has thirty three coupns and forty-one items and isn't sure which goes with what, but that's an exception.

But the shoppers are terrible drivers--if they drove cars like that they'd lose their license!

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: Fossil
Date: 14 Feb 11 - 04:12 PM

BillD: The store I mainly use handles a full range of produce: fruit, vegetables, and sundries like mushrooms, garlic and packed salads.

What you do is: take a bag from the dispenser, fill it with as much of the particular produce line you want (eg choose from about six varieties of apples, organic or other hands of bananas or whatever), take it to one of about four weighing machines scattered around the produce area, hit the particular code number for that product (it's displayed on the card next to the produce) and the machine prints you a label giving you the weight, price per unit, total price and a bar-code, which you scan into the scanner and stick the label onto your bag.

Or if it is an item like heads of broccoli, which are sold as single units, there will be a bar-code attached to the display box, just scan that once for each unit you have.

It *is* a good system, and while I suppose it opens the store up to more possibilities of pilfering, I suppose the savings in checkout staff outweigh any shrinkage.

And as regards languages, you can select at the checkout from a range of about 10 languages (including the main European languages, Japanese, Chinese, Maori, and most of the Pacific tongues) you want your items and totals displayed.

Here in NZ the banks all use a common system for electronic payment (goes under the acronym EFTPOS - Electronic Financial Transaction at Point of Sale, I think) and terminals are in almost every shop, garage, cafe, restaurant and hotel. It also works for ATM machines, too. Most people, me included. carry very little cash around - we rely on the EFTPOS system. Of course, if the system goes down (which it has done from time to time), there is total chaos, but that's another story. Mostly, it seems to work real well.

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: Bill D
Date: 14 Feb 11 - 04:44 PM

... take it to one of about four weighing machines scattered around the produce area, hit the particular code number for that product"

Yep...that would ease things, but they haven't figured that out yet. Somewhere, they employ cheap labor to actually affix small code stickers to EACH piece of EACH type of apple...etc. Thus, they expect you, at the checkout, to enter (not scan) the code, and weigh each item. Flaws? They don't do that with bananas, assuming I suppose that they carry only one type...and for items like that you must look up the code in a little screen that tabs thru different produce! (with vague little images to guide you)
So... while I sometimes use the hand-held scanner, and sometimes the "check it out yourself" lanes, I usually do NOT if I have produce.

Then...they have a sale table in the back for dented and discontinued items...but all they do with these is put a sticker over the bar code and hand-write the discount price! Try showing that to a scanner! **grin**

I knew the minute they installed some of these 'advances' that there would be problems...but this chain was bought a few years ago by a Dutch company called "Royal Ahold" who pretend to 'manage' things by decree from afar. (want to guess what the nickname for the company is?)

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 14 Feb 11 - 06:50 PM

From The WTF File for Today ...

Ram-raider bursts into condom shop

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: frogprince
Date: 14 Feb 11 - 09:20 PM

Hadn'dt heard of a ram raider around here yet. Apparently he only took cash, none of the f**kin' merchandise.

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: GUEST, topsie
Date: 15 Feb 11 - 05:35 AM

The reduced price goods are one of the commonest reasons for being overcharged. If the sticker doesn't completely cover the barcode and leaves even a very narrow strip showing every bar and space, it will ring up the full original price, and the person on the checkout is unlikely to notice - or care.
The other reason for overcharging is that the price on the shelf doesn't always match the price that has been entered in the computer used by the tills. But why is it so often wrong in the shop's favour?

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 15 Feb 11 - 05:42 AM

I always check the prices most carefully, both as they appear on the till-display while going thru & on my receipt. Only time I have ever found a mismatch in 50 years was when the price had been increased of a sports item which had a manufacturer's price printed on its packaging, but the store had shown a higher price on its display. I queried this at the checkout and was charged the manufacturer's printed price. This was at the Bar Hill, Cambs, branch of Tesco.

Otherwise I have never experienced anything to match what appear to be Topsie's unfortunate experiences.

~Michael~

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: GUEST, topsie
Date: 15 Feb 11 - 05:51 AM

Only once in 50 years! It happens to me every week. Admittedly I do tend to go for the bargains, but that is no excuse on the shop's part. A lot of people don't look at the price as it rings up, and they either decline the receipt or put it straight in the bin, so the shop has no incentive to get it right.

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 15 Feb 11 - 06:09 AM

Actually, I am well up on Tesco. The only fault I have found has been to their disadvantage. In the old days before chip-and-pin when one just signed the Visa docket, the Visa payments often failed to reach my bill, sometimes for quite large amounts; so either they or Visa [no way of knowing which, but probably Tesco as theirs seemed to be the only payments not to go thru] never got paid.

Alas, that doesn't happen any more with chip'n'pin!

~M~

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: saulgoldie
Date: 15 Feb 11 - 06:40 AM

Driving, again. S/he is in the lane next to me, holding speed. I want to pass, or go behind so I can move towards my exit. As I either speed up or slow down, s/he matches my speed so I can't. I either nail the gas or brake lightly to accomplish my lane change. As soon as I do, so does s/he. I look at his/her face and I can see no indication of mental activity. Not even the "cell phone excuse." Whuuuh?


'Nother. I am maintaining decent speed with the traffic flow, just above the limit, but not insane and s/he noticeably speeds up to pull in front of me. No exit nearby, and no other traffic impediments--slow drivers, potholes, debris on the road--of any sort. As soon as s/he completes the move, they slow down to well below the speed of the flow. Whuuh?

Saul

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 15 Feb 11 - 08:22 AM

MtheGM, perhaps it depends on the location of the supermarket that has a bearing on how hot the security is on them. My son lives in a quaint rural area and none of the trollies in his local Tesco require a coin to release them and I can't say that I have ever seen any abandoned anywhere.

My second moan is why do some people have to plonk themselves dead centre in the middle of a pavement taking up all of the space sauntering along at a snail's pace (particularly in the morning) not allowing you to dodge around either side of them. Many times that has happened on my way to work only to see a bus that I wanted to catch drive off and all because of one person getting in the way.

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 16 Feb 11 - 12:24 AM

"S/he is in the lane next to me, holding speed. I want to pass, or go behind so I can move towards my exit. As I either speed up or slow down, s/he matches my speed so I can't. I either nail the gas or brake lightly to accomplish my lane change. As soon as I do, so does s/he."

As I said before - "flocking behavior" , which is a subconscious reflex. It's also flocking annoying ...

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: Bob Landry
Date: 16 Feb 11 - 01:13 AM

I've solved the shopping problem. I sit in the car with a good book while the missus is inside shopping. My costcophobia does not flare up and she does not have a "looming black cloud of stress bearing down on her" - her exact words.

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 16 Feb 11 - 10:40 AM

The "Go through the line again for the next X number of items" dodge is good for a chuckle.

As is the "Extra charge for items over the limit" dodge.

But if you do either of those you risk alienating customers, and management emphatically doesn't want to do that!

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: GUEST,LynnT
Date: 16 Feb 11 - 01:09 PM

@Bill -- Aldi's markets in the DC area have locked-up carts; you put in two quarters to get one for your use, then get your quarters back when you return the cart to the rack.

Lynn

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: Bill D
Date: 16 Feb 11 - 07:48 PM

Aldi? That's a new one on me! I see 92.0427% Giant & Safeway...and Trader Joe's. (There is SuperFresh and Shoppers Food Warehouse, but I almost never get there, and they also have no coin machines.)
I'd bet that coin safeguards are for specific neighborhoods where carts are likely to 'walk'.

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 17 Feb 11 - 12:19 AM

In Australia, ALDI sell a little token that you can use instead of a $2 coin to access the carts.

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: Ebbie
Date: 17 Feb 11 - 11:17 AM

Wow. I can't imagine paying for a cart in order to buy their products. I can understand it in an airport but not in my grocery.

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 17 Feb 11 - 11:41 AM

It's not paying for the cart: you get your coin back when you put the cart back properly. I haven't seen it here (or in Long Beach), but back East.

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 18 Feb 11 - 06:03 AM

Aldi's are springing up everywhere (are they German based?) and the similar Lidl's stores in Bristol. Some of the stuff is ok but out of choice I would rather get the 'regular' known supermarket 'own' brands rather than shop at Aldi's on a regular basis. My parents like Aldi's because it is in a convenient location for them which is where they tend to be.

Keeping on the theme of supemarkets why do they have assistants who cannot remove the security tag properly. So many times I have seen the bleeper go at the check-out and more often than not it has been because the assistant has been careless. Lately the automated message that follows does add 'it could be due to our error' but it is so annoying.

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 18 Feb 11 - 09:28 AM

The 25-cent deposit on a shopping cart (that's the amount here in Minnesota) isn't just a way to prevent theft of shopping carts. It also saves Aldi from having to send out employees to gather up shopping carts from the parking lot. Another way they save money is by not giving away shopping bags. They charge 15 cents for a rather sturdy reusable plastic shopping bag. Of course, that's optional; you can bring your own bag(s). (I understand that's a common practice in the UK, but Aldi is the only store that does it, that I know of, in the US.) But the main way they keep costs low is by offering only one brand of everything, often the store brand. This enables them to make the whole store much more compact. All the produce is prepackaged; you don't get a chance to sort through a huge pile of apples and select only the best-looking ones. You bring home your bag of apples and find that some of them are misshapen and ugly, but still wholesome. Consequently, there is less waste.

I'd probably go to Aldi more often, but their stores aren't very conveniently located for me. The do tend to be in poorer neighborhoods. See Aldi at Wikipedia.

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: Ron Davies
Date: 19 Feb 11 - 04:52 PM

I'm with Bob Landry.    I put a book in the car to read--always nonfiction--- while Jan goes shopping at Costco, etc. for kids' clothes, etc.   Then it doesn't bother me a bit how long she takes--time reading is never wasted. But I don't sit in the car--Costso always has furniture to sell--often very comfortable couches.

I've even bought some good books at Costco--e.g. the McCullough book on Adams and the recent Chernow book on Washington.

Subject: RE: BS: Why'd Dey Do Dat??
From: Ron Davies
Date: 19 Feb 11 - 04:57 PM

In other stores I sit on the floor and read--til Jan needs to have me pay for her purchases (at Costco or elsewhere).

Only problem is sometimes my "shopping book" is too fascinating to leave in the car.   So I take it in the house and put another in the car.