Jaki Jean on Grocery Etiquette

 

Now, I truly don't know if Judith Martin covered grocery store etiquette in her updated version of her guide to excruciatingly correct behavior.

If not, she should have.

Because there are things that, if they have not been covered, need to be covered.

For instance, if you argue with the cashier over a price or a coupon's eligibility for a discount & choose to leave the line & force the cashier to close out the transaction, the transaction is over.

If you return, you must queue again.

Or do something novel, go to the service desk.

If you leave the line to go hunt for evidence on your own to prove your point, your transaction is over (only a store employee searching for evidence can keep your place in line). Queue up again or visit the service desk. 

All of this is advice for correct behavior in grocery store.  Especially if you are interrupting Miss Jaki Jean Manners. Who always goes to customer service with a dispute or to the end of line if she has forgotten something or left her credit card at home. In the latter case, she knows to go to Customer Service, where her cart is protected & waiting to be reclaimed.

You leave the line, you lose your place. 

This evening, someone at MY grocery store, cut in line to argue about granola bars & coupons. Why it is MY store is another story, another blog. You just need to know that I have shopped at this store, wherever it was located, for 32 years. And that past & current managers & the full time cashiers know me by name.

So I put up my hand, after this brazen, rude, clueless woman cuts in front of me & say: Excuse me, but it is my turn. She smiles & says: But I have been in line. I don't smile & say because I am a bitch & want people to behave: Not since I have been in line, not since anyone behind me has been in line. You need to go to the end of the line or to customer service. 

Aside: The debate is about coupons for Nature Valley granola bars, a General Mills Product. There are eight brands of Nature Valley granola bars. Among those eight, there are thirty-five different flavors. Coupons are issued at all levels. Some take careful reading. 

As she continues to protest, I again counter that yes, I understand you have a problem, but it is not my problem or the problem of anyone standing in line behind me & she ignores me & the cashier (who does not know me by name) ignores me & I examine my options.

It does not matter that it was my turn.

Because neither this woman who cut in line, nor the cashier, learned what I learned in kindergarten.

Stand in line, take turns, listen. 

It is a rough day for me & I am struggling. I realize that I cannot use my voice or my recognition with management or my history with this store to push an issue of courtesy.

So I take a deep breath & I take my basket I find myself another lane, behind several other customers. There are no disputes about prices or coupons.

When I left, she was still arguing about the eligibility of her coupons. Again, leaving her basket at the end of aisle, ready once again to demand a position she had given up when she left the queue.

Stand in line, take turns, listen.