The Shopper

Don't you hate it when you go shopping with someone and you have a particular objective in mind and the other person is constantly preventing you from achieving that objective? I'm afraid this may cause an uproar because many people think shopping is the kind of act that should be randomly done and takes several hours to perform. I, however, have a different opinion. Although on a rare occasion I will randomly walk around in a store for anywhere up to 15 minutes, I almost always walk into a store having a particular item(s) in mind. For example, if I need a new hockey stick I walk into Dick's Sporting Goods, grab a stick, purchase it, and leave. I don't stop and look at the shoes because I don't need or even want new shoes. The same goes for almost all of my shopping endeavors. I have an item in mind. I search for said item. If found I buy it and leave. If I don't find it I'll probably go to another store and look for that item. I'm a pretty basic shopper. I understand that not everyone follows this outline for shopping but some people are downright ridiculous with how long they take to shop. Sometimes I'll be shopping with people and I honestly wish I could make them wear horse blinders so they aren't distracted by everything they see. What bothers me even further is that most of the time these people know that they either don't have the money to spend or will choose not to spend the money on these items. They are simply looking for the sake of looking. It's an unproductive practice and is frustrating for the people they are shopping with. I understand that some people take longer to shop than others, but there have been times where I've had to wait for literally hours while the person(s) I was with was just wandering around and never ended up buying anything.

Another shopping habit that bothers me is when you're in line and you have a few items and the person in front of you has dozens, but he fails to courteously allow you to check out before him. I understand that he was in line before you so it's his right to check out first, but at the same time it's a common courtesy to allow a person with fewer items in front of you. Plus that person would be doing a good deed, which should give him all the more reason to do it. Along these lines, I really get irritated when people with more items than allowed at the express line go in the express line. Come on! The express line is designed for people who need to get in and out. If you have more than the allotted express items then please have the courtesy to obey the rules. I once asked a worker at Walmart why they don't really enforce the express line rule and she explained that they more than likely have to get a manager involved which would ultimately take more time than if the employee simply checked out the customer's products. Even so, I feel like if I was an employee I would call the person out simply as a matter of principle.

The occurrence of these shopping gaffes is enough to keep me out of the store unless something is a necessity or I have a real burning desire for it.

Until next time,

Zac