How nosy are people in your supermarket?
Posted by NLveganmama on May 15, 2010 · Member since Jan 2010 · 380 posts
Do you find that people are always looking in each other's carts to see what they find? I think it's one of the reaons the Dutch shop so frequently is to give them the chance to look in other people's carts.
I rubberneck all the time! The other day we were in the pricey department store's grocery, and I saw a guy standing in line ahead of us. We agreed he had to be non-Spaniard and lived alone, because a) he had individual everythings: juice boxes, cheese packets, individual small tins of olives, individually-wrapped pastries etc. Lives alone, takes his lunch to work. And foreign, because of (his countenance and) Earl Grey Tea. Sevilla's men don't do that schtick. Except mine, because he's lived with me for almost 30 years.
I enjoy trying to imagine what people are going to make with what they buy. What I don't like is when you put your stuff on the conveyor belt and someone standing behind you in line picks up something of your shopping and starts examining it! Granted, it's technically not mine till I pay, but hands off!!
I'm probably the worst offender to this. Unlike Yabbitgirl, I'm usually just seeing unhealthy the food they are buying is (very!), or trying to imagine what they are making for dinner.
I am so guilty of this...and then I judge. For instance a woman with a very badly behaved, 5 to 6 year old son and cart full of sugar filled and artificial everything and think "gee, I wonder why your child is acting like that" sarcastically in my head. :-\
Oh, I absolutely do this too. I don't even notice if other people are doing it because I'm too busy looking at their stuff. I was at Netto the other day, which isn't a particularly vegan-friendly store but they have cheap soyricemilk and I get some produce and stuff there. I noticed a girl standing in the other line, putting her things on the conveyor belt, and she was wearing a Peta shirt. I noticed that she didn't have any meat or dairy products, which is very uncommon, unless people are just buying beer, but I thought, aha, another vegan! But yeah, usually I'm just amazed at how much crap people are buying.
Yabbit, my guy is an Earl Grey man as well :) but we can't get decaf earl grey here, unfortunately.
Yeah I do this too, usually because I'm curious what other people think is good. When they have their carts full I'm always hopeful I'll find another vegetarian but that hasn't happened yet :(
I'm terrible about this. I live in the middle of Podunk, redneck Indiana, and I barely ever see people buying vegetables. I'll look in people's carts, and there is ALWAYS cola, meat, cereal, and most of the time milk and cheese. it's so gross. I shop in the fresh produce section, and I barely ever see people in there.
When I go to the co-op in a college town about an hour away, most people have lots of vegetables and other fresh goods. However, I always check to see whether they're vegetarian or vegan. When I was vegan and my boyfriend still drank milk, I was SO embarrassed to be seen with milk in my cart!
I'm glad I'm not the only one. It's not the worst vice in the whole world! :)
We played with this topic a year or so ago. I love rereading old related threads, so here:
http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=16363.0
Enjoy!
I do this too... i try to guess how much they're spending and look at how much packaged vs. fresh food they have and ohhhhh alllllllll the meat and dairy. And I smile inside, knowing my bill will be less and that I'm saving lives ~^_^~. Helps me to stay on track with my shopping seeing all the things I should not eat.
I've been pleasantly surprised at how many people I've seen using reusable bags lately. However, I've definitely noticed that the purchase of healthy foods and use of cloth bags varies greatly from store to store...depending on what side of town I'm on. :(
Another nosy shopper here.
My sister and I were shopping in an Indian store a couple of months ago. We were the only non-Asians in there and every time we stopped to look at something another customer would say "oh that is so good.....oh don't get that, get this instead....oh that's good with chutney...blah blah blah"....we loved it.
In California, I used to see other vegans all the time in the grocery store. The giveaways were always tempeh, kale, nutritional yeast and quinoa. Add almond milk to that, and you've DEFINITELY spotted yourself a vegan.
In California, I used to see other vegans all the time in the grocery store. The giveaways were always tempeh, kale, nutritional yeast and quinoa. Add almond milk to that, and you've DEFINITELY spotted yourself a vegan.
Same here. Most people tend to make sideways glances in other people's carts around here. Often they will find a reason to say something if their cart is largely the same as yours (when it is full of things that are a giveaway for being a vegan).
I love knowing that I'm not the only one.
I never really do this. I'm generally there to get my crap and leave. The only time I notice is when they are in the veg section cause I'm usually the only one. It always makes me sneak a gander into their baskets and then breathe a sigh of relief that I'm not the only vegan out there. I like seeing people with kids who are veg or older people knowing that eventually I will be in their shoes. A lot of people seem to look at me and whats in my basket though. Yea, its tofu, so what! I do tend to also check out the carts of the extremely morbidly obese on occasions . I am always fascinated by all the stuff they have.
I just try to find vegans. I usually get my hopes up seeing like, tofu, soymilk, veggies, blah blah blah AND A STEAK. Boo.
But thats only really at the registers.
omg!! so nosy!! well, it's not really nosy, but they just like to talk a bunch of crap. and since im white and no one ever thinks i speak spanish, if they have something to say about me they'll say it in spanish when im standing right there. i never say anything, because i hate confrontation, but it's funny that they think they're being sneaky.
Haha, I am the nosy person too. I like the self-service checkouts because I can stand in line and watch everyone beep their items.
I don't really do this as a customer, but I did it as a cashier (well, you go through the cart anyway). I usually just used it to make conversation, but sometimes I'd hopefully look for another vegan when it looked promising - vegetables, rice milk, tofutti cream cheese, whole grain something, fake meat, and then - steak. Well, I can't blame people for eating almost-vegan.
As a customer it's only when it's noticeable - like someone plops down huge containers of meat from the deli/whatever it's called, especially when that's nearly the only thing they're buying. I look at other people's groceries in line sometimes at Asian markets, just to see what people there buy. It usually makes me feel better about buying 6 containers of tofu when the lady ahead of me has 12.
When I'm at register at Michaels I totallyyyy look at peoples things. And ask them what they're making and annoying things like that. But it's just to try to make it not so awkward and quiet. Haha.
Even though it kind of bugs me at the store when people do that. But I think thats just because at this one store a few of the people stop and look at every single thing for like 30 seconds and it takes FOREVER for them to ring my stuff up.
yeah, true. there's a balance between making conversation and being overly interested. i usually don't talk much when i'm being rung up, so i tended not to talk at first when i started cashiering. then, one customer interpreted this as being "unfriendly" or unhappy or something, so then i started faking interest =)
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