Etiquette - For Grocery Shoppers

1. Do NOT double park in the spaces closest to the store. It is difficult enough to find a spot closer than half a mile away from the front doors due to the 40 or 50 handicapped parking spots each store provides. Don’t aggravate the problem by bringing your fancy sports car grocery shopping. Same goes for crooked parkers.

2. Do NOT spend an eternity traveling the crosswalk that runs from the store to the parking lot. Navigating a crowded parking lot can be tricky, and the last thing you should be doing is causing a traffic jam.

3. Do NOT park your cart in the middle of the aisle while you look for an item, have a conversation, read your list, zone out, etcetera. I should not have to move your cart for you as I struggle to pass through to the next section.

4. Do NOT walk down the middle of any aisles, pathways, etc. at Mach-Slug.

5. When experiencing “chooser’s remorse,” do NOT plop any refrigerated/frozen items onto the room temperature shelves closest to you. Walk all perishables back to where you found them – or at least to another refrigerated/frozen case.

6. Do NOT open any boxes and take one snack cake, tampon, twizzler, etcetera. Either some unfortunate soul will purchase that box and not realize until they get home that it’s been tampered with, or the store will add it to the damages pile, resulting in a slow and steady rise in prices for all.

7. Do NOT allow your children to run hog-wild through the store. Who will be the bad guy when I accidentally clobber them with my cart?

8. Do NOT take an entire cartful of items to the 10 or less register. Bringing 11 or 12 items is fine. Anything more and I can assure you that you’ll get plenty of nasty looks. There is a reason those lanes are labeled “express.”

9. Do NOT load all of your stuff onto the check out belt and flee the scene for 10 minutes in search of something you forgot. If you can’t return with the item in less than 20 seconds, get it next time, or check out and get back in line. Making others wait while you continue to shop is rude.

10. And please, do NOT berate the cashier when something doesn’t ring up correctly. The cashiers don’t set the prices or have them memorized. They aren’t responsible for misplaced signs, tags, or items. Screaming at the cashier will accomplish absolutely nothing. Just ask for a price check. Politely.