What a great response for our first round of Random Questions!!! All your responses were so interesting to me, and those of you that posted....hilarious! Isn't it funny we can have so much to say about something that every one does as a normal thing?!?
Here's why these questions were fresh on my mind yesterday... I went to the store, no kid in tow since the husband was off for President's Day (gotta love banks). I realized about half way through that I had varied from my norm, and it kind of scared me a little. I had just tossed a few things in here and there. I actually stopped in the middle of an aisle and had to just process for a moment. Then I corrected the situation and went on.
My typical shopping pattern is to arrange the items so they all fit on the bottom of the cart nicely, at least until it's full. I put the cereal boxes together, next to the mac n'cheese boxes, next to the pasta boxes, in height order. Then I have a little area for the cans, also coordinated by size. This allows me to have a platform to build on if I need a second level. When it comes to the oh-so-frustrating free-form items like produce, milk, chips, bags of shredded cheese, and bread, they go on top of a flat surface if there is no room ont he bottom of the cart. Big items like cases of DP, toilet paper, diapers, etc go under the cart on the lower shelf part. Braska's food, which comes in cases of 6 8-ounce bottles (Pediasure, generic) gets stacked in the cart, usually in the deepest part under the kid seat area, as it's heavy and I don't want it sliding or putting pressure on less dense things that might squish or bend.
(Are you laughing at me yet??)
Then when I get to the check out, I put up the heaviest things first, starting with milk and Braska's food, putting the things on top in the cart at the back of the line on the conveyor so that they end up on top again. This way I can make a good base of the heavy things for the free-form things to sit on. I try to build it back into the cart after it's bagged so that it all fits just right. I always put meat together, dairy together, random cold items together, healthy and beauty items together, produce together (and very late in the order), and end with chips and bread.
What annoys me is when, after all this work, the checker doesn't pay attention to my meticulous plan and puts the wrong things in the wrong bags! Don't they know there's a system here? Don't they see that I'm trying to help them, too? The really good checkers have commented at how much it helps them, so that always is a little happy moment.
Am I crazy? Maybe... but it works for me, for now. :o)
It's not too late to do your response to the questions or to put up your post for this round. Tell us how you shop!!
Random Questions Round 2 will be posted later this week. Tell your family, invite your friends....Don't miss it!!
Here's why these questions were fresh on my mind yesterday... I went to the store, no kid in tow since the husband was off for President's Day (gotta love banks). I realized about half way through that I had varied from my norm, and it kind of scared me a little. I had just tossed a few things in here and there. I actually stopped in the middle of an aisle and had to just process for a moment. Then I corrected the situation and went on.
My typical shopping pattern is to arrange the items so they all fit on the bottom of the cart nicely, at least until it's full. I put the cereal boxes together, next to the mac n'cheese boxes, next to the pasta boxes, in height order. Then I have a little area for the cans, also coordinated by size. This allows me to have a platform to build on if I need a second level. When it comes to the oh-so-frustrating free-form items like produce, milk, chips, bags of shredded cheese, and bread, they go on top of a flat surface if there is no room ont he bottom of the cart. Big items like cases of DP, toilet paper, diapers, etc go under the cart on the lower shelf part. Braska's food, which comes in cases of 6 8-ounce bottles (Pediasure, generic) gets stacked in the cart, usually in the deepest part under the kid seat area, as it's heavy and I don't want it sliding or putting pressure on less dense things that might squish or bend.
(Are you laughing at me yet??)
Then when I get to the check out, I put up the heaviest things first, starting with milk and Braska's food, putting the things on top in the cart at the back of the line on the conveyor so that they end up on top again. This way I can make a good base of the heavy things for the free-form things to sit on. I try to build it back into the cart after it's bagged so that it all fits just right. I always put meat together, dairy together, random cold items together, healthy and beauty items together, produce together (and very late in the order), and end with chips and bread.
What annoys me is when, after all this work, the checker doesn't pay attention to my meticulous plan and puts the wrong things in the wrong bags! Don't they know there's a system here? Don't they see that I'm trying to help them, too? The really good checkers have commented at how much it helps them, so that always is a little happy moment.
Am I crazy? Maybe... but it works for me, for now. :o)
It's not too late to do your response to the questions or to put up your post for this round. Tell us how you shop!!
Random Questions Round 2 will be posted later this week. Tell your family, invite your friends....Don't miss it!!
I hate it when checkers don;t honour my system, even though it isn't half of what yours is.
ReplyDeleteI start with produce which makes the whole exercise that much more difficult.
Lisa--Maybe we should have a bit of a meeting with the checker to see how cooperative they are before we agree to use their line. Ha!
ReplyDeleteI've heard of obsessive-compulsive, but I think you may be obsessive-compartmentalizational :o)
ReplyDeleteYour program just told me that isn't a real word, but I like it anyway!
Mom...Not a bad word. Wish I was that in more areas, like my house.
ReplyDeleteHA! this is so familiar. I often come home from the store fuming at how badly the baggers bag my stuff. I tell my husband I'm going to get a job as a bagger-training supervisor. He thinks I'm crazy.
ReplyDeleteCate--I think that's a great idea for a job! But then again, I've never worked in a store, so what do I really know about that?! You let me know how it goes! :o)
ReplyDeleteI like going to the "older" checkers that look like they actually run a household, but the problem still remains you usually have a wet behind the ears 12 year old bagging your groceries! OK they must be older than that, but it sure doesn't seem like it!
ReplyDeleteI didn't have a chance to respond to your original post, but I shop like that! I group like items together and put them on the conveyor belt that way too. All the frozen/refrigerated things go together, boxed items, canned goods, meats, produce etc. Sometimes when Joe's w/me he doesn't do it exactly "right" and I have to rearrange as we're shopping LOL
ReplyDeleteI find the baggers seem to stick to that way as well.
Deb--I agree about the older checkers...they always seem like they have a handle on things. And in my experience, they're friendlier too.
ReplyDeleteMichelle--Keep training him. :o)
OK now I know why we connect, we shop the same way and when my son is with me he is starting to line things up in the cart like I do.... the worst is when they put your bread in with something heavy and then you nice loaf of bread or rolls are now flattened like a piece of paper... What a way to end your long trip to the grocery store (or should I say Walmart/Target)..lol....
ReplyDeleteGot to Love it~
Carrie :p