I’ve seen a few posts/comments saying there’s no real reason to eat whilst food shopping and it seems this is a widely agreed upon position. Basically anyone that eats as they walk round a supermarket is disgusting and the devil. Is this the case or is it misdirected anger towards people that don’t *pay* for the food they eat?
My partner and I do a weekly grocery shop on a Saturday or Sunday and usually go around lunchtime. Typically we’re there for around 2 hours because it’s usually busy and we also get things for my in-laws. So off the bat I’m hungry and I know we’ll be there for a while.
We always use the SmartShop scanner as we go round and my routine is to grab a meal deal or something small (i.e scotch egg, sausage roll, etc) to keep the hunger subsided until we get home. I always scan the items (because I pay for what I eat, but also because I’m conscious of the fact I may be challenged on the empty packets) and eat said items on the way round. They’d be consumed in minutes – I’m not just constantly eating. I keep the empty packets to be discarded after payment.
I like to think my moral compass is well placed, certainly when it comes to supermarket etiquette. I always return my trolley, even without the £1 incentive (shout out to the Cart Narks). If I notice I’m parked a little over the lines in a bay I’d get back in and straighten up instead of leaving it to inconvenience someone else. If I decide I don’t want an item I return it to its spot on the shelf instead of just chucking it back anywhere. I have a good level of awareness when it comes to not blocking an aisle with my trolley, especially when the staff are stacking shelves and have the cages in the aisle. When I see empty food packets on the shelf it really pisses me off as these people are tarnishing the reputation and ruining it for those of us that actually pay for the food we eat. I’m not a thief, they certainly are.
Any of the things above would bother me way more than seeing someone eating food in the place you literally go to buy food. So why is it unanimously disliked?
I’m open to changing my ways if I see a compelling argument, but currently I enjoy my Sainsburys Snack Schedule and I don’t see any issue. Can I continue or should I stop?
Edit:
I didn’t realise how passionate people would be on this subject. It seems I truly am the devil to some, whilst others couldn’t give a shit or wouldn’t notice anyway.
From all the responses it seems there are three common objections:
1. Why can’t you just wait?
2. You haven’t paid so it’s technically stealing.
3. Its gross/unhygienic.
To address point 1, yes of course I can wait. I’m not some obese, obnoxious, man-child with the self control of a toddler that must shovel rotisserie chickens into his face at every opportunity whilst waddling round a store for 2 hours. You have interesting imaginations but it’s off the mark. That being said, I’m well aware I could eat before I shop, or change the time I shop, or not spend 2 hours shopping (which seemed to shock quite a few people), or find another solution, but you’ve missed the point of my question. I wasn’t asking for a solution…I’m trying to understand the problem from your perspective.
Objection #2 makes more sense in that until you’ve paid it’s not yours. But this kind of answers my first question on whether there is misdirected anger meant for people that actually don’t pay at all. If I paid for a sandwich beforehand and then ate it whilst I walked around the store…that solves the problem, but I imagine the same people would still have an issue with this. You wouldn’t know that I’ve paid anyway. The Amazon stores don’t even require a checkout so would you have a problem if I was eating a sandwich there? So yeah, technically I should pay first, but in reality that doesn’t seem to be an issue.
Objection #3 seems to partially be a more sensible answer. The idea of someone eating being a gross act in itself is ridiculous, but I do appreciate the potential for mess/contamination on surfaces, etc is a concern for others and the more people eating in a store the worse this will be.
One thing I’m now pondering which is actually not a point anyone has raised, is how I’d feel if *everyone* was to all of a sudden start eating food as they shopped. If it’s ok for me it should be ok for everyone else, right? So whilst I don’t feel I’m impacting anyone with my routine, I’d probably hate going to the shops if it became a walk through dinner experience.
So yeah… there’s some food for thought.
Tldr: Reddit hates people that eat in the supermarket
32 comments
I’ve found enjoying a can of Stella while I do my shop really takes the edge off a busy supermarket.
It’s a shop, not a restaurant. I obviously don’t know your circumstances but would think it’s unusual you can’t survive for a couple of hours without eating.
Yes, I think it’s mental. Can you really not go 2 hours without eating? Just have breakfast before you go. I’ve actually never seen someone in real life eat whilst they’re doing their food shop but if I did I’d think they were mentally ill or something. You can go a few hours without putting something in your mouth.
Just eat before you go. It’s not difficult.
Unless you are having a medical event of some kind, there’s no need to eat things before paying.
If its not yours don’t eat it. Just go pay, then eat it. It’s entitled behaviour.
Sometimes I even have to take my own corkscrew as the staff get really narky when you ask for one at customer services! All I want to do is sample some wine so I know I like it! 🍾
Th stuff isn’t your to eat until you’ve paid for it. I don’t understand why an adult would behave like this.
What would you do if your card was declined?
Your supermarket etiquette compass is a bit off.
**Don’t eat food in supermarkets.**
Until you paid for it, whose food do you think it is?
Yeah it’s pathetic, Just fucking wait.
Unless you have a medical reason, there should be no reason why an adult can’t go without food for 2 hours while shopping. If you are going to be multiple hours there, eat before you go.
I used to work in a supermarket and it’s disgusting, depends on the food but some people will have chocolate on their fingers or round their mouth, still be eating at the checkout etc. Your disgusting fingers will be touching the food you pick up, other food on the shelves, the scanner and the checkout at the end, you also will likely be leaving crumbs as a trail around the store.
I mean personally, I would not hold a sandwich/sausage roll with the same hands I’m using to push the trolly with without sanitiser or washing my hands. I don’t know, it just feels icky to me. I suppose I do judge if I see someone eating whilst shopping, because I guess I just automatically assume it won’t be paid for. Something I’ve always thought, I now realise.
I think the underlying sentiment is disbelief that people can’t control themselves for as long as it takes to do the shop, and just delay their gratification until they’ve paid for what they’re eating.
It puts people in mind of a toddler who cannot wait for things.
Yes it is utterly twatish 😐
Two hours is a long time to spend! Personally I don’t think eating before paying is ok.
Eat before you go, sit in the food court and eat before you shop, chew some fucking gum or put up with being hungry and be an adult
I have scanned things for my toddler to eat whilst shopping but I think as an adult it’s a bit odd to do unless you have a medical condition like diabetes and need something right away.
I don’t think there’s anything “bad” with it, it’s your business.
But, I have to say, it does look a bit desperate. No offence, but if you can’t manage to wait 1 minute before eating, I wouldn’t want to be you.
But of course, feel free to do it, and I won’t condemn you for it.
What, this question again?
How many more times must I see it.
No it’s not.. but you’re not going to starve and die if you don’t stuff that pie in your mouth in the next 1/2 hour, so why do it?
It’s a bit cringe tbh but at the end of the day make your own rules. If you pay for it then cool. But you might get a few looks because most people, as evidenced here, will have certain built in opinions so you can’t be mad if people are a bit like ‘wot’
It’s unethical and rude, so yes Don’t.
Yeah I don’t see a problem with it, I always take a tin opener in to a supermarket so I can crack open a tin of beans and sip them whilst shopping.
It’s stomach churning. As adults we are supposed to have learnt self control and waiting until you’ve paid for something before eating it is a perfect example of this. Plus it can be seen as technical theft. And nobody wants you walking around the supermarket eating and touching stuff other people will take home. So it’s selfish and It’s deeply unsanitary.
Two hours food shopping? That’s incomprehensible to me.
A weekly food shop for 4 adults takes me about 30 minutes max.
2 hours?? For a weekly shop? What a massive waste of time. Are you just reading every label you come across and deciding on the spot whether you want it? It cant be so busy that it takes you 4 times as long as it should under regular busy saturday conditions.
Leave the good and bad aside. Its subjective and your moral compass can be different from someone else’s.
Store policy says that you cannot eat unless you have paid for it. If you shop in that store, respect their policy. As simple as that.
You are in a supermarket for two hours? I feel ill just hearing about it.
I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen it in real life, and I’d probably be quit appalled if I did.
It seems like the height of bad manners (at best). I can’t imagine why a person would want to publicly show they’d been brought up like a farmyard animal.
It’s just dirty and out of place. You’re walking round a shop chewing on your food while people are trying to buy things.
Recently I saw someone walking round a supermarket eating a sausage roll, talking to his girlfriend, bits of pastry coming out of his mouth as he talked with his mouthful. Disgusting.
> Basically anyone that eats as they walk round a supermarket is disgusting and the devil.
> Is this the case
Yes. It’s bad manners.
If you want to behave like that, that’s your problem and people will silently judge you.
You are council as fuck mate