Mum says speed of Aldi cashier left her 'crying and shaking' as food piled high

That's why God invented Amazon Fresh

I don't know how she will survive this. And to think there are wars and starving children around the world. This woman has TRULY been the one to suffer. God help her.

That’s just what happens when you shop in Aldi, why is she so shocked?

Paging Darfur Orphan...

Am I needed here?

Is this basically a no-news day?

I don't know about other countries, but at Aldi in the United States the clerk simply places the items in the shopping cart, with the shoppers later able to bag the items themselves at the counter off to the side at their leisure.

These Fraus are out of control.

You get what you pay for.

Why is this news?

I love Aldi.

Slow news day in Albion?

This fragile soul is in charge of kids ages 2, 3, and 7 -- can't imagine who runs that household.

Her bangers and mash all over the floor.

What R7 said.

I can empathize. I find their checkout design passive aggressive to the cashier and the customer. I can't see it as a design solution for anything but "dick move".

The required behavior is to dump your items into the cart and then bag them, at your leisure, on the shelf by the window. You can bag them as the cashier scans BUT only if you are coordinated and fit, or its a very small purchase. Many people cannot manage and thus the customer and the cashier suffers. Dick move.

Now sir, why are you doing this so fast? You can go a little slower! Oh and why aren’t you bagging my stuff? My credit card, but you didn’t tell me the total? 🤡

The Aldi checkout system ensures short lines that move very quickly. Yes, it means you have to bag your own groceries off to the side, or load them into your car unbagged. Big deal.

Look, there are a million grocery stores that work the same way, and only one Aldi. Don't like the Aldi way, go elsewhere.

The cashiers at my local Aldi were crazy and rude, too, and went out of their way to block me from leaving the store, but I just left and won't ever go back. (The reviews on Yelp for my local Aldi are mostly 1-star and hilarious.) I don't think it's true that there are other grocery stores that work the same, because every other bag-your-own store I've gone to has been fine. Aldi was the only one that felt like it was staffed with mental patients.

I suppose if I'd had a really bad day (and during this pandemic, we're all having more bad days than usual) I might have gotten upset. This is one of the few articles like this where I kind of sympathize with the person who was upset.

I don't see why she went so public with this, though. I'd just leave a nasty review online maybe, and call it a day.

r19. It works the same way in Germany. Even before scanner systems were invented, they cashiers at Aldi were known at working with light speed. You never could hold with their speed. There is only one way, and even then, it is exhausting: Just throw your grocery in the shopping cart and bag them at your car. Nobody on earth is known to be able bagging at the checkout in time.

The Aldi system doesn't appeal to American customers. They expect customer service and low prices.

Aldi staff have two main jobs. Cash register and keeping the shelves fully stocked. They are not paid to be your personal shopper or bag your items. They are not paid to hold customers' hands and they are not paid to support your choice of bringing along your children who are slowing the checkout process down. The only exception should be feeble senior citizens who struggle with checkout.

If you can't keep up with the speed, don't shop at ALDI.

I didn't mean a million other groceries work the same way as Aldi. I meant that Aldi is the only store that works the way it does, so if you don't like it, there are plenty of other options.

I don't understand going to a place of business that works in a unique way then complaining about that way. Take your business elsewhere. Simple.

[quote]went out of their way to block me from leaving the store, but I just left and won't ever go back.

Why would they have done that?

I find Aldi staff pleasant and helpful.

I have one of those reusable shopping bags that stretches across the shopping cart and attaches to both sides. When I go to Aldi, the checkout person always puts my items directly into the shopping bag that's in my cart. Saves me from having to bag my own.

No idea, r23, but I also know I'm not going to waste my time telling the story again because the Aldi stans on here told me last time I was making it up and was probably a paid PR shill for some competitor.

In a couple of sentences, if they were "blocking" you what were they intending you to do instead of exiting? I can't visualize what you're trying to say there.

All that was missing was the DL meme ... and then, he raped me!

Grow up, r26. They weren't "intending to do" anything to me and I never implied they were.

R26 he was shopping naked and his ostomy bag exploded.

Welcome to Aldi

funny, i always thought Aldi was a sneaker store.

Don't Aldi cashiers have to meet ridiculous targets on how many items they scan or the time between scanning each item or something crazy?

I'm disappointed this article didn't come with the staple of a British local newspaper article - a photo of the person complaining, looking glum stood outside the shop in question. Maybe pointing at the shop.

She shops for the prices, because of the kids. And she probably didn't want to leave with unbagged items, because of the kids.

The cashier sounds like he hates his job and the customers, which he probably does, and behaves to amuse himself.

Why is it always “crying and shaking”, for fuck’s sake? She needs a vicious slapping.

The Aldi cashier working too fast is LITERAL VIOLENCE!

If she hadn't been gabbing on her phone and trying to control 5 little spawn at the same time, she could have managed well.

She should've put the groceries into her enormous flappy vagina.

Unfortunately too many companies prize time/productivity and have a million tools to assess it with technology. They only care about data, so explaining you took time to help someone or do something that can’t be measured falls on deaf ears with management. They in turn have to account for productivity to upper management, and often times their salary or raises depend on it. I think it sucks, but in the corporate world, it’s only the bottom line that matters—and that shit ultimately rolls downhill where customers can see it.

When I go there what they do is scan and put everything in a cart that they keep next to them , then you are supposed to replace the filled cart with cart you were using and take the filled, paid cart with you to the area where you pack your groceries as fast or slow as you see fit. It’s a system that works so I don’t know wtf she is talking about . It’s not that hard. Some people are too fragile and stupid to live. Fuck her and her passel of kids too.

So she went to any normal Aldi, then. I view it as a challenge - getting my goods into my trolley faster than they can scan them. I rarely win, though.

Aldi cashiers are expected to do 1000 scans per hour, and can get written up if they fall below the established metric. They have a separate area for customers to pack their items away from the register. This selfish frau thinks that the rules don't apply to her, big surprise! Just because she doesn't know how to use a condom doesn't mean that she can't put anything in a bag.

R16=fat frau CUNT who overeats more than she breathes.

Supermarket cashiers have been on the front lines - and largely unthanked - throughout Covid. They are the ones who have the right to fall to the ground stressed and shaking, FFS.

What is causing these vast waves of entitlement rushing over society?

R20 - that's true. Sounds like this woman had never been to an Aldi before.

Just have them put it into a cart - they are super fast and there's no way you can keep up.

She should know this - if not, lesson learned.

I remember when I first started using Aldi how that stressed me out before I got used to it. Now all of the ones near me have self-checkouts which I prefer since I can take my own time.

I feel like that Aldi haven't done a good job of explaining their MO to customers, to be honest. They could have done something like put up a sign up explaining that scanning is fast and how to handle it.

She complains about the speed but it seems like the stacking was the real problem.

Aldi is a German company. Since that whole Hitler thing didn’t work out for their world domination, they’ve decided to take a more subtle approach and achieve it through grocery store intimidation. The fight begins with suburban mothers. This woman is not Master Race material.

I worked in Morrisons in 6th form and we were essentially told to do the opposite. Ask if "they'd like any help with their packing" and try and keep a pace they can match, likely because half the people in the store at any one time were pensioners who only came out for a chance to talk to someone.

Granted the rule went out the window on a Sunday, or if a queue was building up. Given this women was trying to manage 3 kids, was buying a mountain of food by the sound of it and Aldi only ever have one till open I'm guessing the poor harassed cashier was aware the line was wrapping round the shop and was trying to get her out of there.

R48, it's because the cashiers have to meet a scanning target or they face a performance review.

[quote]ALDI checkout staff must scan 1,000 items an HOUR or face the sack, a whistleblower has claimed. Till workers who consistently miss the target - equivalent to one item every 3.5 seconds - face performance reviews that could end in their dismissal, according to a former store worker. Ex-deputy manager Andrei Ignatescu accused bosses at the cut-price retailer of knowing the figure was “unrealistic”, but said it was used to pressure staff into working at breakneck pace. Ignatescu, who worked at a branch in Ely, Cambridgeshire told the Daily Mail: “Staff have to meet a target of scanning a minimum of 1,000 items per hour. We all got performance reviews and deputy managers would get told if they were not keeping up. If you don’t hit these targets, you are shown your actual speed and have a performance review meeting with managing staff. If this happens three times you can be let go. I had to be fast and many customers were not happy about it."

What is an "Aldi"? Is that where The Poors shop?

r49 Well that's a completely different way of doing business. I never got why Aldi and Lidl are the only supermarket not installing self scans. Their entire business model is doing stuff as cheap as possible (and that amazing isle in the middle of the store that sells power sanders and inflatable paddling pools in December) and that would at least get people in and out faster.

“Welcome to ALDI…” *shoves entire conveyor belt into cart*

R20 exactly and the best way to do this is to put any heavy but not breakable item on the belt first , followed by all squishable things and breakable stuff and fruits and vegetables last

R51, If they scan fast, that means they get customers through quicker and need fewer staff / checkouts open which is partly how they keep prices low. No-frills customer service, basically. And do you mean self-checkouts? All of the Aldis and Lidls near me have self-checkouts now, so that'll be coming.

Let her go somewhere else and pay those prices or she could order at her leisure online and do pickup which is an Instacart option. They are cheaper because of their pared down methods in staff and service. This woman is an asshole. She wants to do her life on her terms and make everyone sorry for her. We all have problems money , time and otherwise otherwise I’m taking care of my 93 year old mother alone with no home attendant and my time is extremely hard . No one is crying for me and I’m not asking anyone to do that. Work out your fucking problems .

R30 I'd like to visit that hottie in person. Which Aldi?

I’ll take the most aggressive, bullying speed of Aldi over the play-by-play announcements from cashiers at other stores: “Oh, tomatoes, ok, let’s see, three tomatoes, ok.”

“ The Aldi system doesn't appeal to American customers. They expect customer service and low prices.”

Wrong. Americans will queue like crazy just to do self checkout and avoid cashiers. And Aldi is growing all over the US.

Bitch should have used her crotchdroppings to help. How many of us used to grab everything we could see when our moms took us grocery shopping?

Aldi have self checkout in the UK and Australia now.

While I agree that if the "Aldi way" does not suit a shopper he should shop elsewhere. I still empathize with people who cannot cope with Aldi's design for checkout. In many countries, cultures, age brackets, income brackets, it's experienced as rude and aggressive and some customers are too poor or too dumb or too feeble to adapt. This slows things down, in fact.

The description of piles and piles groceries toppling is such a ridiculous exaggeration that it casts doubt on the frau. I deduce that since the cashier didn’t take time to make her feel important—or that her customer experience didn’t feel special and she was treated like an average shopper—she got upset.

What's amazing is that Aldi had super fast checkouts BEFORE scanners. The checkout people memorized the prices of every item in the store.

Seriously - I remember being amazed. Does anyone else remember that?

[quote] Bitch should have used her crotchdroppings to help. How many of us used to grab everything we could see when our moms took us grocery shopping?

I’ve noticed this as well. When I was young, my mother made my brothers and me pack the groceries. But it was also used as incentive. We hated going grocery shopping so the faster we packed, the quicker we got out of there.

[quote]Aldi cashiers are expected to do 1000 scans per hour

How is that possible if they're not busy? I've been in Aldi many times when there's no one at the checkout.

r45 I've never seen a self-checkout in an Aldi. Where are you?

Holy fuck. How does she actually cope with anything serious? What a useless human being.

UK, R66, they've had them for maybe a year or two so now. Same as the Lidls.

I believe it. So many of these fraus meltdown over the most stupid shit. And then they wonder why they aren’t taken seriously, especially in the workplace.

[quote]The description of piles and piles groceries toppling is such a ridiculous exaggeration that it casts doubt on the frau. I deduce that since the cashier didn’t take time to make her feel important—or that her customer experience didn’t feel special and she was treated like an average shopper—she got upset.

And this is it right there - so many of these fraus expect to be treated like a Queen and then lose their sanity when they’re treated like everyone else. They can’t stand the fact that they aren’t as special as they think.

She's not new to the store, she says she's shopped there for 10 years.

A second Aldi employee came in to diffuse the situation and the cashier left. She says the second employee was helpful.

I know this kind of story is bait for the kind of people who like to spend a relaxing weekend screaming "entitled whore retard who can't use condoms" online, but it's kind of sounding like the cashier got frazzled and went too far with his attitude.

R65, because staff are expected to muck in and do all the jobs around the store, so if the store isn't busy, they're expected to get off the checkout and do shelf stacking or something else. An Aldi store typically has 30 staff while a regular supermarket has 100 staff.

Aldi has great chocolates.

Lidl works this way too. The checkout workers are expected to put the shopping through within a certain time frame. Not sure how it is measured but one of the workers told me this one day. I always load my shopping onto the belt and then have all my bags open and ready to go at the other end. They don’t start scanning until you have finished unloading usually. I like the system as it means I am out of the shop quickly.

R66 Manchester UK, they installed them about 2 months ago. Lidl have also had them for a couple of years.

[quote]I know this kind of story is bait for the kind of people who like to spend a relaxing weekend screaming "entitled whore retard who can't use condoms" online, but it's kind of sounding like the cashier got frazzled and went too far with his attitude.

She IS an entitled cunt if she thought running to a newspaper to tell this ridiculous story was a way to solve her issue. She acts like the guy was throwing the items at her.🙄 The poor guy probably did get frazzled and now might get fired because this bitch had to run to a newspaper for attention when she could have just spoken to management privately.

Hell is other people.

My god people are such messes. And I’m sure if the cashier had been too slow she’d be crying and shaking too.I’m slow as hell and stand there putting my groceries away like a turtle and nobody cares.

Except in Switzerland one is NOT out of the shop quickly because they allow the lines to get long, despite the shitty design at the end of the conveyor belt. A business can NOT change customers' habits and cultures. People do NOT adapt. Proles in Switzerland are too fucking dumb to adapt. So never go to a Lidl or Aldi during peak shopping hours. Ever. I go because I like some of their products and prices and if you go in off peak hours its a desert.

She needs to understand the cashiers are told to be fast. They’re doing their job. I don’t drive to the grocery store and can manage just fine bagging my own groceries. I assume she’s driving with that gaggle of children why can’t she just put everything in bins or boxes she Kees in her car to carry in when she’s home? It’s what the people I know who buy big orders do. You take the shopping cart there unload and bring it back.

I refuse to bag my own groceries.

She’s probably the same frau who goes through a drive thru, orders for 8 family members, each with a special order and drink. You see items being passed multiple times. things passed back because it’s wrong/not enough, discussion about charges for extras, where’s Mason’s toy, etc. Thus is frustrating for others as well, but we tolerate it. I don’t start crying or freaking out and honking my horn.

[quote] "I knelt to the floor to pick up the food while simultaneously trying to watch my children", who are aged 2, 3 and 7.

The age of the children are specially mentioned so that the reader gains sympathy for the woman.

However, we’ve all been in public places where parents can’t control their children. They’ve ran their children all day and haven’t given them nap time. I imagine the 2 and 3 year old were screaming at the top of their lungs while holding open bags of cookies. My sympathy lies with the cashier.

But do you also notice how the language mimics Meghan Markle’s miscarriage article. “I sank to my knees, clutching my child, etc.” What is it with imagery of women sinking to their knees while trying to protect their children?

And why wasn’t the 7 year old helping?

r72 You missed my point. How can they achieve a target of x scans/hour if there aren't that many people checking out?

Crying in public over her shopping being checked out too quickly?

My issue with self-checkout is that one has to place the scanned items in a very small area (shelf) to the left of the scanner until the transaction has been paid. It's theoretically possible to load one reusable bag, though that can be awkward in my experience.

I like that the Aldi clerk whizzes through ending up fast with a full cart to bag myself later. If there's pressure at Aldi, it's putting the stuff on the conveyor belt, but that's not traumatic.

R84, obviously they are tracked electronically. When the scanning starts and ends, it's timed, and when they're not doing checking out, it's not timed. Not hard to figure out.

R83 Even better question is if she can’t handle getting groceries, then why doesn’t she have her husband/partner do the shopping instead or watch the kids while she’s shopping?

I think there’s this expectation of being treated special because “I’m a mom”

I will admit - the Aldi checkout process can feel very pressured. Get the items on the belt QUICKLY, get the items in the cart FAST, get your card out and insert it before the cashier's done. Take your fucking receipt and BE GONE to pack your groceries.

But I rather have that than the seriously slow checkouts at most grocery stores.

Was she too frazzled to write out her check?

The cashier puts the items in the cart here. I don't feel any pressure regarding the credit card transaction itself.

Do we think she's also tender to the touch?

[quote] [R83] Even better question is if she can’t handle getting groceries, then why doesn’t she have her husband/partner do the shopping instead or watch the kids while she’s shopping?

This happened in the UK. Her husband/partner is drunk off his ass or down at the pub on his way to being drunk off his ass. And if you had a wife that emotionally crumpled because the HP sauce fell off the conveyor belt, wouldn’t you be seeking a respite in alcohol?

Fun fact: Aldi doesn't sell HP sauce (they sell own-brand brown sauce) but they do sell Coca Cola and Marmite as part of their regular range because those are so popular.

What Aldi needs to start doing is selling hard alcohol. I know Trader Joe’s does this, but stores in my state (Iowa) don’t carry it.

Oh yeah, as an alkie, Aldi's hard alcohol is great value.

Can you imagine if Aldi started its own airline?

[quote]The cashiers at my local Aldi were crazy and rude, too, and went out of their way to block me from leaving the store

You have to PAY for those groceries, Little Miss Sticky Fingers.

[quote]"I knelt to the floor to pick up the food while simultaneously trying to watch my children", who are aged 2, 3 and 7.

Knelt? To pick a tin up off the floor? She sounds fat.

Apparently doing anything a grown adult does is too much for this fat cunt.

Worthy of a Laverne and Shirley episode.

That article was hilarious, OP! This is my favorite part:

[quote] "Shopping with three children can be challenging enough without suffering panic and anxiety at the checkout and leaving the store in tears.

[quote] "I was shocked how someone in customer care could disregard my struggle with no empathy or care whatsoever. It's totally unacceptable."

Miss Thing is a bit too fragile for this world.

[quote]Oh yeah, as an alkie, Aldi's hard alcohol is great value.

We only get beer and wine at supermarkets in Florida - your Aldi sells hard hooch? Winking Owl wine is quite drinkable for $3 a bottle.

I'd like to see an extreme coupon-er go through an Aldi checkout.

No Aldis in my area, so I don't know what it's like. The cashiers at my local supermarket don't bag stuff any more, so I just do self checkout.

There is a culture to some stores. There's a small health food chain in my area. The workers were amazingly bitchy, all of them. When Whole Foods opened, the service got better (at the health food store).

Aldi features a lot of secondary brand stuff, like Clancy snack food (which is pretty good). Their blueberry goat cheese is something to try. I'm a fan of their 88-cent squeeze jar honey mustard, huge $3 box of assorted crackers, and the lemon flavor Dunkers (pseudo biscotti). The merch is displayed in cartons rather than "shelved" as such, warehouse style. There are also non-food goods like kids' toys, TV watching blankets, etc. Some hate the layout, but I don't find it haphazard.

Their carts require a quarter deposit, refunded when replaced later. There's a bit of a tradition (here) of handing your used cart off to an arriving shopper Paying It Forward. The checkers do whiz through the items, which are placed back in a cart. There is a shelf along the wall beyond the checkers for self-bagging at one's leisure.

Publix and Trader Joe provide bagging, folks at the latter are genius at fitting in items to maximum efficiency.

r106 Aldi doesn't accept coupons.

[quote]Aldi features a lot of secondary brand stuff, like Clancy snack food

Those aren't "secondary" brands--they're Aldi store (private label) brands.

[quote]We only get beer and wine at supermarkets in Florida - your Aldi sells hard hooch?

Supermarkets in CA sell alcohol, but Aldi stores in CA only have beer and wine. I assume it's because the cost of a full liquor license is prohibitive.

Trader Joe in WA sold actual hooch - their store brand bourbon was a great deal.

Trader Joe's in CA sell liquor.

r109. Most times that are the same that the original brand. Just in a different packaging. If you got time, you can check the Barcode. They are identical with the brand ones.

R105 They sell vodka, rum, gin, whisky, liqueurs, etc. Often copies of popular brands and either just as good or not far off; similar to their food products. You can see what they sell at the link -

r113 Not true at all.

[quote] I don't know how she will survive this.

She will survive it because she is incredibly BRAVE, she is reclaiming her bagging narrative, and being a WOMAN is her SUPERPOWER.

R113 Has never had the misfortune of eating Aldi "Cheez-Its."

Clancy's Cheetos are pretty good - crunchy rather than soft.

[quote]What Aldi needs to start doing is selling hard alcohol.

R96 Aldi stores in the Lake Michigan area sell hard liquor.

*White woman goes outside, feels oppressed, goes to the media to have their tears printed

Why do they do this?

As someone above posted, they have great chocolate. And their cheese selection is excellent.

r117. Not all the brands, but a lot of pizza, milk products f.e.

I am German, so may be thinks are different in UK and US.

My mom managed to shop with me and my two siblings when we were all under 7. Maybe it’s because we weren’t raised by someone too delicate for grocery shopping so we didn’t act like animal?

Beth Jarrett would have never broken down in public. Neither would Kate Lawrence. Come to think of it, neither would Hyacinth Bucket, Jean Pargetter-Hardcastle or Mrs. Slocombe. Lady Edith might have.

A friend gave me Choceur chocolate bars (he bought them while on vacation). Delicious. I had never tried them before. He said he got them from Aldi. I believe they're an Aldi product. I have no Aldi stores in my area. For those who have access to Aldi: try Choceur chocolate bars.

[quote]Beth Jarrett would have never broken down in public.

Beth Jarrett never would have been at Aldi.

My favorite contribution in the Comments section:

[quote] I see the indomitable Blitz resiliance of Brits has now become extinct, Traumatised over the checkout speed, seriously you could not make it up. What next " Lives ruined after family from Middlesbrough caught in rain shower" or " Woman left traumatised after ten minute wait for the Chippy to open" or " Family catastrophe as bus was 6 minutes late".

German efficiency, bitch!

I don’t get what her problem was. At Aldi they have an empty cart at the end where the cashier puts your scanned groceries. You then wheel the cart to a large counter area where you can take as long as you want to bag your own.

Lidl is 1000 times worse and stresses me out since they have a bagging area directly after the checkout and ar arm that toggles to divide it into two, so only two people at a time can be bagging their items. The thingy that you pay by card with is on another arm that swings between the two bagging spaces. It’s really awkward and if both of the two are being used the checkout queue backs up. If I’m buying a lot of stuff I have to work fast to clear the area. There isn’t a separate bagging counter.

[quote]How can they achieve a target of x scans/hour if there aren't that many people checking out?

You have no idea how averages work?

[quote] you can check the Barcode. They are identical with the brand ones.

No two different items have the same barcode, you muppet.

My mother used to take me and my sister grocery shopping when we were kids, including when she was pregnant. The rules were very clear, behave yourself and you get a treat, act up, make mess, or otherwise misbehave and you will get a spanking. Usually, I would get a can of mushrooms for my treat.

I got spanked once in the grocery store. It didn't really hurt, but everyone was staring, and it was humiliating. I behaved after that.

Articles like this are just people wanting to take part in victim culture. Imagine if she had real problems, the shaking and crying would be detectable with a seismograph.

I shop at Market Basket (New England chain). They bag your groceries. And they even dress nice. The boys wear ties. The prices are low. The checkout lines usually aren't long. They don't have self-checkout. The customer service is just ok, nothing special, but at least you get it. Never been to Aldi's but it sounds lousy. They got us used to pumping our own gas (what did that accomplish, for us? Just meant gas stations had to employ fewer people). Now they want us to check out and bag our own groceries.

r133 As has been pointed out, Aldi (in the US anyway) does not have self-checkout.

This woman should never, ever travel to Europe...she would cry and shake every second. 🙄

R134 I don't recall saying it did.

[quote] They got us used to pumping our own gas

Not in New Jersey they didn’t.

[quote] Now they want us to check out and bag our own groceries.

I prefer it this way. I got tired of cashiers gabbing with me or their fellow cashiers like it’s Saturday at “Sadie’s Curl Up & Dye.” I don’t go to the grocery store for social interaction. I just want to get in and get out as quickly as possible.

[quote] This woman should never, ever travel to Europe...she would cry and shake every second.

This incident happened in England.

One of the local Publix does not have self-checkout; the staff are incredibly nice both there and throughout the store. Staff at Aldi are fine, helpful with questions; yes, the checkers whiz through the items, but are far from downtrodden drones. The store complements one's regular place for specific items. There are You Tube videos of folks doing Aldi shopping so you'd get the idea of what a store looks like.

[quote]I prefer it this way. I got tired of cashiers gabbing with me or their fellow cashiers like it’s Saturday at “Sadie’s Curl Up & Dye.” I don’t go to the grocery store for social interaction. I just want to get in and get out as quickly as possible.

They don't really do a lot of gabbing where I shop. I don't think it's encouraged. But I'm not an old grouch and I don't mind a friendly atmosphere where people ask how you're doing and you ask them.

[quote]Not in New Jersey they didn’t.

And most of the people in the US don't live in New Jersey.

R138 - which hardly counts as Europe. Nobody in any Western, Central or Eastern European market waits for you to bag your shit. Ever. Not even in fancy markets. You're on your own.

If I had to rank my preferences in checkout options from least favorite to favorite:

Least Favorite - Traditional cashiers. They typically only have one express checkout lane and they almost always put the absolute slowest employee in the store on it. Plus the customers always have more in their carts than what the maximum limits are listed as. More often than not, the customer wants to take their good old sweet time in these lanes, completely defeating the purpose of express checkout.

Somewhat Better: Self scan checkouts, but even then, people can still take their good old sweet time on these and/or get easily confused when using them, so they have to keep calling over employees to fix the issues.

Best So Far: Aldi's cashiers. I LOVE that they have a sense of urgency when checking you out, are fast, and don't "chit chat" and make small talk with all the customers.

Britain may be geographically in Europe, but culturally... not so much.

R142 here, I forgot to add, the self checkouts at the Target stores near me are useless if you intend to pay by cash. They require you to call an employee over to your machine to manually open a register beneath it and finish taking your money and making change for you.

Assuming there are human employees "monitoring" the Target self-checkout area, I'd signal one before I started that I intend to pay cash (later).

[quote]Target stores near me are useless if you intend to pay by cash. They require you to call an employee over to your machine to manually open a register beneath it and finish taking your money and making change for you.

CVS tried this for a hot minute and quickly abandoned that approach.

I think all the Targets in NYC now have cash machines. At one point, de Blasio was going to make a law that all businesses had to accept cash, but he got busy with painting slurs in front of Trump Towers and forgot about it.

R143, Britain is not geographically in Europe -- it's an island, separate from the European continent physically and otherwise. It's no longer even politically in Europe, which was only ever temporary anyhow (less than 50 years).

[quote]it's an island, separate from the European continent

No kidding! The things you learn on DL.

Does "mum" signify she's a chav?

[quote] It's no longer even politically in Europe, which was only ever temporary anyhow (less than 50 years).

But Ireland is.

R149 Now I’m imagining a Vicky Pollard type and then she gets mad and starts throwing the items from the cart faster than the clerk puts them in.

Aldi checkout to become an Olympic event

Does that mean that Nantucket isn't in North America, R147, since it's an island?

R153, it's not physically or geographically part of NA, but is politically part of Mass., which is physically and geographically part of NA. Like Hawaii, which isn't physically or geographically part of any continent, but is politically part of the USA (only since 1959), which is physically and geographically part of NA.

Aldi sounds like some magical food place. By the way, does she have a GoFundMe I could contribute to?

FFS, by that reasoning, Iceland isn't in Europe either. You sound so fucking stupid.

R156, Iceland isn't physically or geographically in Europe but it is politically part of Europe. Separate concepts, not hard to understand.

Iceland is in the UK. I’ve never shopped there.

[quote] but he got busy with painting slurs in front of Trump Towers

Black Lives Matter is a slur to you?

[quote] Black Lives Matter is a slur to you?

When you are painting it on a public street in front of a rich person’s house, especially when that rich person is not in residence, and doing it only because you’re not as rich as that person, then it cheapens the slogan and it becomes a slur rather than effective means of communicating an idea. It was done as a publicity stunt, not to affect change in any way.

That's German-style shopping for you (HATE IT). At least in the States, the Aldi cashiers throw it in the cart for you to bag at the counter at the front. Surprised they don't also do that in the UK.

Actually, if it were a thoroughly German experience, the customers behind her would be judging her somewhat openly for her failure as a grocery store customer.

The folks at Trader Joe see bagging as a sort of "live Tetris game" challenge.

[quote]The folks at Trader Joe see bagging as a sort of "live Tetris game" challenge.

They didn’t during Covid. They took the Aldi’s approach. They threw your groceries at you and expected you to pack them outside.

Stupid assholes should know that you don’t bag your shit at the register at Aldi. There’s a designated area for bagging your groceries. But American Frauen can’t even do that without having to steal some of their children’s Xanax prescription to get though the day.

Sorry, that was British Frauen in this case. All the same.

My Trader Joes never stopped bagging for customers during Covid. The only difference was everyone wearing a mask, and a limit on how many people in the store at one time.

This is what you do: you take a trolley (a trolley, not a basket) and get your stuff. Then, when going through the checkout, you put the checked out items back into the trolley. You pay for your stuff. Then you move away from the checkout area and pack the items into your bag(s).

You can take as much time and be as fussy as you want in this phase. If you try to pack everything carefully and nicely and just so into your bags while in a checkout line - like I see so many inconsiderate cunts do - I am going to stab you.

R157, how the fuck are you defining politically part of Europe? You realise that Iceland isn't a member of the EU either? And it's an island separate from the continent of Europe too.

You really, really are coming across as extremely stupid.

[quote]Then, when going through the checkout, you put the checked out items back into the trolley.

THEY put your checked out items back in the cart, not you (at least in the US.)

Thank you, God, for D'Agastino and the Amish Market.

Indeed, R163, but have been back to packing at checkout for a while now. R164 has issues. I have just returned from Aldi, opting for no cart/trolley/buggy/whatever, instead using my large reusable bag to carry my purchases around the store. Bring waaaaay off-season here there was one cashier, with no customers as I approached. All very civilized. The huge assorted cracker (savory biscuit) box @ $2.95, and honey mustard @ $.88/bottle are two staples I always make a point to get there. The four bottles of Winky wine weighed things down enough that I didn't tarry.

R168 seems oddly exercised about Iceland. In answer to his rudely phrased question: Iceland is a member of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), along with Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. Three of those countries (Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway) plus the EU have formed the European Economic Area (EEA). The three members of EFTA that are also members of EEA thus enjoy some benefits of EU membership without having to join the EU -- the EEA members are united "into an Internal Market governed by the same basic rules. These rules aim to enable goods, services, capital, and persons to move freely about the EEA in an open and competitive environment, a concept referred to as the four freedoms." I don't know whether Iceland has Aldi stores.

We all know what really happened because we've seen it plenty of times while shopping. I'll use UK language since it happened there. She is a fat benefit scrounging slag wearing a Cheeto stained tracksuit buying piles of junk food. Rather than bagging up her groceries as a huge line formed behind her, she was fussing around with her feral brats, each of whom has a different father.

She saw an opportunity for a compo claim and made up this bullshit story of hardship and suffering. Too bad it wasn't picked up by the Daily Mail because then we would have been treated to several po-faced pictures of her and said feral brats standing in front of their house on a housing estate that looks just like Onslow and Daisy's from Keeping Up Appearances!

R173, what's a "compo claim"? Surely not an award of damages after a lawsuit claiming emotional distress caused by Aldi? Maybe Aldi letting her have all the groceries for free?

If the heifer can't keep up the pace she should shop at stores where old people shop.