Innocent my left foot!!

amosworks

Ahhh you guys, I've got to share this story with you I was going to post it the day before yesterday but I never got around to it.

On Monday I nipped down to Tesco to grab some bits and bobs, it was only a quick in-and-out job. As I was whizzing down the pet food aisle to grab some cat biscuits, there was a lady somewhat the age of my elderly grandmother struggling to get some biscuits for her cat.

She said "excuse me young man, would you be so kind as to help me? I'm having trouble understanding the metric". I was like "oh sure lady that's not a problem" and so I went about explaining that there were a thousand grams in a kilogram and which were the best value cat biscuit she could buy based on the £/Kg and so forth. I was trying to be a good MSE'er and pass on the best cost saving advice to the old dear. She was quite appreciative of my help and whilst I was helping her choose the biscuits she wanted she started telling me about her 3 legged cat that she adopted. I was like "here we go again, why do the old ladies always stop me and talk about their cats :rolleyes:".

Although I only wanted to quickly nip in and out of the store, she seemed like a nice lady and I didn't want to be rude, so I engaged in a little conversation about her three legged cat. As we were talking, I noted that although she was quite old, she had made an effort to dress rather smartly in some high quality vintage clothing and from eyeing up the things she had in her trolley I drew a sterotype impression that she'd just an old fashioned gran who just picked up her pension money.

She seemed as though she was a little eager to talk to me about all sorts of things actually. I mean I know that old folks sometimes don't get the chance to talk to many people and will quite happily chat to anybody who's happy to strike up a conversation with them, but after 10 minutes of standing in the pet food aisle I was scratching to get my groceries and get home. If I'd left there and then, however, that would have been a huge mistake!

I was trying to find a way of telling her I really needed to make a move but she was complaining about the state of the country and "how the youth of today [on the checkout] don't know anything about numbers" and that they just push buttons and it tells them how much to take and give. She said she always kept a mental note of everything she bought and the exact prices and would tot it up in line at the till. I thought at her age that was quite impressive, and doing my second good MSE'er style deed, I proceeded to tell her that if she was good at numbers like that then Tesco do this thing called R&R she could benefit from.

Now I must admit at this point, when it comes to normal shoppers, I do feel smug (and quite rightly so IMHO!) that I know a lot more about shopping than they do. I suppose it's almost arrogance in a way like I shop smart, much smarter than you! I think it's a side effect of reading his Lordship's book :money:

So I started taking great delight in telling this elderly lady about how R&R works but to my shock, I was stopped dead in my tracks. She said that because she's so good with numbers and has time on her hands she's a frequent R&R'er, and just last week she got a book, a bottle of sauce, some pastries and 2 whole chickens for free! I was like !!

I said that all I seemed to get from CS was arguments but then it clicked that how on earth could any CS staff possibly argue with such a lovely frail old innocent woman. Innocent my left foot!! Hehe

Wondering if she frequented the MSE boards I asked her is she had Internet access but she said that was for the younger generation and not for her. I said that she should definely get online and stuff. I must admit too that I thought it would be good for her in other ways too so she could talk to more people and stuff, but she was quite insistant that she wasn't interested. I was like fair enough then lady.

Although a couple of minutes ago I was itching to leave, I wanted to find out more about this rather enigmatic lady. She couldn't understand metric yet was old-hat at the R&R system. She had a 3 legged cat but wore vintage clothing. She was buying value bread but was extremely good with mental arithmetic. Something just didn't add up and it caught my curiosity.

So we chatted some more and she told me her husband had passed away not too long ago and she was, as I suspected, a bit lonely at the moment but she was making the most of her life. She said that I was lucky to be young and capable [at not spending/wasting money]. I think she must have just thought that she could talk to me a lot because I asked her if she'd always gone through life getting the best value on things and using loop holes to her advantage and of course, my enigma was solved. She was old-money. A pure-bread natural MSE'er and OS'er. I joke not when I tell you that she could probably give Martin a good run for his money :D

I told her about some of my money problems and that I was looking to start saving soon and for the next few minutes I got some good advice about tax efficient savings straight from the horses mouth in the pet food aisle :rolleyes: That's why leaving earlier would have been a huge mistake as she was as helpful to me about telling me about saving money as I was helping her with cat biscuits.

Make no doubt about it, although she just got her pension - this old dear was MINTED! A true inspiration from someone who's practiced all her life what I'm just learning to do. That is definitely one of the most random things that's ever happened to me in Tesco :rotfl:

She said she didn't want to keep me, thanked me for helping her again and then patted my hand. She said how warm I was as she was slowly shuffling off with her trolley complaining about her cold hands and bad circulation

I really hope she reconsiders about getting online! What a lady!

Sorry if that was too long but I just had to share that with y'all, it really tickled me Oh, old folks

D&DD

Aw Amos you sweetie what a lovely story!! :T Thats brightened my day reading that thanks so much for sharing it

Locana

My Grandma is like that!! She is 84 and looks like yoda, but she will know every deal going in the shops and knows how to blag for England. She gets so much free stuff that she actually sells it to my mum for a pound (usually dishwasher tablets, she doesn't even have a dishwasher!!). Last week she took my mum to Savacentre, and she amanged to get my mum to buy her two skirts for £34!! I tell you, Grandma is minted!! We went for a meal last week and she winked at the waiter and got a free pudding. I knew I should have listened when she was rambling about the war and rations!

lynzpower

Lovely story there Amos aww, you gotta love the old folks.

Did she use a clubcard, or is that too new fangled?

loopyloulou_3

ah that is excellent!

i think i need to listen to my gradparents more!

Lewby

I think that is so cool! I must have one of those 'come and talk to me' faces too. Because I am tall, lots of old people come up to me and ask me to reach something for them and then proceed to chat to me for 20 minutes about their cat, dog, the weather etc etc.

I actually enjoy talking to them and as I don't have grandparents who live near by I've thought about adopting an elderly person. They are often a mine of information and most of them will be great MSE's as that's how they were brought up .... the war years and all that.

Thanks for that Amos ... really made me smile!

Lewby xx

jesster_2

scuse me for being thick - how do you work this R&R thing? That's refund and replace, right?

lynzpower

Basically, if you get charged more for an item than whats printed on the packet/ on shelf edge label/ on big offer on massive boards etc, or a bogof doesnt come off etc, take your reciept to the CS desk & they give you the money back & you get the product for free. Massive discussion on this in Shop & dont drop

spaghetti_monster

What a nice story! Part of my light-bulb experience is realising that my mum and gran have always been MSErs!

amosworks

Locana wrote:

...She is 84 and looks like yoda ... usually dishwasher tablets, she doesn't even have a dishwasher!!) ... she winked at the waiter and got a free pudding

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

lynzpower wrote:

Did she use a clubcard, or is that too new fangled?

Hah I don't know I left the store just as she was at the checkout (and probably about to get buy another R&R) :rotfl: :rotfl:

loopyloulou wrote:

i think i need to listen to my gradparents more!

Mmm me too! I do love my grandma but I don't think she knows she can talk to me about in depth money stuff now. Meh it wasn't toooo long ago she used to give me fudge bars lol I suppose I'll always be a kid in her eyes

Lewby wrote:

...I must have one of those 'come and talk to me' faces too ... then proceed to chat to me for 20 minutes about their cat, dog, the weather ... I've thought about adopting an elderly person

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

jesster wrote:

scuse me for being thick - how do you work this R&R thing? That's refund and replace, right?

It's called Refund & Retain (you get refunded the money and retain the product). As Lynzpower says, there's a discussion on it in Shop but don't drop here: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=168881
However that thread is just for discussing it, to see the latest list of mispriced products look here: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=133632 Good luck!

alex_w wrote:

Part of my light-bulb experience is realising that my mum and gran have always been MSErs!

I admit, in my childhood I did used to wonder why my gransparents lead such a frugal life. I knew they were happy but it seemed strange how they could be happy without loads of "stuff".


Thanks for all your kind comments people I suspect there will be a wave of people phoning up their old folks for a catch up chat tonight :cool:

**purpleprincess**

lynzpower wrote:

Basically, if you get charged more for an item than whats printed on the packet/ on shelf edge label/ on big offer on massive boards etc, or a bogof doesnt come off etc, take your reciept to the CS desk & they give you the money back & you get the product for free. Massive discussion on this in Shop & dont drop

So the key is to keep your eyes peeled when shopping in Tesco.