Why do adults have to eat around supermarkets?

RobertoMoir

Two logical and coherent reasons for my dislike, which I know that not everyone is guilty of:

1. Inconsiderate - many of the people I've seen eating while going around the store are paying more attention to their meal than where they're driving their trolley or walking. It hurts like hell to have a trolley driven hard into the backs of your heels.

That has a potential for danger to them and others too if taken to an extreme, for example running their trolley into an end display full of glass bottles, though lets not get over-excited about that one. I have seen this happen though, with someone fiddling with their phone - the issue here is not paying attention rather than what they are doing instead of paying attention.

2. Hygiene - people putting half-eaten produce back on shelves (seen this) or manhandling pick 'n' mix or open fruit and veg while eating (seen both these too).

... And Cybergibbons, your comment that the risk of slipping on dropped food isn't an issue because there are other more likely risks in the supermarket might be valid to a point but it's still rather disingenuous to claim that excuses making the problem worse.

judderman62

and the point that it isn't actually yours UNTIL you pay for it is also logical, coherent and valid. Yes we all know you intend to pay for it when you get to the till ... BUT you haven't YET - so it does not belong to you.

Mrs_justjohn

The thing that gets me about this thread is the posters that are saying it is perfectly ok to eat a sandwich, grapes, biscuits...etc before paying and whilst shopping do not seem to be able to say where the line is drawn.

If sandwiches, biscuits etc are ok...then why is a roast chicken not? Or why is it not okay to buy bread, butter, & ham and make your own sandwich in the aisle. If you intend to pay for the items then surely both of these scenarios would be ok...but many people advocating the eating of sandwiches seem to think that these suggetsions are 'stupid' - so where is the line drawn/ and why is it drawn there?

cybergibbons

RobertoMoir wrote: »

1. Inconsiderate - many of the people I've seen eating while going around the store are paying more attention to their meal than where they're driving their trolley or walking. It hurts like hell to have a trolley driven hard into the backs of your heels.

That's not really a problem with eating is it - it's a problem with people who aren't capable of eating/using a phone/doing anything whilst pushing a trolley.

RobertoMoir wrote: »

2. Hygiene - people putting half-eaten produce back on shelves (seen this) or manhandling pick 'n' mix or open fruit and veg while eating (seen both these too).

That's stealing the food though, which is an entirely different issue.

RobertoMoir wrote: »

... And Cybergibbons, your comment that the risk of slipping on dropped food isn't an issue because there are other more likely risks in the supermarket might be valid to a point but it's still rather disingenuous to claim that excuses making the problem worse.

In life, you aren't protected against all risks, just those deemed likely enough to happen and with serious enough consequences. I honestly can never see the risk of dropped pieces of food being significant enough to cause a problem compared to the hundreds of other more common and more dangerous hazards in a supermarket.

cybergibbons

judderman62 wrote: »

and the point that it isn't actually yours UNTIL you pay for it is also logical, coherent and valid. Yes we all know you intend to pay for it when you get to the till ... BUT you haven't YET - so it does not belong to you.

I presume you limit your restaurant experiences to McDonald's and kebab shops then, you wouldn't want to eat something before paying for it.

King_Nothing

cybergibbons wrote: »

I presume you limit your restaurant experiences to McDonald's and kebab shops then, you wouldn't want to eat something before paying for it.

Comparing the two buisness models of restaurants and supermarkets, is pretty stupid to be fair. There are multiple different types of businesses; where goods or services are either paid for beforehand, and ones where payment is made afterwards, to imply that they're one and the same, simply isn't true.

cybergibbons

Mrs_justjohn wrote: »

If sandwiches, biscuits etc are ok...then why is a roast chicken not? Or why is it not okay to buy bread, butter, & ham and make your own sandwich in the aisle. If you intend to pay for the items then surely both of these scenarios would be ok...but many people advocating the eating of sandwiches seem to think that these suggetsions are 'stupid' - so where is the line drawn/ and why is it drawn there?

So, the sandwich, an item of food which is pretty much designed to be eaten on-the-go, requires no preparation, and is commonly eaten on the street, in parks, offices, and shopping centres.

Making your own sandwich requires an area for preparation, a knife, and would leave you with a load of extra bread, extra ham, and extra butter. It's not exactly practical to do in the middle of a supermarket.

They pitch sandwiches as ready-to-go food, and that is what people buy them for. They buy them to eat due to an instantaneous desire. They wouldn't sell if people wanted to make their own sandwiches.

The same way that people buy small packs of prepared fruit. I'm happy eating that at my desk as a snack, but I wouldn't buy a pineapple and a mango, then peel, chop and prepare them at my desk. It's just not practical.

A lot of people on the thread seem to think that it would be OK to buy the food, leave the supermarket and eat it (though mind not to eat it in the car park, as it's still their premises and they'd need to pay VAT and have a food premises license, according to some).

Would those same people buy the ham, bread, butter and go and sit outside the supermarket, make a sandwich, go back and do their shopping? No, they wouldn't.

exel1966

Maybe the OP and all those others who have concerns over people eating should really try and get out more rather than being concerned about such trivial matters!

Get a life, please !

cybergibbons

King_Nothing wrote: »

Comparing the two buisness models of restaurants and supermarkets, is pretty stupid to be fair. There are multiple different types of businesses; where goods or services are either paid for beforehand, and ones where payment is made afterwards, to imply that they're one and the same, simply isn't true.

Interesting jump in logic there, where the word "compare" suddenly becomes "one and the same".

It's nothing to do with the business models. The supermarkets seem to have absolutely no issue with you eating a sandwich on the premises, otherwise they would stop you from doing it as well as complain when you went through the checkout.

It's got everything to do with the people who seem to think that it is theft to eat a sandwich in a supermarket. This is a construct in their own mind. They have a problem with someone eating food before paying for it.

So surely their heads will explode if they go into a restaurant?

go_cat

exel1966 wrote: »

Maybe the OP and all those others who have concerns over people eating should really try and get out more rather than being concerned about such trivial matters!

Get a life, please !

How rude!!!

I have " a life " thank you, but also have the ability as a grown adult to manage not to eat whilst I am shopping!