Apparently I'm a 'vulture'!

morg_monster

If it will make you feel better you should complain and I do think it was not on at all for the staff member to agree with the person knowing you were in earshot.

You sound like you were being perfectly fair. and the following story is not a reflection on you! Just shows why the staff can get annoyed with the worst offenders, which then unfortunately trickles down to everyone picking up a reduced item:
In our tescos when the reductions start being made, there are often a few people congregating there or passing by, but there is one woman who WILL stand right next to the staff and literally grab the goods off the shelf as soon as they are put down. No-one gets a chance, doesn't matter what the product is, I don't think she even notices what she's buying, they just all go in her trolley. And she does almost snarl at you if you try to get near her!

I do find that ridiculously unfair and have noticed that the staff do try to stop it, or reduce at different times, but what can they do? It is a shame when all I want is one ready meal to cook for my tea cos I've had to work late and I'm knackered, and she's putting everything from half-rotten fruit to meat and ready meals for 4 into her trolley. I just don't believe she eats it all!
I'm quite a chilled person and let things wash over me but i did watch one old man nearly have a coronary over it til his wife came and gently led him away spluttering and swearing under his breath!

ZootHornRollo

we have a couple who run a restarant who fill their trolley from the reduction section - you can imagine what they are serving up - and it aint a cheap eaterie niether!!!

ZootHornRollo

morg_monster wrote: »

If it will make you feel better you should complain

so we should all start comlaining about something that was not really the assistants fault - after all, it was another customer who made the offending comment - just so we can feel better?! despite there not being a real complaint there.

wyebird

I saw two grown men having a tug of war over a reduced (large)fish!
I have embarrassed myself by rooting through the "reduced trolley" only to find it was someone else's shopping

scat

I agree with Zoot. Half the problem is people just stand there salivating in expectation!!! Why does everyone feel the need to just lurk and then do the frenzied grabbing thing.

I happened to catch the 'discount' girl in Somerfield yesterday. I picked through the stuff that was already on the shelf and then asked her if there were any more bargains. She was quite happy with me being up front about it rather than loitering by her trolley without even acknowledging her. In fact she actually took the stuff I had already picked up and marked it down even further!

TGM

Hamleteer wrote: »

Where do you find these amazing reductions. Where I go the only reductions seem to be at the most 20% off the original price. I find the salads limp and the bread ought to be reclassified as building material before they would even contemplate reducing it.

I must be going to the wrong places at the wrong time I guess...

Some supermarkets, out of pure routine, reduce a lot of their items at roughly the same time each week. Its a case sometimes of finding out when.

Theres no harm in asking SA in a polite way :beer:

ie One near me, 10.00am Saturday, our family can vulture a great Saturday night tea, a fraction of the price!

sco0ter

This is still unbelievable....

Seems like everybody wants the poor assistant to get into trouble for nothing..

What did she do thats so bad..

As I said previous. She agreed with a customer and looked at the OP. The OP took this as a personal attack.

If you were standing outside the shop and a customer said "Look at all these cars double parked they should tow them" and the assistant said "I know what you mean" and then looked at another shopper... would that be a personal attack as well???. Maybe if you complain they will give all thier staff blinkers so they can only look straight ahead to avoid any confusion and causing more distress to customers.

If the woman had said her comment to the shop assistant and she ignored her then no doubt the other woman would be away complaining about her as well.. A no win situation.

I have worked with the public before and now even though I am away from that I still get asked questions by them... The amount of people that complain about you because you tell them you dont know and refer them to someone else is unbelievable.

So come on people. If the assistant had made the comment or pointed or something then maybe you would have grounds but just a sideways glance.

I would also be wary of what the OP has said anyway as they seems to think that she is a great reader of body language and tone as well as writing and even accused me of being unfriendly because I didnt agree with everything she said. If she took my first post as a personal attack then the assistant had no chance no matter what she did

The_Old_Bag

Some days I get great reductions, then I can go weeks and get nothing. It is just pot luck.
When I actually go deliberately looking for say meat or bread, you can bet your bottom dollar there is nothing to be had.
I have had fantastic reductions at ALL my local stores - ASDA, Tesco, Sainsburys, Somerfield, Waitrose and Morrisons. It is all a matter of being in the right place at the right time.
If someone was clearing 'hogging' the shelves where the reductions were being done and I felt really miffed - esp when I see the oaps look longingly, but being unable to get near, I have said in a nice clear voice
"Eh, excuse me, could I just ....?" Then once I have managed to squeeze in the gap I turn to the other customers and say "there are some sandwiches/puddings/joints etc here, does anyone want one ?" Then either start passing things back, or ease a big enough space for others to get a look in.
I'm no saint, I just think of my elderly relatives, and hope they are managing to get similar help where they are. By the time I'm an oap ( not that long now!) I'm going to invest in one of those trolleys, you know the one with the spike on the bottom......I may just add a few more spikes and turn it into a regular Vulture Chariot;)

On the issue of staff - I have always advocated best manners and a cheerful smile. The sas are my financial best friends. I know who I will go to on the tills who will accept all my coupons, and I know who to advoid. I know the staff who regularly do the reductions by sight, and always smile whenever I see them. Forward planning or just good upbringing. Call it what you want.
Good manners cost nothing, and can save you a fortune !!:D

By the way, I personnally find it disgusting when I see staff filling huge bin bags with bread etc to be binned. I have heard staff say they are not allowed to send the stuff to shelters/soup kitchen etc 'cos of all the H&S rules, and fear of legal action if someone becomes ill with eating out of date items.
Maybe someone who works at the supermarkets and knows anything about this would care to comment.
I cannot abide waste of any type - Any old bread goes to the ducks - and even then I hand out bread to other children who have come "unprepared". It makes their day to be able to feed the wildlife

katskorner

I ALWAYS look for reductions when I go into a supermarket and plan my route round the five reduction areas in my local. I have to save money and if you get the timing right then you can do really well out of it. There are no needs for comments to be made and the customer who did was probably jealous. Still, brush it off and think of the savings you made. If it had been the staff saying it then there would be cause for complaint.

ceridwen

My own personal decision is not to watch out specially for "reduction times" - but to expect that other people will only take the 1 or 2 reduced items they need for the next 1 or 2 days and leave some there for other people to be able to take their 1 or 2 items they need for the next 1 or 2 days. Then we all get a fair turn at the reductions.

Then I am quite clear that no-one can criticise me - as I have been fair.