Very British Problems

[bickster]

3 hours ago, Mic09 said:

Putting the dividers between shopping in shops.

You unpack your shopping, no one else is around, and a lady comes to put down her yoghurt at the very end of the conveyer belt. 

There is a good 15 inches between your shopping and the lady's yoghurt, and any human being with an IQ above 45 knows where one lot ends and another starts,  however unless she grabs that little plastic divider she will likely explode. She will stretch all the way above your shopping, just to get the little plastic thing. 

In the above described circumstances, I refuse to pass one over. 

Sure, they are useful when it's packed. But 90% of the time they are not, yet a British person who doesn't put a clear dividing line between two shops will likely go into some sort of a panic attack. 

There’s something far more annoying in checkout ettiquette. The checkout person not scanning the goods in the order you put them on the belt. Leaving stuff at the front to stop the belt then reaching over to grab the stuff behind.

They went in the belt in a logical order for packing at the other end so you reaching over the bottles and bulky stuff that goes at the bottom of bags to get the lighter stuff behind is just going to cause me to stop packing you dimwit

[mjmooney]

49 minutes ago, bickster said:

There’s something far more annoying in checkout ettiquette. The checkout person not scanning the goods in the order you put them on the belt. Leaving stuff at the front to stop the belt then reaching over to grab the stuff behind.

They went in the belt in a logical order for packing at the other end so you reaching over the bottles and bulky stuff that goes at the bottom of bags to get the lighter stuff behind is just going to cause me to stop packing you dimwit

100% agree. 

However, all the above is merely one of the Things That Piss You Off. 

The Very British Problem is that we never say anything to them about it. 

[Mark Albrighton]

Just about to put the shopping on the belt. See someone join the queue behind me with just one item.

”If that’s all you’ve got, want to go ahead of me?”

”If you don’t mind, cheers.”

”No worries.”

Then what happens is their place is taken by another shopper carrying one item so I’m bound by the laws of social niceness to let them also go ahead.

Or the new shopper has significantly fewer items than me but not few enough to warrant me letting them pass. And then there’s the telepathic conversation of

”Ah go on mate, you let that one jump ahead.”

“Nah, no chance mate, you’re taking the piss with that amount.”

[Davkaus]

If we're doing checkout moans, waiting in a very long queue with a single checkout worker, and them being forced to continue with their irritating script of asking if people have their shitty loyalty card, if not trying to push a new one, do you want to let us write off some taxes by donating to charity on our behalf, do you have an email address for the receipt, on and on it goes.

I'll give you items you tell me the price, I'll tap the card. Maybe toss a "good afternoon" in if you like. We'll all be out of here a lot quicker. Appreciate it's not their fault and it's some gimp from their head office pushing this shit, but nothing makes me less likely to ever go back than that bollocks.

 

Edited December 10, 2023 by Davkaus

[Follyfoot]

16 minutes ago, Davkaus said:

If we're doing checkout moans, waiting in a very long queue with a single checkout worker, and them being forced to continue with their irritating script of asking if people have their shitty loyalty card, if not trying to push a new one, do you want to let us write off some taxes by donating to charity on our behalf, do you have an email address for the receipt, on and on it goes.

I'll give you items you tell me the price, I'll tap the card. Maybe toss a "good afternoon" in if you like. We'll all be out of here a lot quicker. Appreciate it's not their fault and it's some gimp from their head office pushing this shit, but nothing makes me less likely to ever go back than that bollocks.

 

Also a moan at the checkout is when the lady at the til says  ‘see you later’ and then seem shocked when you turn up at midnight at their door/.lurking in their garden. 

Edited December 10, 2023 by Follyfoot

[chrisp65]

30 minutes ago, Davkaus said:

If we're doing checkout moans, waiting in a very long queue with a single checkout worker, and them being forced to continue with their irritating script of asking if people have their shitty loyalty card, if not trying to push a new one, do you want to let us write off some taxes by donating to charity on our behalf, do you have an email address for the receipt, on and on it goes.

I'll give you items you tell me the price, I'll tap the card. Maybe toss a "good afternoon" in if you like. We'll all be out of here a lot quicker. Appreciate it's not their fault and it's some gimp from their head office pushing this shit, but nothing makes me less likely to ever go back than that bollocks.

 

My wife is shocked and embarrassed every time I’m asked in a shop for my email address and I just say no.

Why the **** should I share my email address with a shop? I’ll survive perfectly well without a digital receipt for my daps thanks.

[bickster]

1 hour ago, chrisp65 said:

My wife is shocked and embarrassed every time I’m asked in a shop for my email address and I just say no.

Why the **** should I share my email address with a shop? I’ll survive perfectly well without a digital receipt for my daps thanks.

Another very British problem is colloquialisms for everyday objects that other might not be familiar with and think you've done a Dem telling us about your recent trip to Dai's Plumbing Emporium  

Not me obviously as I'm multilingual

[blandy]

2 hours ago, Davkaus said:

do you want to let us write off some taxes by donating to charity on our behalf

Booths have done this. Every card/contactless payment comes up now with a thing you have to select yes/no for, as to whether you want to donate 25p to some (unstated) charity.

[limpid]

How does one Brit tell another Brit that they must be mugs to still use a checkout without them getting defensive over their aversion to change?

[OutByEaster?]

11 hours ago, limpid said:

How does one Brit tell another Brit that they must be mugs to still use a checkout without them getting defensive over their aversion to change?

Self checkout is forced labour!

I always 'forget' to put one item through in order to address the balance.

 

[chrisp65]

Self checkout was a way of reducing staffing costs by offering the consumer a quicker exit from the shop without the queue.

The staffing has successfully been reduced.

Now we queue for the self checkout.

Ever been had?

 

 

[JoshVilla]

23 hours ago, Mic09 said:

Putting the dividers between shopping in shops.

You unpack your shopping, no one else is around, and a lady comes to put down her yoghurt at the very end of the conveyer belt. 

There is a good 15 inches between your shopping and the lady's yoghurt, and any human being with an IQ above 45 knows where one lot ends and another starts,  however unless she grabs that little plastic divider she will likely explode. She will stretch all the way above your shopping, just to get the little plastic thing. 

In the above described circumstances, I refuse to pass one over. 

Sure, they are useful when it's packed. But 90% of the time they are not, yet a British person who doesn't put a clear dividing line between two shops will likely go into some sort of a panic attack. 

I always find the expectation to say "thank you" when somebody puts the little plastic divider at the end of their shopping a bit odd.

Begs the question, who's responsibility is it to put the divider there? Does is signify the end of your shopping? Or the start of somebody else's?

[Mic09]

16 minutes ago, JoshVilla said:

I always find the expectation to say "thank you" when somebody puts the little plastic divider at the end of their shopping a bit odd.

Begs the question, who's responsibility is it to put the divider there? Does is signify the end of your shopping? Or the start of somebody else's?

Surely the responsibility lies on the person who deems it necessary to put one down.

[Seat68]

The in car wave, its not in the highway code, but if you don't do it if you let someone through or out, basically you are Hitler.

[mjmooney]

58 minutes ago, JoshVilla said:

I always find the expectation to say "thank you" when somebody puts the little plastic divider at the end of their shopping a bit odd.

Begs the question, who's responsibility is it to put the divider there? Does is signify the end of your shopping? Or the start of somebody else's?

 

14 minutes ago, Seat68 said:

The in car wave, its not in the highway code, but if you don't do it if you let someone through or out, basically you are Hitler.

Good choices. Both VBPs. 

[limpid]

1 hour ago, OutByEaster? said:

Self checkout is forced labour!

So don't use it.

1 hour ago, chrisp65 said:

Now we queue for the self checkout.

Who is "we"?

Most of my shopping is online. When I need something quick, Sainsburys Local has their SmartShop app so I don't even go near the tills. Scan item, put it in my bag, pay with Google Pay as I walk out of the door.

[chrisp65]

41 minutes ago, Seat68 said:

The in car wave, its not in the highway code, but if you don't do it if you let someone through or out, basically you are Hitler.

The sarcastic wave of thanks to the person that should be giving you a wave of thanks, that’s my fave.

[chrisp65]

Just now, limpid said:

Who is "we"?

Society.

Community.

People that can endure and possibly benefit from human interaction.

Luddites that think amazon drone delivery of an avocado might not be the best direction of travel for a town.

 

[tonyh29]

Might be universal but a very British problem at the moment seems to be fans that instead of applauding a referee and VAR that clearly know the laws of football around handball   , instead fume that VAR robbed them of a goal  

[JoshVilla]

2 hours ago, Mic09 said:

Surely the responsibility lies on the person who deems it necessary to put one down.

Very true. Though sometimes you have to endure the disapproving "huff" when the person behind you puts the divider down themselves.

Edited December 11, 2023 by JoshVilla
Typo