Culinary and Kitchen-Related Pet Peeves

[Porthos]

1) People who bring far more than the allowable number of items into an Express Lane (e.g. 12 items or less) and also the occasional mousy cashier who is too timid to call them on it.

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I embarrased my daughter a couple of years ago when the cashier wouldn't turn away the woman with about 25 items at the "12 item or less" register. I demanded to have the manager called over, and he was really no help. I asked for and was giving the corporate complaint 800 number, which I called. I found out later (after my other daughter got a job at that same store) that company policy PROHIBITS cashiers from enforcing the express lane item limit not matter how far over the item count is.

This sort of not seriously meaning what the sign says makes me nuts.

By the way, the market chain that I shop at was bought out by Kroger and the store has been on a down-hill slide ever since. The quality of produce has been the most pronounced. Fortunately, a new market with an emphasis on locally grown produce when available has opened up.

[Toliver]

Odd weights on packaged meats.  Why, oh WHY is it so FRIGGING hard to weigh out a package of packaged meat that weighs a FREAKING pound?  Recipes usually call for a pound, or multiples thereof.  Can I find a pound package?  No way.  I get 0.83 pounds.  And 1.37 pounds.  And 1.29 pounds.  And 0.72 pounds.  And NO combination adds up to a bloody pound !  Ground beef is especially egregious.  1.19 pounds.  At least the dogs are happy.

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you know, i don't mind this so much in the packaged meat...what i do mind is when i ask the actual live human to weigh out, for example, a pound of shrimp, and he/she plops some on the scale, and looks at me..."is 1.25 lb okay?" jeez...it's SHRIMP...take a handful off and hit the mark, huh? i know it's sometimes a form of "up-selling" but sometimes it's clearly laziness....and that's some kinda lazy....how hard is it to toss 6 shrimp back in the case? have a little pride, people.....i know a lot of cooks who take unreasonable pride in being able to lop a hunk of butter off the block, and weigh it, and hit the mark they were aiming for exactly...

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You're right. It is all upselling. I used to work in one of those shopping mall cheese and beef log stores (you know the one) and we were told to always overcut the product. Why? Because if you ask for a pound and it's 1.25 lbs. most people will say that it's okay and you've just sold .25 lb. more than they asked for. Multiply that by each customer and it all adds up at the end of the day.

The .75 or .83 packages are for people looking for a half pound. They won't find a half pound and so they settle for a package that contains more than they need...and they store ends up selling more product.

As for the workers weighing deli potato salad, shrimp or what have you, if it's 1.25 lbs. and they say "It's a little over, is that okay?" I tell them "I'm sorry but I only need a pound, thanks" and they get the message to take some out until it's closer to what I asked for.

From the film "Thelma and Louise": "You get what you settle for."

If it isn't what you asked for, don't accept it.

[gfron1]

As an owner of a little market I've been afraid to read this topic, but as it turns out we're doing pretty good

In response to the paying by credit card comments, as a small shop, everytime you swipe your card, I pay 25 cents US and a small percentage of the cost of the product. I'm sure bigger stores get better deals from their credit processors, but if you bought a $1 candy bar (which don't exist in my store), it probably cost me 50 cents, and a swipes takes off let's say 29 cents, then the remaining 21 cents is lost to overhead. So that's the reason to pay cash or check whenever you can.

My peeve as a shopper is when the register person sneezes or blows their nose and then without cleaning their hands picks up my food and shoves it in the bag. I know its not the worst thing that's touched my food, but still, do I have to see it (insert puking emoticon here).

[K8memphis]

ARRRGGHH~~

Little old ladies who wait until the entire order is rung up to dig through their purse to look for their checkbook, pen and finally start writing it out.

Did you not know that you were at the grocery store? 

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Let's cut the little old ladies some slack. They might have grown up in a different world. After all it's only a matter of time y'know...

Fellow customers who stand waaaay too close to me while I'm being checked out. Back off bub, it's *my* turn.

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Exactly!!! I then politely look at them and ask if they want to pay for my order. It usually works...they back off.

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Geez, I'd be afraid they'd say, "Yah" Freaking idiots!

But that's one I have to remember.

Depending on how close they are, I'll chillingly say, "I hope I'm not in your way."

Umm, it helps to start getting a little wild with my cane.

[David94928]

Fellow customers who stand waaaay too close to me while I'm being checked out. Back off bub, it's *my* turn.

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If the next customer crowds me I turn 2/3 away from them and anchor myself to the check writing stand. I won't budge an inch until I've gotten the receipt and even then I may take my time leaving the check-out stand.

Another thing is the practice of setting up a floor display in the aisle that barely fits two carts side-by-side as it is. Now, only one cart can get by at a time.

[Torrilin]

In response to the paying by credit card comments, as a small shop, everytime you swipe your card, I pay 25 cents US and a small percentage of the cost of the product.  I'm sure bigger stores get better deals from their credit processors, but if you bought a $1 candy bar (which don't exist in my store), it probably cost me 50 cents, and a swipes takes off let's say 29 cents, then the remaining 21 cents is lost to overhead.  So that's the reason to pay cash or check whenever you can.

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I always ask on the rare occasions I have to pay with a credit or debit card. I *hate* the idea of stiffing a favorite butcher shop or grocery store with a fee they don't need.

[jumanggy]

re: debit cards

Oh, I see.. Although it's not as fast/faster here. I don't know if it's the networks, but it always seems like it takes forever with the swiping, waiting for the response, the printout, feeding the printout through the register, getting a signature, the cashier staples some papers together... But yeah, some people can take forever getting cash out too. Like they're surprised to see their total or something

Filthy, wet conveyor belts. 

Fellow customers who stand waaaay too close to me while I'm being checked out. Back off bub, it's *my* turn.

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Maybe they're checking you out.

You can bet those kiddie carts are funded by the cereal/ candy companies... (I really don't know, by the way.)

Edited July 20, 2007 by jumanggy (log)

[hummingbirdkiss]

I dont like that many (not all) grocers do not have meat cutters any more and all the meat and seafood comes into the store prepackaged and not cut to order ..so if you want something special you have to go to another store

I usually hand choose and weigh my own produce so I did not ever notice this until one time my girlfriend told me to weigh a prepackaged bag of potatoes...the 5lb bag of potatoes only ways 4.5!!!!! There were bags that went over 5lbs as well ... then I put a package of 1 lb of garlic up there and sure enough it weighed 3/4 lb! I put some quart berry baskets up and each one weighed a differing weight while they all looked good it made perfect sense to by the heavier ones!

eggs are supposed to be standard but for the heck of it I weighed eggs and the prepackaged cheese ..extra large eggs were pretty close but there were some variances in the weight ...cheese was mostly right on but some were off by a good few oz...a lb of butter does not always weigh a lb!!!

I did not find any meat that was off on the weight until I went to the chickens ..and go figure they were not correct either ..( fyi I put a plastic bag over the meat and one on the scales to avoid cross contamination)

I had to stop because I was getting obsessed and silly with the whole thing wanting to weigh cereal boxes and coffee ..(I did btw try to take into act the wt of the containers and still saw that there was a difference) ..while I not at all a person who obsesses over the cost of things or money in general ...when I realized this it was disconcerting to know how much we pay for that we do not actually get in life ..thinking about people who are on fixed incomes who have to watch every single dime ....a huge cart of food can add up to quite a few dollars of unexpected loss over time...

kind of sad to me because I thought things were standardized

[Porthos]

re: debit cards

Oh, I see.. Although it's not as fast/faster here. I don't know if it's the networks, but it always seems like it takes forever with the swiping, waiting for the response, the printout, feeding the printout through the register, getting a signature, the cashier staples some papers together...

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Here the debit card system is tied into the cash register system. You swipe your card and enter your PIN while the cashier is ringing up your order. They press their "debit" key,wait maybe 5 seconds for approval and the fact that you paid via debit card becomes part of the receipt. So except for when I have so few item that they can be scanned before I can swipe my card and enter my PIN, it's faster than cash.

A related peeve: people who are done paying but don't want to move past the place where the "current" customer stands because their order isn't done being bagged and put in the cart. If iIm just picking up a few items on the way home from work the cashier will have finished with the previous customer, separated our orders, scanned my order and I can't pay for it because the previous customer is still camped out in front of the debit card terminal.

[Darren72]

I dont like that many (not all)  grocers do not have meat cutters any more and all the meat and seafood  comes into the store prepackaged and not cut to order ..so if you want something special you have to go to another store

I usually hand choose and weigh my own produce so I did not ever notice this until one time my girlfriend told me to weigh a prepackaged bag of potatoes...the 5lb bag of potatoes only ways 4.5!!!!! There were bags that went over 5lbs as well ... then I put a package of 1 lb of garlic up there and sure enough it weighed 3/4 lb! I put some quart berry baskets up and each one weighed a differing weight while they all looked good it made perfect sense to by the heavier ones!

eggs are supposed to be standard but for the heck of it I weighed eggs and the prepackaged cheese ..extra large eggs were pretty close but there were some variances in the weight ...cheese was mostly right on but some were off by a good few oz...a lb of butter does not always weigh a lb!!!

I did not find any meat that was off on the weight until I went to the chickens ..and go figure they were not correct either ..( fyi I put a plastic bag over the meat and one on the scales  to avoid cross contamination)

I had to stop because I was getting  obsessed and silly with the whole thing wanting to weigh cereal boxes and coffee ..(I did btw try to take into act the wt of the containers and still saw that there was a difference) ..while I not at all a person who obsesses over the cost of things or money in general ...when I realized this it was disconcerting to know how much we pay for that we do not actually get in life ..thinking about people who are on fixed incomes who have to watch every single dime ....a huge cart of food can add up to quite a few dollars of unexpected loss over time...

kind of sad to me because I thought things were standardized

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I think the implication is that the store is "ripping us off", but I don't think that is the only possible explanation. Scales get out of whack, especially produce scales that are handled by hundreds of different (and not always careful) people every day. Some stores have customers weigh their own produce and print price labels. I suspect these scales are more accurate (and perhaps regulated). But I doubt the ubiquitous hanging-type of scales are recalibrated often. Moreover the error is likely to be larger in absolute value for heavier items, like a 5 lb bag of potatoes.

Since berries vary in their weight, there's little reason to think that all quart-sized containers of berries would weigh the same. I'm everyone's heard the manta to choose fruits that are "heavy for their size".

Eggs come in standard sizes, but that doesn't mean each container of a dozen eggs should weigh the same. To be labeled as "large" eggs, a dozen eggs must weigh between 24 and 27 ounces. Moreover, nothing legally stops a producer from selling jumbo eggs as large.

[BekkiM]

I always thought it was my private disorder (shame?) that made me feel the way I do in the grocery store and I am soooo glad to know I'm not alone.

A couple more:

* When the produce mister comes on without warning just as I'm reaching for the "special" produce (e.g. the fancy stuff that most people don't buy like fresh basil or watercress), usually when I'm wearing a nice blouse. At least some stores play the "thunder" sound just before the sprinkler goes off, but my local, crappy store does not. Plus, I'm not sure that produce in plastic bags (see my next pet peeve) benefits much from being misted as it generally just means that the bag fills up with water that rots the goods anyway...

* The fact that produce you buy in multiples (cherries, grapes, etc) comes sealed in plastic bags in most major stores these days. First of all, it's nearly impossible to judge how many pounds you're buying that way (yes, I could walk alllll the way over to the scale, if I could find it) and when you get to the register it's a little shocking to buy $15 worth of green grapes (okay, maybe I'm exagerating a little bit). Second of all, I want to be able to pick the specific produce I want, not buy in bulk something where there always seem to be a stash of rotten brown grapes hidden in the center of a bag, or rolling around loosely. Cherries bother me most of all because I like my cherries a specific ripeness level and want to be able to select just the ones I want. Yes, I can solve this problem by shopping at farmer's markets etc., but that's not practical on a day-to-day basis.

* People who stand at the checkout counter while their enormous stack of groceries builds up in the bagging area because baggers are becoming an endangered species--for goodness sake, get off your fat ass and load some stuff in bags. But, noooo, they just stand there while the entire order is rung up, then stand there some more while the single checkout person bags all their stuff, usually during the evening rush when I'm late to get home to make dinner... I warned you that I have a disorder...

* And a minor beef, people who don't put the divider down behind their stack of groceries even though they know there is someone behind them. I mean, how hard is it to extend a little courtesy to the world around you?

[dockhl]

* And a minor beef, people who don't put the divider down behind their stack of groceries even though they know there is someone behind them. I mean, how hard is it to extend a little courtesy to the world around you?

And then if you don't put it down for them (on principle) and your dogfood gets to the cashier......they look at you and say , incredulously, "Is this yours?"

Well, who the *^(^ else's might it be?????

(Happened to me tonight.....)

[Pierogi]

I dont like that many (not all)  grocers do not have meat cutters any more and all the meat and seafood  comes into the store prepackaged and not cut to order ..so if you want something special you have to go to another store

YES, YES, YES !!!

It annoys me no end that real-honest-to-God-butchers, who can actually break down a primal cut are becoming an endangered species. I actually had to go to three different major grocery chains for short ribs (fercryin'outloud) about a year ago. Give me a break. I finally found them at a *specialty* grocery (read, 3x the price of what they should've been......).

Not so long ago, I can remember actually finding local fish at my mega-mart. Sand dabs, spiny lobsters, local rockfish, they all were around in season. No more. Each chain carries the same thing, and the packaging all looks suspiciously similar.

[jumanggy]

Second of all, I want to be able to pick the specific produce I want, not buy in bulk something where there always seem to be a stash of rotten brown grapes hidden in the center of a bag, or rolling around loosely.

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Oh, that's the worst!! I had to sift through dozens of prepackaged cherries only to find 2- 500g packages that didn't have a moldy cherry tucked in the bottom!

[nonblonde007]

Allmost all of the above! The worst (and suprisingly not mentioned yet), for me anyhow, is when the bagger puts the meat in with anything else, especially the produce! This new area I have moved to, it seems that every grocery around does this, along with putting canned goods with the fruit and veggies. I am not usually a stickler for small things, but This is NOT a small thing! I have on occasion, stopped the bagger and insisted (to they're obvious annoyance), that they remove the meat from the bag with the fruit in it. My 17 yo son, (a budding foodie, I might add), has taken it upon himself to bag the groceries everywhere we go, that's how bad it is here.

Coffee cans on my bread. Or anything else for that matter. Happens Every time.

Then, there are the stockers.........Taking up an entire isle with the carts without even an "excuse me, I will only be a moment" as you ask them politely after several "pardon me's" to allow you pass. Come'on all you have to do is scoot the cart over a couple of inches!

How about the produce manager, that when asked how to determine if a melon is ripe, blinks numbly and says " I don't know, just buy one and find out"?

One of my biggest peeves...............the carts are lined up, at least 6 deep, One checker, and you can see the manager and several other employees just standing around chatting or whatever. Oblivious as each patron seriously considers leaving rather than waiting in that long line! I have left.

[LuckyGirl]

Want to have a little fun:  Sometimes when I am asked if I want paper or plastic I ask if there are any other choices.

eta:  I can't believe I missed my BIGGEST peeve.  I shop where they have those horrid miniature shopping carts for kids to push around.  If parents actually watched over their kids who are using them I would be ok but in general the kids are left to terrorize other customers while they push them around like guided missles.  I sometimes do my shopping while in my wheel chair and then I have to be doubly careful so as not to collide with the unsupervised attack minors.

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Hilarious on the other choices question.

Re. the kids karts, TOTALLY agree!

[Porthos]

* And a minor beef, people who don't put the divider down behind their stack of groceries even though they know there is someone behind them.  I mean, how hard is it to extend a little courtesy to the world around you?

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Two thoughts here. Number 1: I do put a divider after my order. They are within my reach but not the person behind me. I get to use 2 seconds of deadtime to do something useful and courteous - which leads to number two: unfortunately it seems that common courtesy isn't so common any more.

Edited July 21, 2007 by Porthos (log)

[Porthos]

Hilarious on the other choices question

The best response I ever got was the wrapper who understood I was joking around and reached for the little bags they put ice cream cartons in and offered those to me.

[judiu]

Dear G-d, don't get me started! Unwatched children, manic baggers, meat department guys who rinse the overage chicken in bleach water to kill the smell,

parents who ignore their kids and then sue the store when the child does a face-plant out of the shopping cart kiddie seat, and all the other horror stories I could tell you! Been there, done that, got the scars and the T shirt!

[dividend]

In college the grocery store I shopped at was a bag-your-own place. It was a little annoying the first couple times, but I got pretty good at lining up the groceries to be scanned in logical bagging order, and packing the bags with maximum efficiency. It's sort of the same skill set as playing Tetris. The first time I went to the grocery store in my new neighborhood, I realized just how inept the baggers really are. I laid my groceries on the belt in my usual careful order, and they just let it all pile up at the end and stuffed things into bags willy nilly, like has already been pointed out. I was expecting two paper sacks - I got six. Grrrrr. I don't want to carry six bags up three flights of stairs!

Thankfully my grocery store now has self checkout. But that presents its own set of challenges. Since I can't scan and bag at the same time, I have to complete my transaction before I can start bagging. And every time, someone behind me starts scanning the second I move, sending their groceries banging into mine. Then I feel like I have to hurry and get out of their way. But at least I avoid having the identify to the cashier what every single peice of produce in my cart is.

I'm glad someone else has noticed the inconsistencies in weight labeling. I notice it in packaged goods too, since for a while I was weighing portions of things.

[heidih]

Yes- "all of the above"! The one that gets me almost every time is the newly designed counter that apparently in order to be ADA compliant has a cut out for the wheel chair and there is no longer a large enough spot to set my purse. So...I set it in the seat part of the cart, pull my wallet out, and routinely the bagger yanks my cart away and out into the aisle before he or she even starts bagging. I have pulled it back only to have them repeat the yanking. This is at every checkstand, not just designated ones.

[rooftop1000]

I just realized the other day I like the store I shop in now. It is the one on the way home which is even better...

Even the challenged guy actually know how to bag.

The highschool age employees get my jokes

They have identified almost all my produce correctly

And...the look I got when I explained why I was giggling on line the other day was priceless

Why was I giggling in the super market?... Well on the rack of crap next to the register, ya know the combs floss and playing cards rack, there were Right next to each other...a vibrating toothbrush and a vibrating condom ring....next to each other I tells ya

tracey

[hummingbirdkiss]

here you go! ...not a peeve to me but funny anyway!

I had about 12 bulky uneven sized items at the store yesterday...and no container to put them in....not even a purse! and the cashier asked me "would you like a bag to carry those in?"

I must have looked at her in shock or something ..because she started cracking up.....we both started laughing so hard we could not move and I am sure really "peeved" the people in line behind me!!!!

she gave me two bags and packed my groceries perfectly!!!

Edited July 22, 2007 by hummingbirdkiss (log)

[Slamdunkpro]

3 I forgot about. (but was reminded about today)

The "Social" shoppers. Two or three that link their carts up abreast and proceed to move down each aisle at glacial speed while discussing "whatever", totally oblivious to the traffic jam behind them.

Shoppers that check out and then stop to audit their purchases, organize their purse, or perform some adjustment or task right in the middle of the supermarket doorway

And a special place in hell for:

Parents who think it's cute or a great "learning experience" to slowly and patiently teach their young children how to use the self checkout when the lines are 15 deep.

[GlorifiedRice]

Chicken bones and used diapers in the parking lot!!!

People who stand there and chat with other shoppers in cart traffic lanes.