Nosying other people baskets

[yushoe]

Ever seen anyone taking exception to someone's purchases? I saw a woman scolding a guy for buying potato chips-- Lays, I think. She gave him a lecture about trans-fats. He stood his ground admirably, explaining that the chips taste good.

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hahaha, that's really funny

[Paris M]

I love to check out what folks are buying. The farmer's market is a great place to do it because I get some good ideas for what to do with 8 pounds of really ripe tomatoes or a HUGE zucchini. I have no problem striking up a conversation with someone who is buying something that I find interesting, but would not have much of an idea on how to prepare it. I am usually met with someone who loves to talk food as much as me.

Heh, I guess I am of the worthy poor, as I cook just about everything from scratch but use my government hand-out student refund money to do so. However, not a lot of time to cook as a full-time student, but I enjoy being a part of the cooking cult that a PP referred to.

[Fresser]

This wasn't actually in someone's cart but...

Once at Costco, I saw a five-pound tub of Skippy peanut butter on a shelf and exclaimed, "You could cover an entire person with that!"

My friend Puddin' Buns turned to me and said flatly, "You should get out more..."

[Lone Star]

Not only do I check out the baskets of others, I will pick up the discarded grocery lists too. What kind of person wrote it? Spindly old persons hand listing milk and cereal? What was the person purchasing for? Mundane weekly shopping, or for a party?

I read one last week that had

Beer

Peppers

Sausage

Tomato sauce

Pepcid

[racheld]

Several years ago, we were back "Home" --small Southern town, where everybody knows everybody, and their business---visiting Son #1 and DDIL. Saturday night after we had been to dinner, Hubby decided it was the time to stop and get a couple of cases of family favorites they don't seem to stock up here: Blue Plate mayo and Pride of Illinois corn.

We were leaving next morning, and they were going to a "her side" family reunion, so she and I were going to their house to cook a bit for the big dinner planned for the gathering. The two guys got out to just run in and get the case items, and she called out, "Please get me a cucumber for the Summer Salad for tomorrow!!"

So they went, and they shopped, and they emerged with one plastic sack adangle from S1's hand. The store was out of both items I had requested. Hubby was wetting his pants laughing and S1 practically THREW the bag into the backseat, exclaiming, "Two MEN buying a CUCUMBER on a SAREDY night!!! I'm not EVER going back in THAT store again!!!"

Edited May 4, 2005 by racheld (log)

[petite tête de chou]

Not only do I check out the baskets of others, I will pick up the discarded grocery lists too.  What kind of person wrote it?  Spindly old persons hand listing milk and cereal?  What was the person purchasing for?  Mundane weekly shopping, or for a party?

I read one last week that had

Beer

Peppers

Sausage

Tomato sauce

Pepcid

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Then you might find this site interesting. click

[jphilg]

I do check out other peoples' carts, but I spend more time worrying about people checking out my cart. And JUDGING. I buy all my produce at the farmer's market in the summer, and the asian market in the winter, so every other week or so, I end up in line at the Safeway with a cart full of butter, sugar, beer, meat, and maybe a bag of chips. I always feel like telling the checkers, and my line-mates, that I do in fact eat vegetables....really.

Not sure why I think anyone cares. Perhaps another item for the therapy list.

[Milagai]

The cashier at the greengrocer the other day was smelling my pack of fenugreek and coriander seeds. She looked in awe "What do you do with these??" I replied that I was making a curry. She seriously looked as if I wasn't speaking english.

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i LOVE this thread!

this kind of thing happens to me ALL the time:

young multipierced casher looking aghast at the knob of

ginger: what's THAT?

me: ginger

cashier: what do you do with it?

me: cook.

me, with radish bunch

cashier (different one, not so young): uhh... what are these?

me: radishes

cashier (who must have seen the inadvertent thunderstruck look

on my face): im' sorry, i see so many new things every day

me (wondering, not aloud: what DO you eat?)

my dh with eggplants

teen cashier: what ARE these?

dh: eggplant

cashier: what are they used for?

dh: not to play football (no idea why he said that)

cashier: mouth agape, speechless

there's lots more, these just floated to the top of my memory right now.

not sure whether to be or or

milagai

Edited May 4, 2005 by Milagai (log)

[Jujubee]

Oh dear, I never even considered that other people may be checking out my grocery cart. (I was never curious about what other people bought.) Since I tend to hit a bunch of different places for groceries (a great produce market, Trader Joe's, Costco, various ethnic markets) by the time I get to the regular grocery store, I'm only buying stuff I can't find at any of those other places. Usually this consists of specific brands of junk food that my husband really likes: root beer in bottles, certain flavors of chips, Stouffer's French Bread pizza (?!?!), etc. So if you ever looked at my basket in a grocery store, you'd probably think to yourself "tsk, tsk, that young pregnant woman is feeding her baby complete crap!" But really, I cook and eat (mostly) very well. I'm mortified.

[chile_peppa]

I don't pay much attention to what other people are buying, but people do seem to check out my shopping cart. Like Jujubee, I shop at different stores for different things. Once at a large supermarket, the cashier said "Gosh, even your snacks are healthy!" On the other hand, the Biker Dude and I were stocking up for the Spawn and the Offspring (20-something sons who don't often have time for "real food" and seem to thrive on junk food), when a stick-thin fellow shopper eyed the contents of our overloaded cart and gave us a very disgusted look down her nose. Oh well...

[CharityCase]

Thanks for the link to the grocery lists page, I always make apoint of picking up a list while I'm in the store. It gives you a snapshot of someone in a very shrot period of time.

I do like to have a look at what others are buying...figure out who is terminally single or recently separated, and take a guess at what someone's having for dinner. What surprises me mmost is the amount of generic grocery store meat that many people feel quite comfortable in purchasing.

At the local store I go to, I have had the "is this coriander or cilantro" discussion at least once with every cashier. Someone needs to fix their rolling produce code thing because I think it drives them crazy.

[Lone Star]

Not only do I check out the baskets of others, I will pick up the discarded grocery lists too.  What kind of person wrote it?  Spindly old persons hand listing milk and cereal?  What was the person purchasing for?  Mundane weekly shopping, or for a party?

I read one last week that had

Beer

Peppers

Sausage

Tomato sauce

Pepcid

←

Then you might find this site interesting. click

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Thank You! Fun site.

[NulloModo]

I do like to have a look at what others are buying...figure out who is terminally single or recently separated, and take a guess at what someone's having for dinner. What surprises me mmost is the amount of generic grocery store meat that many people feel quite comfortable in purchasing.

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I've wondered before if cahsiers think anything of this. The only time I really buy meat (unless I need a particular cut of a recipe right then) is when it is both: a. - on sale, and b. - reduced because it is about to go out of date. At this point, I can usually pick up a lb of ground been for a little over $1, or package of italian sausages (maybe 1.5 lbs worth) for $1.5... Oh, there was also the great time when whole perdue chickens started selling for like $2.00 a bird. Whenever I catch one of these sales, I stuff my baskets to the brim, knowing that it will all have to take up residence in my freezer and hold me over till the next sale.

[SuzySushi]

I always wanted to figure out a way to introduce them, so maybe they could watch TV alone together.

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True tale: Some years ago, when I was visiting a friend in the Bay area, we stopped at what was then the largest Safeway market for some late-night shopping. A sign in the parking lot read "Cars left overnight will be towed." Since the Supermarket was in the middle of nowhere, I was puzzled. Who would leave their car there overnight?

My friend patiently explained, "People come in two cars. They leave in one."

[Chris Amirault]

Click here for a previous thread on this subject, at which you can find this wonderful dialogue between our own Jason Perlow and the checker:

"Yo, man, whatcha gonna do with all them hot dogs?"

"It's for a web site. We're going to test them."

"damn, that Internet shit is crazy!"

[HungryChris]

There is a box in the lobby where I work that is for donations for a local charity kitchen and they will occaisionaly post a list of items they would like to have. They will often put together packages of easily prepared items and necessities to send off with some of their clients. On one occasion they asked for mac and cheese kits.

Deb and I were shopping and noticed that they were on sale so we bought quite a few. While we were in line I noticed quite a few folks were eyeing the contents of the cart and just as we put the mac and cheese kits on the belt, my ex neighbor tapped me on the shoulder to say hi.

I made a mental note to wear the Groucho glasses with the built in nose next time.

Cheers,

HC

[BryanZ]

Like many people have said, I find people judging me, especially the checkout kids. It's funny because I'm usually about their age but then they give me these really weird looks when I'm loading up on the goat brie, "weird looking" morels, or legs of duck confit. I love buying truffles because I honestly think the checkout people get a rush out of swiping such an "exclusive" product. One of my favorite moments was when this old grandma, obviously retired and probably just working part-time, said something along the lines of, "Sonny, what you need this $500 hunred (sic) a pound mushroom for." I just smile and shrug it off.

[Shalmanese]

I also tend to buy my meat and veggies at smaller markets so my supermarket grocery cart is always rather idiosyncratic. Especially since I stock up on pantry items that go on special. So a typical basket might have 2 sticks of butter, a 5kg bag of sugar, 6 bags of popcorn, a bottle of cream, a bottle of milk, 6 bags of frozen peas/corn, 3 bottles of mustard and a bag of potatos.

One time that was particularly memorable was when the supermarket had onions on sale at ridiculously low prices and I wanted to make some onion confit. Rolling up with an entire supermarket cart half filled with onions makes people give you some strange looks.

[Syrah]

The cashier at the greengrocer the other day was smelling my pack of fenugreek and coriander seeds. She looked in awe "What do you do with these??" I replied that I was making a curry. She seriously looked as if I wasn't speaking english.

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She was probably tring to figure out how you were going to turn those into the yellow powder they sell in the spice aisle.

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Potentially. She did say that she thought they smelled nice. It was quite a nice conversation actually. She seemed like a nice girl. I think she is the same one that asked me about fresh sage last winter. The curry turned out really well, so that is always a bonus.

Edited May 5, 2005 by Syrah (log)

[laurenmilan]

I love to check out what other people have in their grocery carts... but I do find that I am often the object of other people's scrutiny. I've heard some great reactions:

"What the hell ARE you making and can I get invited?" (6-7 lbs of chocolate, 4 qts heavy cream, 3 lbs butter, 3 dozen eggs - making Death by Chocolate to serve 30.)

"Do you know what to do with that?" (several cans of mango puree for lassi, as the sole Caucasian in an Indian shop. Yep, I pretty much did.)

"Oh my god, somebody bought that!" (spoken by the cashier, regarding a jar of Muffaletta topping at Trader Joes - sadly this item was indeed discontinued since, as apparently I was practically the only one buying it)

"Are you a hippie?" (directed towards my cart including some fruits, vegetables, veggie burgers, and whole grain hot cereal, plus some regular/unhealthy foods that apparently don't count, by a kinda large woman with a cart full of frozen/convenience foods & sodas)

My favorite:

"Don't you want the big white people limes?" (regarding a big bag of lil Mexican, aka Key limes, at a bodega in New Brunswick. At Whole Foods they'd be $6-8 for a 1/2 dozen, call them Mexican and they're about 5/$1. I love that. Oh, and compared to "big white people" persian limes, I'll admit they ARE a pain in the rear to juice!)

[designchick88]

I admit I do this to other people occasionally. I hate it when people do this to me. For example:

The other day I was in Whole Foods. I had been invited to a small impromptu party (like, I got the invite at 2 p.m. for the 6 p.m. party) and the hostess asked me to bring chips and dessert. I had no time to make anything for dessert, so I ducked into Whole Foods and picked a bag of tortilla chips, a jar of salsa, and one of their premade chocolate cakes.

I should say here that I am a bit of a fluffy girl, not a lot fluffy, but enough so that you notice.

I get in line and who gets in line in back of me? One of those perfectly coiffed, rail thin, prune-faced elderly women wearing a shiny nylon tracksuit. She was carrying two (TWO) large bottles of "all natural laxative," a bunch of celery and a liter bottle of spring water.

I knew right then that this wasn't going to end well.

She sets her groceries down on the conveyor belt in back of me. I can feel her look. I turn around. She sneers at me.

"It's amazing to me what people buy here, when there's all this healthy food around," she said.

"I'm attending a party, and this is what the hostess asked me to bring," I say as politely as I can muster. She issues one of those "snort/pfft" noises from her rhinoplastied nose and looks away.

I am really close to the edge but I pay, get my bag and prepare to walk away when I hear her mutter something about "fat" and "chocolate cake" to the cashier.

I turned around, smiled and said, as loud as I possibly could, "GOOD LUCK WITH THAT CONSTIPATION, I HOPE THOSE LAXATIVES WORK OUT WELL FOR YOU."

Then I left the store.

So please, if you are a grocery snooper, don't a. make immediate assumptions about who people are just because of what they're buying and b. if you do, don't feel compelled to comment on it. You may end up saying something to someone who is less than appreciative of your insight.

[misstenacity]

I like to snoop as well, make rash judgements about people, and RARELY comment. The only time I feel the need to comment it is in a positive way, such as this one for a 40-something couple at Food Hole:

"Wow, you've definitely got your food priorities straight!", sez me with a grin.

Their basket contained red wine, dark chocolate, foofy cheese, and a big slab of steak.

Andrea

http://tenacity.net

Edited May 5, 2005 by misstenacity (log)

[Grub]

Re. "White people limes" -- that's hilarious...

Re. Whole Foods, or the Hippie Mart -- you get worse dirty, holier-than-thou stares from walking around with a bag of tortillas in that place, than swearing in a church.

I don't mind people checking out what I buy. Sometimes, the person at the checkout can make some really astute observations -- like deducing that I'm making, from the ingredients. One time this girl scanned some white wine, grapes, cream and sole and burst out, "Ah, Sole Veronique?" That's kind of impressive...

Another time something fairly peculiar happened, though... I went to the store specifically to buy Liquid Plumr, but remembered that I was out of mayo, and also spotted some micro brew beer I'd never seen before, so I picked up a six-pack of that too. The lady at the checkout counter made this comment: "Ah, having a party?"

Liquid Plumr + Mayo + beer = party? WTF? The comment sounded so off the wall that I was out in the parking lot before I got my head around it, and too late to ask her why this would equate a party...

Years later, I saw this comedy, "Undercover Brother" where a black guy has to pass as white, and part of his "training" involves him learning how to walk as if he's got a stick up his backside, talk like a preppie, and to eat mayo (which is either a euphemism for something, or maybe there is a stereotypical view that black people don't like it, but white people love it -- I don't know).

I kept wondering, maybe black people think that white people partying involves eating massive amounts of food slathered in mayo and clogging the toilet?

Or maybe white people really DO something really awesome with Liquid Plumr and mayo -- and I just don't know about it! Maybe there's some fantastic party trick you can do with it, or make amazing drugs with it. "Yeah dude, I was flying on PCP, Liquid Plumr and mayo, next thing I was hanging naked, upside down from a spinning ceiling fan, with battery clips on my nipples, and the walls smelled like snozzberries -- it was awesome!"

Ever since that comment, I've held this nagging suspicion that I might be missing out on a real killer time here.

[touaregsand]

Years later, I saw this comedy, "Undercover Brother" where a black guy has to pass as white, and part of his "training" involves him learning how to walk as if he's got a stick up his backside, talk like a preppie, and to eat mayo (which is either a euphemism for something, or maybe there is a stereotypical view that black people don't like it, but white people love it -- I don't know).

Think of mayo along the lines of wonder bread and you'll get the idea...

[lexy]

"Are you a hippie?" (directed towards my cart including some fruits, vegetables, veggie burgers, and whole grain hot cereal, plus some regular/unhealthy foods that apparently don't count, by a kinda large woman with a cart full of frozen/convenience foods & sodas)

Who would answer "yes" to this!?

My favourite "supermarket snooping" was at the Chinese supermarket during Chinese new year. People were buying colossal amounts of food, and it was fun to imagine what sort of feasts they were going home to prepare.