Robin’s Nest

I have shopped in a variety of shops, haven’t we all?

In particular I have shopped in a variety of supermarkets.

What I have found, in my fairly limited limited survey of shopping habits and the behaviour of customers, is that the “posher” the shop the more obnoxious some of the customers can be.

I have shopped at corner shops, and at mini-supermarkets, I have shopped at three – no, four – of the main supermarkets, but I have not shopped at two of the larger supermarkets, both with very short names.

In recent years we have continued a habit we started in the year of Covid and have had two deliveries a week, one from Tesco and one from Sainsbury’s. Occasionally we will get an order from Waitrose because they have such wonderful coffee, the best fresh chicken we have ever tasted, and a mature vintage cheese which I have to be careful in its used because I could easily eat half a block, along with a handful of small sweet tomatoes and as couple of digestive biscuits.

Now clearly other customers do not bother me when I shop online.

When I do go out, however, I tend to notice the other customers and am amazed that once off the roads those customers who drive to the store tend to act as though the normal rules regarding driving no longer apply.

In the two stores mentioned above as our main providers of food and household goods it can consist of slightly careless parking or pushing a trolley around without paying attention.

In the main, however, they do not stop directly behind a car just as the driver puts it in reverse, or stand in the doorway chatting,

A large number of customers at Waitrose, however, often act as though they believe other customers are there just to annoy them.

These are the ones who will push past you to get the last fresh chicken, or who take it for granted that they have the right of way, in the store and in the car park, whether as a pedestrian or driver.

My recent trip to the local Waitrose had me wound up before I even entered the store.

I was behind her car as we both headed up to the area designated for disabled drivers (I have a blue badge) and for customers who have children with them. She stopped the car and let out her passenger, an elderly lady.

I then waited for her to either drive away, intent on returning for the elderly lady, or park in one of the disabled bays, of which she was parked in a way that three of them were blocked.

Eventually she did move her car, swinging it toward the mother and child bays and then reversing to straddle two disabled bays, at which she stopped the engine and then sat back and lit a cigarette.

Now I am more of a Clark Kent than a Batman, and generally just walk on by. This time I dropped my mild manner and went up to the car and politely tapped on the window, which was immediately lowered, and asked her if she was aware that her car was straddling two of the bays designated for disabled drivers. To which she replied that she would only be a few minutes as she had just dropped her mother off.

Wrong answer.

It should have been: “Sorry, I didn’t look, I’ll move it now.”

Instead she went to wind the window up as though that ended the matter.

So I continued: “What happens if other disabled drivers arrive and one has nowhere to park because of your selfishness.”

She at least stopped the window from winding up and grudgingly said: “OK, I’ll move it now, just chill out.”

I would have expected this from a teenager, but not from a woman who you might have thought was above it.

It gave me no sense of righteousness, or superiority as I went on to do my shopping. When I went back to my car the woman’s vehicle was gone.

I loaded my shopping, started the car, put it into reverse, having checked my rear view mirror, and began to back out. At this moment I saw a man appear in my rear window, having ignored the sight of a car reversing.

Fortunately my instincts still work at their peak and I braked without hitting him. He just walked on, completely unaware that he had just missed being knocked down.

That was not even an average Waittrose.

I found the staff in the store to be polite and efficient.