Whilst At The Checkout, Do you Scrutinise The Shopping Of The Person In Front Of You?

Come on have you ever looked at someone else’s shopping at the checkout and thought..

I couldn’t eat that.
I bet that lot is going to be expensive?

I wouldn’t have bought those clothes
I wish l had bought that.

Think, What On Earth are they wearing?
Think, theyre a size!
Do you start jigging about if the instore music is good?

Generally think, I hope they won’t start faffing about whilst packing.


Are you guilty of any of those mentioned?

Re: Whilst At The Checkout, Do you Scrutinise The Shopping Of The Person In Front Of You?

Art, when my children were young, I did a couple of evening shifts on the checkouts of a local Tesco store and came across so many things I would never previously have dreamt of buying, so it revolutionised my shopping list. Of particular interest all those years ago was the number of people who purchased cake mixes instead of baking their own.

It was also interesting to see how many people carried a calculator with them to check that the till operator didn't make a mistake (pre barcode era).

Re: Whilst At The Checkout, Do you Scrutinise The Shopping Of The Person In Front Of You?

I love looking at other people's shopping baskets when queuing. I mean there isn't anything else to do once you've exhausted your phone. I imagine what they will cook with the ingredients and think about what kind of life they have. If there is more than one person I wonder about their relationships with each other. Their life story. I'm glad I'm not the only one! I guess we are always curious about others and shopping gives away quite a bit of information about us. Hence those loyalty cards.

Re: Whilst At The Checkout, Do you Scrutinise The Shopping Of The Person In Front Of You?

Not at the checkout as we usually do a "self scan", but we have been known to remark of certain "robust" persons with their trollies full of coke and crisps, whether that is really the extent of their diet...

Re: Whilst At The Checkout, Do you Scrutinise The Shopping Of The Person In Front Of You?

No, but my son and apparently his mates used to drop packets of condoms into the shopping baskets of elderly woman when they weren't looking!

Re: Whilst At The Checkout, Do you Scrutinise The Shopping Of The Person In Front Of You?

LT, l used to cringe when l saw people with a calculator at the supermarket. I always think they must be a bit tight and penny pinching!

Re: Whilst At The Checkout, Do you Scrutinise The Shopping Of The Person In Front Of You?

Annie, l think looking at, or around you, is a natural thing to do, to wile the time away. Standing in a queue can be very boring and zzzzzzz!

You can tell who are the vegetarians, the alcoholics, the chocoholics, the health fanatics, those who have children etc.

Re: Whilst At The Checkout, Do you Scrutinise The Shopping Of The Person In Front Of You?

Yes Barry, they seem to buy a job lot of those items plus lots of Pizzas!

Re: Whilst At The Checkout, Do you Scrutinise The Shopping Of The Person In Front Of You?

TAT, l have been known to put big gateaux or turkeys in friend’s trolleys when they were not looking!
Sometimes, l put suppositories in too! I am very childish!

Re: Whilst At The Checkout, Do you Scrutinise The Shopping Of The Person In Front Of You?

That's so cruel but very funny too!

The number of "oh so robust" people we see in our Tesco with large trolleys (sometimes 2) full of crisps and other potato-based snacks, pizzas, fizzy drinks, etc and not a decent vegetable or an apple in them is astonishing.