COMMENTS

14 responses to “Open Thread: Retail Therapy”

1. I joined Senior Planet just so I could read great comments on various issues. I haven’t actually enjoyed shopping in many years, so when stores started having parking lot “pick up” available, I jumped right in. That means that I go into an actual store only about once or twice a month. Since I’m not in a hurry, I’m able to have nice little chit chat conversations with other customers. My biggest gripe is heavy plastic packaging. I use a little hand saw to get them open.

   Reply to Sally M Trummert

   1. Sally, thanks for the wonderful compliment! You made my day!
      Hope the Open Threads continue to offer you insight, community, and a few chuckles.

      Reply to Virge

2. I don’t like it when I’m in the car, ready to leave, and there’s a car waiting for my spot, AND BLOCKING ME FROM LEAVING THE SPACE. Use some common sense, folks!!

   Reply to Donna C.

3. I don’t usually mind shopping. But I say that you have to be in the right mindset for some stores. The large, crowded ones. People can be rude but I live in an area with a LOT of seniors. Including myself. And sometimes when we are looking for something we go off into our own little worlds. Not rude on purpose, just clueless. My major pet peeve is people not putting things back where they belong. Especially in the grocery store! Give it to the cashier, they will get it put away!

   Reply to Kim

4. I have resorted to ordering whatever I can online. Tired of going to several different stores looking for an item along with fewer & fewer stores that meet my needs. Especially fed up with people using their phones, blocking aisles, talking loud, not moving out of anyone’s way.
   And, top pet peeve: people who can’t shop without using pot. They actually stink & in some parking lots (Walmart), you can get high off of all the fumes. I end up going out of my way to a store in a nearby town.

   Reply to Gail

   1. Agree 100%!! I find it less, shopping small businesses.

      BTW, I’ve endured that odor outside a cancer hospital at 9am!

      Reply to Colleen

5. I am 75 yrs. old and don’t enjoy shopping that much anymore. Years ago when my daughters were in high school I started the tradition of just giving them money and they love to do their own shopping. Solves a lot of problems-guessing what they want, having to find exactly what they want if they make a list, and then no problem with having to return unwanted gifts or gift cards they won’t use. Life is too short to worry about all the crazy things that happen, just laugh about it instead.

   Reply to Anne Wormley

6. My pet peeve is the people who stare at their phone when walking & give you a dirty look because we didn’t watch where they were going and almost bang into you. Another one is when people are having a conversation on their cell phone in the middle of an aisle & everybody needs to hear everything. They don’t move out of the way, or lower their voices. There’s no awareness of others.

   Reply to Marie

7. My pet peeve about shopping is how products are sealed tight enough to survive a disaster or travel to outer space. I frequently have to attack the packaging with various tools and often take the item BACK TO THE STORE. There I explain I cannot open it and am met with a lot of attitude. Needless to say when the store employee also cannot open it, I’m vindicated. The inconvenience of going through this is not outweighed by the brief thrill of being proven right.

   Reply to Jane Guard

   1. EXACTLY! Everything is heavily fortified like Fort Knox. I assume they’re trying to make everything tamper-proof but they don’t consider how hard it is for people with arthritis to open their products. I won’t buy certain products now if I know they are hard to open. Especially anything encased in that darn plastic that takes a circular saw to open!

      Reply to Kathie Alfstad

8. Agree with every word. Not to mention people snacking freely on fruit in the produce aisle, not scanning all items during self-checkout, and grocery store personnel who have no clue where items are located. Just yesterday, I spent nearly 30 minutes going to two employees, being sent to three different aisles, then to Customer Service to ask where they keep Three Bean Salad! I don’t partake, but my DH does, and he badly wanted it.
   And no price tags on retail items! How to know if price made up?

   Reply to Mima Brown

   1. When no prices are posted, your store may be using “dynamic pricing” where they charge different prices depending on your shopping record, current demand levels, etc. I would bring the item to the cashier and, before inserting a loyalty card, ask for a price scan.

      Reply to Patricia F

9. I feel the same way and I was in the retail real estate shopping center business…but today not only can’t folks make change they just don’t care anymore about customer service, for them they are just taking our money for the purchase of whatever, that’s if it’s in stock….very sad!

   Reply to Deborah A Davis

10. I don’t go traipsing through stores anymore.
    Because I am light sensitive I always wear a large hat and dark sunglasses. That makes me to store personnel an automatic potential criminal, and I get followed around the store. They don’t even try to hide it. I’ve had to report a few store workers for harassment.
    When I do shop in a store IRL I have to learn how to use new ways of paying. It changes constantly. I learned how to swipe a card, now I have to learn how and what to tap.

    Reply to Virginia S