On Fri, 30 Apr 2004 11:20:53 +0100, Dan Gravell
wrote:

Martin Underwood wrote:

PS: Next week's rant... drivers (especially of automatic cars) who sit with
their foot on the footbrake (instead of slipping the car into neutral and
putting their handbrake on) when they're stopped for ages at traffic
lights - this blinds the driver behind (eg me) at night!

Would now be a good time to broach the subject of ludicrously oversized
umbrellas wielded by pinstriped knuckle-scrapers in the City?

One would've thought their City bonuses could cover the cost of a proper
umbrella.

Clearly having a large umbrella is some sort of phallic compensation
thing, which is why I modestly favour one of those standard black M&S
telescopic ones. They also have that advantage that, when reverse in
the hand, they're potentially far more effective if one suddenly has
the need to **** someone....
--
Nick Cooper

[Carefully remove the detonators from my e-mail address to reply!]

The London Underground at War:
http://www.cwgcuser.org.uk/personal/...ra/lu/tuaw.htm
625-Online - classic British television:
http://www.625.org.uk
'Things to Come' - An Incomplete Classic:
http://www.thingstocome.org.uk

On Thu, 29 Apr 2004 21:02:48 +0100, Annabel Smyth
wrote:

On Thu, 29 Apr 2004 at 10:49:40, Martin Underwood
wrote:


Sadly many people seem to be congenitally incapable of finding their ticket
in advance of needing it (eg as they are walking up to the barrier), in the
same way that a lot of people (a large proportion of them being women) don't
start to look for their cash or credit card in a supermarket queue until
they are presented with the bill.

This is because we - I, at any rate - are far too busy packing up our
shopping while it is being passed to us, rather than requiring the shop
assistant to put it down in an increasingly unwieldy pile and causing
immense delays to the next person while we try to sort it out.

Once the shopping is packed, we pay for it.

On that subject, does anyone else hate those supermarkets who insist
on their staff "packing" even just your first bag of shopping?
Usually translates as the first random objects that come off the belt
being shoved haphazardly into a carrier bag, clearly with no thought
that someone is - in all probability - going to have to carry it some
considerable distance, often on public transport....
--
Nick Cooper

[Carefully remove the detonators from my e-mail address to reply!]

The London Underground at War:
http://www.cwgcuser.org.uk/personal/...ra/lu/tuaw.htm
625-Online - classic British television:
http://www.625.org.uk
'Things to Come' - An Incomplete Classic:
http://www.thingstocome.org.uk

"Nick Cooper" wrote in
message ...
On Thu, 29 Apr 2004 21:02:48 +0100, Annabel Smyth
wrote:

On Thu, 29 Apr 2004 at 10:49:40, Martin Underwood
wrote:

On that subject, does anyone else hate those supermarkets who insist
on their staff "packing" even just your first bag of shopping?
Usually translates as the first random objects that come off the belt
being shoved haphazardly into a carrier bag, clearly with no thought
that someone is - in all probability - going to have to carry it some
considerable distance, often on public transport....

My experience with Sainsbury's (and they are the main one who have this
policy) is that the staff do the opposite: they take excessive trouble to
choose items that will "go" together in the bag, often pondering for ages
which to take off the belt and how to arrange them, Tetris-like in the bag.
I usually offer in advance to pack all my things because (though I don't
tell them this!) I can do so faster than they can. OK, so I pack less
scientifically than they do, though I still take a few simple precautions
like not putting bottles of toilet cleaner in with the food, and putting all
the frozen food together. Some people take segregation to excess: my
girlfriend used to blow her top with me if I chanced to put cooked and raw
meat in the same bag, even though the packets were hermetically sealed.

Annabel Smyth:
This is because we - I, at any rate - are far too busy packing up our
shopping while it is being passed to us, rather than requiring the shop
assistant to put it down in an increasingly unwieldy pile ...

Nick Cooper writes:
On that subject, does anyone else hate those supermarkets who insist
on their staff "packing" even just your first bag of shopping?

To a North American reader, this subthread is fascinatingly alien.
For us, the norm in most types of store is that the checkout clerk,
having scanned or otherwise processed an item, next puts it into the
bag. That's what they're there for, that and taking your payment.

(At one time supermarkets would have a separate "bagger" at each
checkout, but the costs of providing that service did it in. Today
in the supermarket I use, half the lanes are set up for the customer
to bag the stuff -- I hate this, as it takes much longer, and always
avoid those if I'm buying more than about three items.)

Ob: Which London Underground or DLR station name has the most letters
in common with "checkout clerk"?
--
Mark Brader "It is considered a sign of great {winnitude}
Toronto when your Obs are more interesting than other
people's whole postings." --Eric Raymond

My text in this article is in the public domain.

"Mark Brader" wrote in message
...

Today in the supermarket I use, half the lanes are set up for the
customer to bag the stuff -- I hate this, as it takes much longer,

That is definitely not true here in my experience. It may be that US
supermarket checkout people are much more experienced at packing, but I can
pack my purchases twice as fast as any spotty "clerk".

What really infuriates me - and I think it may have been covered here
already - is the people, mainly women, who take an age to get out their
means of payment. It's the shocked expression on their faces when the
checkout person tells them the cost of their shopping - did they think they
wouldn't have to pay? And then the delay while they root around in their bag
for their cards/money...sometimes I could scream!

Ian

In article ,
(Ian F.) wrote:

"Mark Brader" wrote in message
...

Today in the supermarket I use, half the lanes are set up for the
customer to bag the stuff -- I hate this, as it takes much longer,

That is definitely not true here in my experience. It may be that US
supermarket checkout people are much more experienced at packing, but I
can
pack my purchases twice as fast as any spotty "clerk".

What really infuriates me - and I think it may have been covered here
already - is the people, mainly women, who take an age to get out their
means of payment. It's the shocked expression on their faces when the
checkout person tells them the cost of their shopping - did they think
they
wouldn't have to pay? And then the delay while they root around in
their bag
for their cards/money...sometimes I could scream!

Ian


I really hate those who insist on (slowly) packing every single item away
before then deciding that they will turn to the checkout person to see how
much their bill is before eventually paying it. Although I usually keep up
with packing the stuff as it comes off the conveyor belt, I will stop and
pay as soon as the bill is ready. I can then go back to packing any
remaining items and the checkout person then has the option to wait until
I'm out of the way or start on the next person.

Roger

"Nick Cooper" wrote in
message ...

Clearly having a large umbrella is some sort
of phallic compensation thing, which is why
I modestly favour one of those standard black
M&S telescopic ones.

Surely the telesopic ones are even more of a phallic compensation!

--
John Rowland - Spamtrapped
Usual signature removed due to irony overload

On Sun, 2 May 2004 11:30:43 +0100, "John Rowland"
wrote:

"Nick Cooper" wrote in
message ...

Clearly having a large umbrella is some sort
of phallic compensation thing, which is why
I modestly favour one of those standard black
M&S telescopic ones.

Surely the telesopic ones are even more of a phallic compensation!

Not really, because even when open they're very much smaller than the
sort of thing that should be on a golf course, rather than on a Tube
train!
--
Nick Cooper

[Carefully remove the detonators from my e-mail address to reply!]

The London Underground at War:
http://www.cwgcuser.org.uk/personal/...ra/lu/tuaw.htm
625-Online - classic British television:
http://www.625.org.uk
'Things to Come' - An Incomplete Classic:
http://www.thingstocome.org.uk

On Sun, 2 May 2004 10:20:38 +0000 (UTC),
wrote:

In article ,
(Ian F.) wrote:

"Mark Brader" wrote in message
...

Today in the supermarket I use, half the lanes are set up for the
customer to bag the stuff -- I hate this, as it takes much longer,

That is definitely not true here in my experience. It may be that US
supermarket checkout people are much more experienced at packing, but I
can
pack my purchases twice as fast as any spotty "clerk".

What really infuriates me - and I think it may have been covered here
already - is the people, mainly women, who take an age to get out their
means of payment. It's the shocked expression on their faces when the
checkout person tells them the cost of their shopping - did they think
they
wouldn't have to pay? And then the delay while they root around in
their bag
for their cards/money...sometimes I could scream!

Ian


I really hate those who insist on (slowly) packing every single item away
before then deciding that they will turn to the checkout person to see how
much their bill is before eventually paying it. Although I usually keep up
with packing the stuff as it comes off the conveyor belt, I will stop and
pay as soon as the bill is ready. I can then go back to packing any
remaining items and the checkout person then has the option to wait until
I'm out of the way or start on the next person.


We're getting *way* off-topic, but I always wait until I have packed
every single thing in my bags before paying. It's the only sure way of
preventing the cashier starting on the next person before I've gone.

PaulO

"Paul Oter" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 2 May 2004 10:20:38 +0000 (UTC),
wrote:

I really hate those who insist on (slowly) packing every single item away
before then deciding that they will turn to the checkout person to see
how
much their bill is before eventually paying it. Although I usually keep
up
with packing the stuff as it comes off the conveyor belt, I will stop and
pay as soon as the bill is ready. I can then go back to packing any
remaining items and the checkout person then has the option to wait until
I'm out of the way or start on the next person.


We're getting *way* off-topic, but I always wait until I have packed
every single thing in my bags before paying. It's the only sure way of
preventing the cashier starting on the next person before I've gone.

I'm just the opposite: I pay as soon as I'm asked for the very reason that
it allows the cashier to start on the next person's shopping and avoids
holding that person up while I finish packing - it allows parallel
processing! Supermarkets (back in the days of names like "Grandways") used
to have a dividing "wall" that they could swing across to direct one
person's shopping away from the next person's, but they seem to have
abandoned that idea which is a shame.