From AOL
Are you an “aisle blocker”? Perhaps you’re a dreaded “express lane abuser”? If you can lay claim to either of these titles, we have two words for you: Stop it! These two types of people are at the center of frustrating experiences No. 4 and No. 5 on our 20 Most Annoying Things at the Grocery Store list.
1. The Oops I Forgot One Thing - while paying The person who holds up the whole line because she forgot her checkbook in the car or just needs to go grab one onion.
2. Prolonged temper tantrums - don’t stop your kids from crying - No one wants to hear your child scream and carry on for 30 minutes because they can’t get Oreos. If your child’s screams can be heard four aisles over and the tantrum is lasting longer than five minutes, it’s time to leave the store. But sadly, tantrums are not just for kids. One AOL Money & Finance editor witnessed a seemingly “normal” woman go on a verbal rampage (expletives included)
3. Aisle Blockers - leaves carts at end Are you an “aisle blocker”? You know the type — reading labels, searching through coupons or on the cell phone — completely oblivious to the fact that you’re blocking the entire aisle with your cart. Perhaps you are unaware that you are in the way. Perhaps you know, but just don’t care. In either case, you are just plain annoying.
4. Express Lane Abuse You have one gallon of milk to purchase. You are about to walk into the express lane (which clearly states 10 items or less), when in front of you pulls a shopper with a cart overflowing with groceries. This isn’t the “I-am-not-sure-if-I-have-10-or-11-items” cart, it’s the “I-am-feeding-a-family-of-seven-and-we-eat-a-lot” cart.
5. Kids with Wheelies these oversized kid-mobiles make perfect sense: Keep Junior entertained as he “drives” his toy car, so mom or dad can get their shopping done. But in reality, the mere presence of these behemoths can be groan-inducing. These colossal carts are impossible to steer and maneuver. And they are not only annoying for the beleaguered cart pusher, but also for the innocent bystanders trying to squeeze by or not get hit.
6. Payment Procrastinator Don’t be the shopper who waits until the very last minute to find her checkbook and begin filling out her personal check. If you are paying by check, which already takes longer than most other methods of payment, here’s a hint: Have your checkbook out and your check pre-filled, so that when you get the final total that’s all you need to pop in! (Same goes for debit cards, credit cards, cash or any other type of payment — you shouldn’t be digging
7. Let’s Put That Back - reailze it’s costing to much so you start taking stuff out while paying We are sure you’ll agree that people who are pretty certain they won’t have enough money to pay for all their groceries, but wait until the entire order is rung up to figure out what they will put back, qualify for our most annoying list. If you can’t keep a running tally in your head (which is certainly understandable), we suggest bringing a small calculator. Your fellow shoppers will thank you.
8. Checkout Belt Hogs People in the checkout line who don’t move up and out of the way when they are through putting their purchases on the conveyer belt. We can’t do anything with you standing there!
9. Extra Rough Cashiers We can’t stand cashiers who take no notice that they are denting cans and squishing bread as they slam our items around. Hey, don’t take your frustrations out on our eggs!
10. People who didn’t check sales correctly Not only do we get peeved when sale items don’t ring up as they should (good thing we were watching!), but we find it especially frustrating when the cashier is rude when we ask him to rectify the problem.
11. First time users of the self-checkout line You’re in a hurry, there aren’t enough cashiers, the express lane is full of “abusers,” so you try the self-checkout lane only to find that something isn’t scanning and you have to wait for a cashier to be called over to help you anyway. So much for time saved!
How Michael Phelps’ Mom Must Feel!
Phelps’s Mother Recalls Helping Her Son Find Gold-Medal Focus
DEBORAH PHELPS’S third baby and only son was larger than life from Day 1 — 9 pounds, 6 ounces and 23 inches long. As a little boy, said the mother, he asked 25 zillion questions, always wanting to be the center of attention. If he wasn’t zooming by on his big-wheel tricycle, he was swinging past on the monkey bars.
Starting with preschool, teachers complained: Michael couldn’t stay quiet at quiet time, Michael wouldn’t sit at circle time, Michael didn’t keep his hands to himself, Michael was giggling and laughing and nudging kids for attention. As he entered public school, he displayed what his teachers called “immature” behavior. “In kindergarten I was told by his teacher, ‘Michael can’t sit still, Michael can’t be quiet, Michael can’t focus,’ ” recalled Ms. Phelps, who was herself a teacher for 22 years. The family had recently moved, and she felt Michael might be frustrated because the kindergarten curriculum he was getting in the new district was similar to the pre-K curriculum in their old district.
“I said, maybe he’s bored,” Ms. Phelps recalled saying to his teacher. “Her comment to me — ‘Oh, he’s not gifted.’ I told her I didn’t say that, and she didn’t like that much. I was a teacher myself so I didn’t challenge her, I just said, ‘What are you going to do to help him?’ ”
In the elementary grades at their suburban Baltimore school, Ms. Phelps said, Michael excelled in things he loved — gym and hands-on lessons, like science experiments. “He read on time, but didn’t like to read,” she said. “So I gave him the Baltimore Sun sports pages, even if he just read the pictures and captions.” She will never forget one teacher’s comment: “This woman says to me, ‘Your son will never be able to focus on anything.’ ” His grades were B’s and C’s and a few D’s.
It was a tough period. Ms. Phelps and her husband, a state trooper, were divorcing. She had just gone back to school to get a master’s degree to become an administrator, she said, and at the same time she had to be the 24/7 parent. Read the NY Times Article