13 rude things you need to stop doing at the supermarket

Grocery shopping is something we all have to do, seemingly all at the same time. Here’s how to make the experience better for everyone involved.

Leaving your trolley in the car park rather than walking it back to the trolley return station is not just lazy. It’s downright annoying for anyone who thinks they’re about to pull into a parking spot only to discover there’s an empty shopping trolley in the way, not to mention infuriating for anyone who returns to discover their car is scratched thanks to a stray shopping trolley. So it’s not surprising that 72 percent of responders in Treadmill Review’s survey of supermarket etiquette said leaving your trolley in the car park is a big no-no. Instead of spreading ill-will, spread joy. Here are 14 simple acts of kindness you can do in two minutes or less.

Even more universally detested than leaving your shopping trolley in the parking lot is leaving your shopping trolley in the checkout line while you grab another item. That’s a move that 80 percent of shoppers polled consider rude. So please do your best to finish all your shopping before lining up to check out. And whatever you do, don’t line-up-and-leave strategically to save time – everyone’s onto you. Think you always display exemplary behaviour? Here are 7 real-world situations to gauge how good your manners are.

This one seems to be a bit more well-tolerated than leaving your trolley while you’re still in line, but it still annoys 68 percent of grocery shoppers. Perhaps it’s less universally annoying because the other shoppers are more willing to believe it was an accident, rather than a time-saving strategy. But 68 percent is still a significant percentage of shoppers to annoy, so better practice is to simply accept you’ve made a mistake and shop for the forgotten item at some other time.

A whopping 90 percent of shoppers surveyed find it rude when your trolley gets in the way of their own trip down an aisle. Obviously, in a supermarket with narrow aisles or on a particularly busy shopping day, it’s harder to keep your trolley out of the way of other shoppers. But it helps to bear in mind that nine out of ten people seriously dislike dealing with aisle traffic jams. That dislike is only heightened if the person blocking the aisle is talking on their phone. Here are 10 mobile phone etiquette tips you should be following… but probably aren’t!

The easiest way to offend literally anyone at the grocery store is to cut the line – any line, whether checkout or deli. A full 99 percent of shoppers polled agreed that line-cutting is bad supermarket behaviour. If you’re the one out of 100 who doesn’t mind getting cut by someone else in line, congratulations because you’re a supermarket shopping unicorn! Cutting in won’t gain you any friends, but there are a handful of times when science says it’s OK to do it.

It’s not a coincidence that nearly as many shoppers hate when other shoppers invade their personal space on the checkout line (94 percent) as shoppers that hate line-cutters. Picture this scenario: You’ve just trudged around the entire supermarket, and now you’re waiting in the checkout line with your full trolley, dreading the process of unloading, loading, and unloading that awaits you when, suddenly, someone holding a single carton of milk in their arms starts getting just a little too close.

You know what they’re thinking (“Can I just squeeze in before you?”), and they know what you’re thinking (“Hey! Scat!”). Better to just skip this charade by standing in line with an appropriate distance between you and the person ahead of you.

If the express lane says “10 items or less,” then it’s bad form to get in line with 11 items or more, say 89 percent of grocery shoppers polled. And if you’re going to try to game the express lane, please don’t pretend you don’t know what you’re doing. Everyone knows what you’re doing.

Every parent has to endure their own kids misbehaving at some point. But a good 92 percent of shoppers don’t want to have to witness your kids misbehaving at the supermarket. What constitutes misbehaving? Treadmill Review didn’t specify, but we have a feeling that everyone knows it when they see it. As well as how to behave at a supermarket, here are 17 forgotten manners every parent should teach their children.

Let’s say you came to the store for a bottle of milk only to discover all the checkout lanes are packed, even the express lanes. What do you do? Do you return the bottle of milk to the refrigerated case where you got it? Let’s hope so. Because if you leave it anywhere else, 97 percent of your fellow shoppers will think you’re being rude. Follow these 5 food safety tips for proper food handling.