Do Christian's grocery shop?

[Lala]

I went to my local Meijer Monday, to do my weekly shopping.

Here is what I encountered (and I might add that is encounter is the NORM. not the exception)

Women parking their cart, in the middle of the isle, walking 10-15 feet away from their cart, to stand in the middle of the isle, to make her selection. WHEN I move her cart to go around, she shoots the nastiest look.

Women who park next to each other in the isle, jabber jawing, not minding their children running all over the place......and when you say, "excuse me" to move around, they flash you the death look.

Frowning faces.

Women who REACH OVER YOU and IN FRONT OF YOU to get their item, FIRST.

Women who push their shopping carts around the corner, without looking, and when they slam into your cart, GIVE YOU A DIRTY look.

Women who smash into the backs of your legs with their carts at the check out.

Women who stand on top of you when you are trying to pay for your groceries.

I didn't see one woman smile. I made it my goal to smile at everyone who would make eye contact with me.........2 women, made eye contact with me. Neither smiled back.

So on my way out of the store, I had to swing by the frozen food section. I forgot my hash browns. The employee was witnessing to (I will assume) his friend. His friend looked at him and said:

Ya, but they act one way on Sunday, and no sooner they walk out those church doors, they are just like the rest of us. They ain't no different.

And sadly, he is right.

I smiled as big as I could at this kid (about 18-20) and he was the only one to smile back.....the whole trip, the only one who smiled at me, was that kid.

As I walked to my van, countless cars had the "fish" symbol on it. 2 or 3 cars had bumper stickers that "would lead you to believe" that they were Christians......

Ladies, be mindful of your words, your actions, your manners, your mannerisms.

The "world" is watching.

I got a BIG wake up call, at Meijers.

Laura

 

[Thankful]

Lala, I agree, there is one store like this in my area and I try to avoid shopping there if I can. I am in such a bad mood if I grocery shop there.

The people are extemely friendly and courteous in the store where I shop so I feel I can name that one. It is Albertson's. Albertsons is my kind of store. The clerks are friendly and courteous and the customers are too. They also give a percentage of my purchase to my church.

 

[Abiyah]

Laura!! What were you doing, all the way from
Indiana, out here shopping in my store???

 

[Sherrie]

Lala I agree! I smile at people and say hi, and how are you, and people think I am on some of kind of drug. Some are very insulted you smiled and talked to them and will hurry to go somewhere different. That way they do not actually have to speak.

But trust this....I would have smiled, talked, and even moved my cart to the side if I saw you.

Sherrie

 

[Johnv]

I couldn't do stuff like that. The folks at Ralph's all know me too well.... The guy who uses coupons and pays $10.00 for 75.00 worth of groceries

Now, when I'm at Costco on the other hand, well......

 

[dianetavegia]

And I've been sitting, with my blinker on, to turn into a parking space at the grocery store as soon as the person pulls out and have had a woman with a big dove symbol on her car pull around me and steal the spot. I pulled up next to her, rolled down my window and said "And YOU'RE spirit filled!!" I'm sorry... I couldn't help myself....

Diane

 

[Wisdom Seeker]

Your not serious! Christians forgetting to be Christians at the grocery store? Not possible. I'm being heavily sarcastic, in case you couldn't tell.

All we can do is try to keep our testimony out there, and be an example of what would please the Lord. And that includes when someone bloodies your calf with their cart or their unruly child etc. And when someone gives you a nasty look, smile anyway. You may not see an instant difference, but you'll probably make a ripple in the stream. And when you go home, you'll feel better. I know I do.

The only thing within our control is our own actions.

Diane, I've lost my composure before too. Delivering a zinger never feels as good as you think it would does it?

My grandma used to say, "Once you lose your temper, You have lost the arguement" I lose my temper a lot less since having children, they push my temperance level so far, that people being rude get's little reaction out of me at all anymore. But when I was single...look out!

Laurenda

 

[I Am Blessed 24]

I always say 'excuse me' no matter whose fault it was. Most people will nod or something. I really got a shocker at Wal-Mart yesterday.

I was pushing a cart and a man was standing looking at an item. I always say excuse me when I walk in front of someone and that is what I did.

He looked up and said, "No, excuse ME".


Sue

 

[Gina B]

Ha! I posted this on another forum last week. It was at Meijer's.
----------------------------------------------
Ok, this was funny, at least to me and the girls! We were in tears laughing as we left.
We went to the grocery store, Meijers. We rarely go, but I was in the area and we stopped. I went to get in line and saw no place to put the groceries by the register, and then no cashier. I wandered around a minute in confusion wondering where in the world the real checkout lines were and what this was, then came back and stared again. They're self-check out lanes. You scan your own groceries and pay the machine. Sounds simple enough, right? Down past it a ways was a cashier for those old fashioned people who want to pay with cash, but you still scan it yourself so I got busy trying to figure it out. The cashier yelled out to me not to have the kids lean on the part where you bag the groceries. I though whatever, like they can hurt a metal stand, but told them to stay away from it anhow. I finally figured out how to start the machine, picked up an item and tried to scan it. Oops! Had to push the button for what dept it was. Ok. Fine. I scan it, it tells me to put the item into a grocery bag. So fine, I put it in one of the bags. Now the cashier has a friend with her, and they're both gawking at me like I'm the biggest moron on earth. Then I scan a piece of candy for my daughter. It doesn't say to put it in the bag but I have this thing figured out so I do. I pick up a passion fruit and see there's no scale. NOW what? But then I'm distracted by an electric voice yelling "Please place the item back in the bag!" "Place the item BACK IN THE BAG!" Mandie is standing there looking stunned and the other two are dying laughing. She had taken her piece of candy out of the bag. I didn't want the machine to beat me up like it was implying with that tone of voice, so we slammed the candy back in the bag quickly. It said "Thank you" in a snotty voice, and told me to scan the next item. It was a watermelon, and it was NOT going to fit on the one inch scanner. I threw up my hands and grabbed the bag with my two items in it to go find a real cashier. Of course the minute I did so the thing started screaming at me to put the items back in the bag. I threw them in the cart and we took off, to hear the cashiers who had been staring at me rushing over and shaking their heads and making comments to each other on how easy the machines were to use for everyone else as they reset it for the next customer since I obviously messed it all up.
We get to the cashier and SHE starts commenting on how easy they are to use and how SHE has no problems. I waited until I paid for my groceries, then commented that most people as smart as her could put together matching clothes and we ran out, still laughing at the machine that was STILL saying "PUT THE ITEM BACK IN THE BAG!"
I don't think we're going back, not that I'm sure they'd let us!
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In my town (this was NOT my town) most of the stores and workers are VERY friendly, except at Wal-Mart where it's HORRID!
Most of the people shopping in the grocery stores are nice too. Then again it's a smaller town. It's not unusual to talk to another shopper about a recipe or what you're using the sale item stuff for.
Now trying to park in this town is a WHOLE another story! You can lose your sanity trying to park closer than a mile from ANY store, and people will run you down trying to get there first. Maybe everyone's just so relieved they got inside the store without getting hurt they're just kinder!

Gina

 

[dianetavegia]

Ug... Gina, we used one of those for the first time yesterday at Lowe's. Jim accidentally put the garden hose in the bagging area and we got a message saying REMOVE this item immediately! Well... the computer knew it wouldn't fit in a bag and had another place for oversized items. I think we would have done better to wait in line and cashed out the old way.

Thankfully, no one was behind us and the woman at the end just said, 'Y'all have a nice day'....

I'm with Laura.... I'm a VERY nice person who never gets angry.... but I find it hard to deal with absolute rudeness!

Diane

 

[tyndale1946]

Holy Guacamole... Chaos in the grocery store ... Do Women really shop like that?... I don't shop like that ... Then again I don't go at rush hour... Brother Glen

& Sister Charlotte

 

[donnA]

Wow, I have to say I don't think I've ever experienced something like that. I find most people are pretty curtious at the grocery stores I visit.

 

[donnA]

Maybe it's a Meijers thing.

 

[Sherrie]

Tomorrow I am going to go to the grocery store, and I am going to say hi to everyone I pass. Loud enough they can't ignore me. And I am going to smile, and accidently lightly, bump into them and say "Oh excuse me", and see just how friendly my town is. Gina...you do the same and we will compare notes. Anyone else?

Sherrie

 

[Gib]

Christians don't grocery shop or eat out. We were eating out with several choir members and their spouses Saturday night. A lady from another table came over that knew one of the choir members. She stated she was there with her Sunday school class from a sister church. Our friend was telling us who she was and who else she knew at the table.

While we were looking in that direction, we noticed a man stand up and have a few words with the waitress. They were'nt pleasant words. Then his wife chimed in. All over a cucumber in the salad.

They ran that waitress ragged the rest of the night. When she asked if they needed anything else, the wife said, "not from you." Later we found out the man was a deacon in his church. He is also well known in the community. I wonder how many people there knew who he was.

 

[Lala]

Before I gave my life to the Lord........

The reason why I quit working Sunday's was because of the "church people".

They were the rudest people, with the most ill-behaved children. Honestly!
Every once in a blue moon, I would wait on a table of people who "lived their faith".
What a breath of fresh air they were.

I still wait tables, and you would be stunned and amazed to hear some of the conversations. One minute, they are tearing someone to shreds, the next, they are talking about teaching Sunday school!!

Scary!!

Laura

PS the town I shop in, is a population of about 30K. Its about 30 min north of Indpls. NOT a big town......pretty weathly, mostly professional type people. I live another 15 min north of where I shop (because there is no big store to shop at in my town)

 

[following-Him]

hm interesting...not so very different in here is it?

 

[I Am Blessed 24]

I see families bowing their heads in a restaurant and praying before they eat, (nothing wrong with that, we do it too), but then they argue the rest of the meal! What a testimony!!!


Sue

 

[Thankful]

I see families bowing their heads in a restaurant and praying before they eat, (nothing wrong with that, we do it too), but then they argue the rest of the meal! What a testimony!!!

Yes, this is very unfortunate. But there are some of us who pray before our meal, have a wonderful conversation, courteous, and leave a tip, even at the serve yourself restuarants. Let's give credit to the ones who do act like Christians.

There are several places that members of our church go on Sunday to eat and I have always observed Christian behavior.

At our usual eating place, the employees (not the employer) gave us a free meal and baked a cake for our wedding anniversary. We didn't even realize that they knew when it was. They remember when we were married.

 

[Thankful]

When I became member of my church's staff, I thought I have to be careful when I am shopping, etc. because I represent our church. Then the real light bulb came on

I should always act like a Christian wherever I am because I represent our Savior Jesus Christ.

Now, I continue to be careful because I represent Jesus, my church, and I don't want to embarrass my husband. Sometimes it is stressful to try to be this good all the time.