I hate being pushed around in the supermarket.

Maybe its because I'm from Texas and we have loads of space even in supermarkets (and city centers)but here I feel like everyone is running into me and I try to be polite and let people through but I am one of few. Sometimes i just want to say something rude but I don't.

i do understand......i have felt like that many times.........i just changed the days and times i shop so that there isnt so many ppl there

Yes, definitely a common complaint on this board! 
I suppose I'm used to it now- I'm probably one of the shovers back now if its after work and the shop is full. I just move quickly in and out and get over with it 
 I definitely try and shop at odd hours, whenever possible. Also, online grocery shopping. No crowds, no shoving, no bagging of groceries.

I know how ya feel!  And no one here seems to know how to shop properly, it's as if they all have some sort of collective IQ drop as soon as they enter the door!  I can't tell you how many times I've seen people with this "what am I doing here" look on their faces.  

And what's up with the horrible grocery carts that have casters on the front AND back so that you can't steer them at all??

I'm also from Texas and missing the wide aisles and polite shoppers. I do my main shopping online, but still have to hit Iceland several times a week for milk, bread and whatever else we forgot. Not a task I ever look forward to.

--Laurie

I do struggle with this, so we go shopping later at night during the weekdays usually after 8pm.  I found this was much better.  It was still sort of busy, but not nearly as bad as just after work or on Saturday.  I refuse to shop on a Saturday.

I don't think the people are any less polite here, at least compared to NJ. 

I think it's just that there was generally more space in the US and therefore less opportunity for people to get in each other's way and show how inconsiderate they are. 

I had just as many annoying run-ins in smaller supermarkets in NJ as I do here.  At least here, people mumble a "Sorry" and carry on their way.  In NJ it was usually someone shouting "Excuse me!" and pushing through.

Once, in NJ, it was super crowded at a decent sized supermarket and this old lady and I met head on with our carts and couldn't really get around each other.  I stopped, backed up, and waited for her to go through.  She just stood there, looked at me, looked at stuff on the shelf, etc.  I waited for about 3 minutes, texted someone, waited more.  One of the people causing the back up moved a bit so there was a little more space.  The old lady didn't do anything, so I thought, "Ok, I'll just go then".  As I go past her she shouts at me "Patience is a virtue, you know!". 

All of this said, no matter where I am, I try to go at odd hours because I just hate shopping in crowds.  Hate hate hate.  BF and I usually go at 7am on a Sunday and when I was in the US I would try to go at 10pm on Tuesdays.

This subject came up on another board recently and I learned that there is actually a particle movement formula, some sort of non linear equation thingy which applies to supermarket shoppers. Picture a bunch of molecules in a gas moving about glancing off one another in what seems a random manner. CGI programmers use it to animate those big battle scenes in Lord of the Rings and such. You can muck about with the variables, density, speed and such to make the system behave differently. A supermarket, if viewed from above, is much the same, but with free will added in (if there is such a thing - perhaps we are just like the particles but with the illusion of self control).

I find a few things frustrating. And mainly they arise from the fact that like people driving along on the motorway, everyone has their own little mission within the framework of the overall mission which is to keep everybody moving along and not ramming each other. But in the supermarket there are no lanes or speed limits.

My village has a greater than average number of old people and one of the largest family size ratios in the UK, like 4 kids per household (and 95% Tory) or something - there have been articles written about it. I do the family shopping because I am the chef and I choose to go alone because when my wife and daughter go the bill is always much larger. I go almost every day and use a hand basket which allows me to zoom about and to utilize the "express checkout". I know beforehand what I am after and know exactly where everything is located. I therefore frown on anyone stopping for any reason whatsoever. I am baffled by people who stand there and intently read labels.I think they can get this information at home from the internet. What is on a tin that is so important? People with all the brood in tow chap my rear end. Why bring them all along? Sudden stoppers infuriate me (although I do it too). But looking at it all from another perspective, I may really be the one who is behaving in a way which goes against the system, like the jack ass who wants to go ten miles an hour faster than the traffic, weaving in and out and really getting there no quicker. 

I think that there is less of a respect for personal space in the UK. I've noticed this outside as well as in shops, and like phatbeetle, I think I have gotten used to it and become one of the shovers back.

I used to get annoyed when I would be looking for something on the shelf and people would just reach their hands in front of me to grab what they wanted instead of waiting for me to finish.

But then I've noticed that people will stand in front of the shelf chatting while I'm patiently waiting to reach something so I just say "Excuse me" and stick my hand in. At least I say "Excuse me".

It is like people have no idea that there are other people who also want to get their shopping done.

NoseOverTail, I have had the same experience as you in UK supermarkets but never in the US (New York City) - where you back out of the way to let someone pass and they just stand their like deer in headlights.

Sometimes there will be one person coming in one direction and two people in the opposite direction, and it is impossible for anyone to move unless someone backs up, and nobody but me can figure that out.

I usually have to say “Go ahead” and signal with my hands to get them to figure out what needs to be done or we will be there all day and  all night.

But in the supermarket there are no lanes or speed limits.
 

You should not need lanes or speed limits to do this.

I used to work in Manhattan where the pavements were packed with people rushing to get wherever they wanted to go.  Everybody managed to get through the crowds without delaying other people or causing injuries.
I don’t have a driving license and yet I can figure out what I need to do to make sure that I am not in someone else’s way and they not are in mine.

Regarding reading labels, people read labels because they want to know what is in the food they are eating. The information on the internet is not always accurate.  Some people are on diets. Some people have food allergies and if there is the tiniest amount of the wrong substance the food will kill them. Some people want to check how they can store an item or how long they can keep it before it goes bad. Some people want to see if the ingredients in the item are worth what they are paying for it.
You can read a label quickly without getting in other people’s way.

I hate grocery shopping, and always have.  It doesn't matter if it's here or in the States, people piss me off, get in my way, stop dead in the middle of an aisle when their mobiles go off, are oblivious to others' need to get their shopping done as well, can be rude, inconsiderate, etc.

I am a misanthrope on days I go food shopping.  This rule knows no national border.  It's the reason (and the fact my husband is about the same) that we try to do as much of our shopping in other ways (late at night, grocery deliveries, so on).

it's odd to see people saying things like "no one here seems to know how to shop properly".  Maybe I just shopped in the wrong places in the US, but I don't see the store etiquette on display in tesco and Asda as being any worse than the store etiquette in Wal-Mart, where I once had a woman body-check me out of the way because she wanted to get to some mouthwash.

I think Americans tend to perceive personal space differently than other cultures just because we have so much space.  I have definitely felt crowded in a lot of different countries. 

However, I live in Manhattan.  Right now I have the largest grocery store I've ever had close by and it is full of people who can't move over.  They all have their own agendas and don't care if someone only needs 3 things and are in a hurry.  It drives me nuts.  I like to shop at Trader Joe's as well, which is always super crowded, but with a different crowd.  I feel like people there are more apt to say excuse me and to take the lack of space into their thought process.

In the UK DF and I have two massive supermarkets with huge isles, I prefer shopping there!  But I'm a weirdo and I like to go to grocery stores abroad.  The UK isn't as much fun as non-English speaking places though.  I've always thought of it as a scavenger hunt.

 

There are rude, pushy people everywhere.

I think the difference is that in the US this is seen as a rarity - Lamuella, you said you "once" had a woman bodycheck you, while in the UK it seems almost everybody is completely oblivious to the people around them and expects everyone else to be the same way.

In general, people in the US are expected to be considerate of other people and not always put themselves first.

Here in the UK, though, I find, that if you step out of the way to let someone pass or to let them reach for something, or if you hold a door open for someone they are often totally confused and don't know what they are supposed to do.

Sometimes if I am walking down the street and someone is coming the other way, when they get within a short distance of me they will get this shocked look like "OH MY GOD!  THERE IS ACTUALLY ANOTHER HUMAN BEING ON THE STREET!"

Sscarliet, I am from New York City also and I think it is different.  In the UK, it’s not just the pushiness, but the total confusion regarding  how to move through a space with other people.

Sweetpeach, sometimes I think that you and I must be living in different countries.  I have never had an experience in a UK supermarket that was any worse than what I experienced in American ones. 

There are rude, pushy people everywhere.

Agreed.

In general, people in the US are expected to be considerate of other people and not always put themselves first.

Nope, can't agree with that.  Not any more so than people here are.

it's odd to see people saying things like "no one here seems to know how to shop properly".  Maybe I just shopped in the wrong places in the US, but I don't see the store etiquette on display in tesco and Asda as being any worse than the store etiquette in Wal-Mart, where I once had a woman body-check me out of the way because she wanted to get to some mouthwash.

Heee!  I used to go to 24-hour Wal-Mart in the middle of the night (like between 1-3 am) to avoid the crowds & incidents such as that!

I disagree that people are any less polite here.

But I do think it's a thing to do with space - more people in less space, while in the US (in the majority of places) we have lots of space & not so many people.  It did freak me out when I first got here - felt like everyone was breathing down my neck, at my shoulder, my elbow, etc.  Just think, if you think this is bad - what would it be like in an extraordinarily population dense place like areas of India or China, for example?  I haven't ever been, but I really just can't imagine.  I was a bit freaked in Marrakech - and there not only are there tons of people to navigate around, most of them are trying to confrontational-sell you something too - lol!

Now when I go back & shop in the US, it feels like I am in a vast cavernous space when I go to Wal-Mart or a mall or something, where it didn't seem like that before.  So I think it's a continuum of what you are used to, like with hot weather/cold weather - that sort of thing.

Here in this country, when we've done long distance walks - and it's been nobody in one place with us but DH and me for days on end walking in the countryside, staying overnight in tiny rural villages...then we came into a place like Keswick (which isn't a big town by any stretch of the imagination!) & we were freaked out at how crowded it all of a sudden seemed!