Things people buy

[Jamez]

I was standing in the queue in Spar about 20 minutes ago with a 2 litre bottle of water and some milk. In front of me was the roughest, smelliest and foul-mouthed motley crew of a family I have ever seen. I wasn't too surprised, as this particular Spar is located on a fairly rough council estate.

This is what the family bought:

40 Sky Cigarettes (the cheapest fags you can buy)
20 Richmond Superkings (again, a poor man's cigarette)
10 Lambert & Butler (slightly more expensive brand, but still aimed at the working class puffer)
Two 2 Litre bottle of cheap cider
8 cans of Special Brew
5 bottles of 500ml Cherry Coke
2 bottles of 500ml Diet Cherry Coke
A multi-pack of Smith's crisps (Squares, Frazzles, Chipsticks etc.)
1 litre bottle of Spar own brand Cola
2 packets of Fruit Pastilles
5 ready-made Microwavable hamburgers
5 National Lottery £1 scratchcards
1 loaf of cheap sliced bread

I was standing behind the matriarchal mother of the family she was being handed many of the above items by her gaggle of small, dirty-faced and dirty-clothed children whilst dashing around the shop grabbing stuff from the shelves.

Then came the time to actually pay for this pile of shit. The bill came to just under £30.

The woman routed around her battered purse looking for money. Her tramp-like and completely toothless husband just stood there with an utterly blank look on his face. She handed the hugely obese checkout girl four tatty and stained £5 notes and some coins. The woman was about £1.50 short.

Now, most of us would quietly say to the checkout person that we'll just leave one item behind to save embarrassment. Oh no, not this woman. To my shock she turns round and looks at the queue behind her. Her focus quickly switches to me. By this time her kids had finished their shopping spree and were standing next to their mother hen.

She focuses hard me, making eye-contact and then she looks me up and down. Then her mouth opens slightly. Before I have time to think, she asks me...

"'ave ya got a spare couple-ah quid ya could lend me couldja?" in the most gruff, rough and inarticulate voice I've ever heard.

"No, sorry." I replied, while looking into my wallet "I've only got twenties".

"Ahh 20p's will do" She responds enthusiastically.

"No, I mean I've only got twenty pound notes on me".

"Well, that's no fucking good is it? Ya posh cunt".

I looked away from her in disgust and at that moment another checkout girl calls me over to her so I can pay for my 2 items at the other end of the desk.

I walked out of there while she was still furiously haggling with the obese checkout girl about her bill. I silently laughed to myself about how rough some people in this country are.

Thankfully my car was still where I parked, it and in one piece. I made a speedy exit down the road and back into the more affluent side of town where remnants of manners and politeness are still occasionally to be found.

At least those little scruffbag kids will eat like kings tonight. Microwavable burgers washed down with cherry coke and fruit pastilles for desert! Yum!!

[Lorns]

Bloody snobs! Honestly Special Brew! It's Tennants extra round this neck of the wood and Mayfair fags if we're particularly snobbish we buy Royals. Get 25 inna packet dontcha know.

[Gavin Scott]

James, none of us particularly want to supplement the poor but your post reads like you are a snotty toff.

Isn't it possible that you would have condemned a person who mocked the poor just a couple of years ago?

[Ronnie Rowlands]

I feel very sorry for you Jamez and I've had similar experiences.

I was in Londis once, just about to get served when some chav, who couldn't be more scum if he stole his tracksuits from the salvation army came in and started shouting at fat Jo who was stacking the shelves, she must've argued with him earlier because he started coming out with shit like "you've been dissin' my family" and "I'm gonna fockkin' leather you." Both of 'em were shouting in chav for about 2 minutes before I turned to the lady behind the counter and tried to ignore the shouting, and he turned to the shopkeeper and said "yeah you're a fucking 2 faced lying prick as well Barbara!" (she's 68) Then he turned back round to Jo and says "this is what I think of your family," and he spat across the shop, and caught me on the thumb. I looked up at him slowly, with an Oliver Hardy type look, I didn't utter a word and he shouts "you can shut up as well you prick or I'll get Mike on you." I said "Mike?" He said "shut up you dick and get a haircut." Then he walked out of the shop and got into his mate's battered, uninsured metro, and sped off past a red light.

And I'm also always stuck behind some insolent fart who buys a sandwhich with a £20 note, then after the shopkeeper spends ages countng out the chage, asks if she can also have a packet of fags, pays for it, then asks for a scratchcard.

Some people are so insolent.

[Jamez]

James, none of us particularly want to supplement the poor but your post reads like you are a snotty toff.

Isn't it possible that you would have condemned a person who mocked the poor just a couple of years ago?

I would have overlooked this interesting incident if I hadn't have been called a "cunt" in front of a dozen other people.

Oh, and I doubt these people were poor. They obviously had plenty of money if they are happy to spend £15 on cigarettes. And they probably receive a huge amount from the government every month in benefits.

For £30, they could have done a proper weekly shop at the local Tesco or Morrisons and bought decent food - instead of loading up their basket in Spar with junk food, alcohol, cigarettes and scratchcards!

[Ronnie Rowlands]

Don't worry about them James, you can just kick them home from whatever fantastically payed job you have, and then leave them to shout obscenities at passers by from whatever bridge they live under.

[Lorns]

Oh i love making rude peoples lives a misery in Tesco express. Especially if someone gets behind me when they only have a newspaper and pint of milk and i have a basket full to brimming of stuff.. They immediately start huffing and puffing down my neck. Then when it's all totted up i look for something i need that i know they don't have.
If they're patient and pleasant i let them go before me.

[onetrickpony]

Did she have to put any items back in the end?

It just shows how braindead they are, i mean they could have bought so much more from Netto for £30. Do they still sell 15p coke? I havent been in there for 5years

[Gavin Scott]

James, none of us particularly want to supplement the poor but your post reads like you are a snotty toff.

Isn't it possible that you would have condemned a person who mocked the poor just a couple of years ago?

I would have overlooked this interesting incident if I hadn't have been called a "cunt" in front of a dozen other people.

Oh, and I doubt these people were poor. They obviously had plenty of money if they are happy to spend £15 on cigarettes. And they probably receive a huge amount from the government every month in benefits.

For £30, they could have done a proper weekly shop at the local Tesco or Morrisons and bought decent food - instead of loading up their basket in Spar with junk food, alcohol, cigarettes and scratchcards!

People who are the most hard up tend to be the ones who smoke most.

Seriously, a quid and a half is nothing to you or I. I paid that to a guy selling the Big Issue this evening outside the pub when they were clearly dog-eared previously owned copies. I didn't want a copy but he clearly needed some cash.

I'm not judging you, honestly, but similarly I'm not there to judge anyone.

I don't spend my money terribly wisely either - and god knows we all may end up needing a helping hand at some point.

[Square Eyes]

I don't spend my money terribly wisely either - and god knows we all may end up needing a helping hand at some point.

Yeh but not for fags, cherry coke and cider.

I don't object to anyone selling the Big Issue, or donating to anyone who is clearly in need, however from Jamez's description these were vile human beings, not worthy of any help. They didn't have the courtesy to ask respectfully and they weren't buying the kind of stuff that anyone destitute could sensibly live on. Why didn't they just put a packet of fags back ?

[Ronnie Rowlands]

Was once stood behind a guy with his arm in a sling, and he was trying to carry three bottles of white wine. He dropped one on the floor, breaking it, and in one of the most rampant displays of pig ignoance I've ever seen,he immeadiately shouted "Not my fault! Not my fault! I've got a bad arm so it's not my fault" No apology, no "oh sorry about that, accident on my part, I'll help you clear it up, I know I should have used a trolley but being pissed and a loudmouth idiot I find it almost impossible to do anything that might help someone."

He even had the audacity to just go and get another bottle of wine, and walk out of the shop while the mess was still there!