The prize for the utterly useless goes to ...

[Mal]

Very bad for one's blood pressure. I now use those interminable minutes to close my eyes and do some transcendental meditation. Lowers the blood pressure. Worth a try?

Might work in Waitrose but you need to keep your eyes open in Lidl at all times, and be ready to move in an instant. Maybe some Karate kid practices would help?

They are always finding new ways to annoy you and you need all senses operating at optimum capacity to keep blood pressure below stroke level. Latest is, they've started using hidden microphones to talk to each other; I thought the checkout girl was talking to me, said "pardon", and she waved me away. I was the only one there, so I was perplexed about why she would speak to me and then just wave me away. She said something else, I said "pardon" again, and she glared at me and waved at a colleague who seemed to be talking to himself. Eventually the penny dropped - hidden microphones... or perhaps it's a new "torment the customer" game... anyway it's a way to be even less involved with the customer than usual, and a way to keep conversations about rap & football going when you aren't hiding in the warehouse.

[Bryn]

Very bad for one's blood pressure. I now use those interminable minutes to close my eyes and do some transcendental meditation. Lowers the blood pressure. Worth a try?

Or "mindfulness" as is the mot juste these days.

[ahinton]

Or "mindfulness" as is the mot juste these days.

Indeed, though quite how it came to be such remains something of a mystery...

[ahinton]

Might work in Waitrose but you need to keep your eyes open in Lidl at all times, and be ready to move in an instant. Maybe some Karate kid practices would help?

They are always finding new ways to annoy you and you need all senses operating at optimum capacity to keep blood pressure below stroke level. Latest is, they've started using hidden microphones to talk to each other; I thought the checkout girl was talking to me, said "pardon", and she waved me away. I was the only one there, so I was perplexed about why she would speak to me and then just wave me away. She said something else, I said "pardon" again, and she glared at me and waved at a colleague who seemed to be talking to himself. Eventually the penny dropped - hidden microphones... or perhaps it's a new "torment the customer" game... anyway it's a way to be even less involved with the customer than usual, and a way to keep conversations about rap & football going when you aren't hiding in the warehouse.

This and more certainly leads me to think that its best to order groceries online and have them delivered, which Waitrose and Partners (as it/they now style/s itself/themselves - why? it's always been a partnership...) do without charge provided that one purchases a minimum of £60 worth (so not much use for the odd top-up).

[vinteuil]

.

... I am relishing the insights provided by forumistas regarding the excitements of their daily lives.



.

[Bryn]

Indeed, though quite how it came to be such remains something of a mystery...

I blame it on Michael Parsons, whose Mindfulness of Breathing and Mindfulness Occupied with the Body were staples of the Scratch orchestra, back in 1969 and the early 1970s.

[Bryn]

This and more certainly leads me to think that its best to order groceries online and have them delivered, which Waitrose and Partners (as it/they now style/s itself/themselves - why? it's alwasy been a partnership...) do without charge provided that one purchases a minimum of £60 worth (so not much use for the odd top-up).

This very afternoon I noted a "Waitrose.com" dellivery van across the road. And this in the town where they have their main distribution centre.

[ahinton]

This very afternoon I noted a "Waitrose.com" dellivery van across the road. And this in the town where they have their main distribution centre.

Yes, well they've not changed their website to "waitroseandpartners.com"...

[french frank]

which Waitrose and Partners (as it/they now style/s itself/themselves - why? it's alwasy been a partnership...) do without charge …

But wasn't it the John Lewis Partnership? Are Waitrose staff treated entirely separately (from the point of view of status and emoluments) from John Lewis staff? Incidentally, I was surprised to learn that 'Waitrose' - as for 'Birdseye' Frozen Foods - was an actual surname. I thought they were made up names …

[vinteuil]

But wasn't it the John Lewis Partnership? Are Waitrose staff treated entirely separately (from the point of view of status and emoluments) from John Lewis staff? Incidentally, I was surprised to learn that 'Waitrose' - as for 'Birdseye' Frozen Foods - was an actual surname. I thought they were made up names …

... almost :

"Founded in 1904 by Wallace Waite, Arthur Rose and David Taylor, Waitrose & Partners began as a small grocery, Waite, Rose & Taylor, in Acton, West London.[1] In 1908, two years after David Taylor had left the business, the name "Waitrose", from the remaining founders' names, was adopted..."

[saith wiki.]

[subcontrabass]

But wasn't it the John Lewis Partnership?

It was, but it is now "John Lewis & Partners".

[Pianorak]

Or "mindfulness" as is the mot juste these days.

Don't know about mindfulness - but TM was all the rage at Oxford (town and gown!) in the 60s/70s. TM still works for me - mainly standing in a queue.

[french frank]

... almost :

"Founded in 1904 by Wallace Waite, Arthur Rose and David Taylor, Waitrose & Partners began as a small grocery, Waite, Rose & Taylor, in Acton, West London.[1] In 1908, two years after David Taylor had left the business, the name "Waitrose", from the remaining founders' names, was adopted..."

[saith wiki.]

I misremembered. I thought it was this chap.

[Serial_Apologist]

I feel your pain. It feels even worse when, if paying by cash, one has already totted up the total required and has the right amount ready to pay. One of the things I like about Waitrose and Partners, by the by, is that one can fully insert one's payment card in the reader well in advance of the transaction being ready to be competed, thus saving both one's own time and that of those behind one in the queue.

For my own part, I just pile all the groceries that have been run accross the checking eye" back into the trolley, and then sort it all out. Don't 'arf save the next shopper a lot of time. Sometimes, if the person in front has dawdled to an unwarranted degree, exhibiting that "I now own the shop" attitude that should get up everybody's nose, I say to the next in queue in a strident tone of voice, "Don't worry, I shall be very quick". Invariably, of course, the miscreant in front has taken no notice whatsoever, and drifts out of the shop with demure indifference.

[LMcD]

The BBC reporter who, in an interview with the nurse who tragically died from cervical cancer having been wrongly cleared 6 times before discovering the true situation as a result of going private, asked her for the latest news. When she told him that her condition was terminal, he said: 'What does that mean?' She replied: 'I'm going to die'.