do supermarkets confuse you?

Post Reply New Topic

yes. first time at a place where i don't know the layout is the worst. i can only do short trips.

not as bad though as a store like best buy - i am just swimming in the sounds & sights and have trouble making sense of anything. headphones will increase my supermarket tolerance dramatically.

i'm ok in some stores for awhile if i have no agenda - i just get lost in the sensory experience like a five year old in a crib full of toys or someone on LSD watching fractal animations. but if i have to see / hear things and think .. it is bad news.

Yeah. I always go cocooned behind tinted glasses, hat, and earbuds+ipod.

I also try to go during less crowded hours. When there are a lot of people moving around at once I get confused about how to manuever my way through all the criss-crossing trajectories.

I don't find them particularly confusing, as I worked in one for a while before it turned out that they overhired when a store was being remodeled, as their old employees returned. If I'm buying a few items and nothing that has a code, I like to use the self checkout if the store has them, otherwise, I'll go to any of the lanes where there's a cashier.

The thing that was confusing was when my local Target was building their grocery section, they rearranged the layout so some things were harder to find. Now that the remodeling is completed, I have the layout memorized again. Even then, I tend to go to the supermarket for most of my groceries, but the Target is nice if I need to get a gallon of milk and I don't feel like driving to the store. My local Target is a block away, so I usually walk.

It's the noise I hate.

Even if you shop late at night. Then the shelf stackers have some nasty local radio station on really loud to keep them awake which I find even more jarring than the noise of the people during the day.

Supermarkets are ok. I'm not sensitive to sounds, excluding disco umpa-umpa, but supermarkets don't play it. Youth fashion shops play it and I hate them.
I'm sensitive to light, especially in white shiny rooms and I often wear sunglasses while shopping. Supermarkets usually stink and I don't like it.
Supermarkets are very practical - there are many many products and I choose what I want without speaking to assistant. I can walk and take products in almost mechanical way. Nobody tries to talk with me like in the small shops. Nobody comments what I buy. And they have lower prices and more things than small shops.

Interesting.

When I studied Graphic Products, the focus was on designing eye catching packaging "loud" enough to make the brand name noticed in a sea of other products.

So, in supermarkets, there are many products all competing for the shopper's attention.

We didn't study the environmental health impacts of "loud" points of sale displays and logos. I think we should've done.

I loved studying Graphics in the classroom, but when I got out into the real world of Service Stations and Supermarkets, I found myself bombarded with messages and logos. I was unable to function, often times going mute and having to retreat to the toilets, only to find adverts pasted on the inside of the toilet door.

My head was swimming in an overstimulating advertising nightmare.
I couldn't seem to help analysing it all either.
I felt beseiged and anxious around the people at the tills.
My brain was picking up on all of the physical details and pattterns.
This made it hard for me to concentrate on talking to people or paying for food.



That was ironic, given my high grade in Graphic Products.

Service Stations are terrible places.

The idea is that drivers will stop and rest and so reduce the risk of accidents caused by fatigue. How does bombarding people with shouty logos help?

I have no problems with supermarkets if they're well-laid out and have signs. I love the new automatic check-outs: so quick and easy. I do tend to have trouble resisting impulse purchases so I usually bring a list even if I don't have to look at it.

I have trouble keeping my eyes open...do they really need to be so bright?

Asda is especially bad for this...even on a sunny day, it's always way brighter inside than it is outdoors.

Yes, what are they for?

Seriously though, they annoy me when they keep changing the layout of the store.

Yes. The noise, lighting and people all adds up to make the whole experience problematic. I get all my main groceries delivered since for a small charge its easier to order everything online and just avoid all the stress

did you make that cartoon? i love that! i totally feel that way.

I think I recently read/heard something about most people being overwhelmed when they have too many possible choices. That's why here in Germany, discount stupermarkets are pretty successful in term sof catering to the general population - they usually have no more than two possible choices of every item. Used to be a single one, but for key products they started introducing a more expensive brand name alternative.

I do not dislike entering a supermarket (as long as I have my mp3 player and can drown out most outside noise and the horrible horrible muzak), but I take a long time to get the shopping done. And it seems that I'm really odd to be with in a super market; people always comment on how I vanish. But, but ... I can't just tag along and talk about things and such like my friends usually do when they enter a super market together. I have to take my time and look at the different items carefully and think about the way they were placed and whether something has changed with them and if, what the store owner is trying to achieve with it ...

What's worse are markets, because there you have to talk to people and maybe are even supposed to haggle.

It isn't supposed to "help" as such, it's supposed to make money from a captive audience.

When a lot of people have to gather in one place, this is called a "business opportunity".

The objective seems to be to make money regardless of the effect on people's mental health or sensory sensitivity.

It's the same principle at Airports. People have to gather in one place before the plane takes off. Business opportunity: eateries, coffee bars, bookstores, confectionary...
All these outlets have to compete for your attention.

Making money out of people always seems to take priority over safety, mental and environmental health.

In Graphics, we had to identify needs and wants.

We never ever considered the fact that people might need a quiet space away from all of the media bombardment. This would've been called "ad-avoidance".

I don't think that human beings evolved to take in this much synthetic sensory stimulation.

We're going to get people who are disabled by overwhelming environments like these.

Grocery shopping is like a weekly ritual for me.
I park in the same place everytime, unless I'm in the mood for challenging my comfort zone.
Shopping at night is far easier, if the car is available.
I must have a green shopping cart, not the other metal ones.
I always start from the east side and work my away to the west.
If some of my essential items, like veggie burgers or zuccinis, are missing or moved I sometimes cry from frustration.
I get very angry if they stop stocking something on my usual shopping list.
If I see a child down an isle I'll skip it and return after the child has gone.
I talk to myself out loud while looking for the best bargain for something new or different on the list, it can sometimes take me 10-15 minutes to choose a pasta sauce.
Often I need to return another day to get veggies and fruit because the quality is not good enough. I am very, very fussy about the quality of fresh produce and this little country town gets the dregs of the city markets, sometimes it looks like they rummage through the garbage for the fresh produce, it's disgusting but the other supermarket is worse, sometimes you can smell the rotting food from the entrance.
The smell of the meat and deli sections are so bad I gag everytime I walk near it. The smell of their cleaning is even worse. I need to hold my breath if I have to go anywhere near it.
Old ladies who stand in the middle of the isle when it's obvious I want to pass, cough and excuse myself, annoy me, sometimes I just tap them with the cart and they pretend to be shocked and sorry, sometimes I just stand and stare at them until they get a complex.
I find the supermarket the easiest place to be a relatively normal, anonymous person.

BUT, I can not go into any other supermarket without having to ask the staff where stuff is and even then I get lost and confused. If I'm going into a new/unknown supermarket for a bottle of water I usually end up walking every isle to find it and feel like a real dill when I finally reach the checkout half an hour later with only one item.

They don't really bother me. Though I do prefer going to walmart when everyone is at work or asleep. At work is better though because both doors are open and there aren't employees running all over cleaning the floor.