Anyone have trouble going to the supermarket?

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I go to the store after 10:00 PM but when I have to go durring the day I use the automated checkout where you have to scan your own goods and pay the machine instead of a checkout person. I break out in a sweat and get light headed when I go to crowded places it causes my blood pressure to spike and since my blood pressure is already high it could cause damage to me. I have four grocery stores in walking distance to my house but I go to the only one who has the automatic checkout even though the other three have a better selection of goods. There is a Walmart about a twenty minute walk from my house but it is shoulder to shoulder traffic so I only have been there once.

Strangers bother me more than people who I'm expected to interact with. If I don't know people who I'm expected to interact with, I will get anxious and phobic of them misjudging me, but usually when I'm with other people, they're usually people I know well enough to feel comfortable interacting with, and if not then I just stay quiet and speak when spoken to and smile when appropriate, then the confident builds with these people.

Supermarkets, (especially local supermarkets) are different. People give me funny looks as though they don't want me to be there, and I'm frightened to do anything stupid because a lot of people whom I grew up with at school work in most shops near me, (but they're not really my friends but they know me and I know them), and mothers with kids think they own the whole shop and so seem like they take over, and everywhere I stand I'm in somebody's way, which makes me look awkward because it happens literally every time I set foot in a shop. People probably think, ''oh there's a great big stupid girl in my way!'' even though I'm not great and big - but anything's great and big when it's completely in your way. It's just all too much for me. I don't mind people I know standing right next to me and being touched by them, but I HATE strangers standing right next to me and touching me.

If I have to go into a larger store for items only stocked there, I do make a point of going at 10 or 11pm. However, I am now very spoiled locally as there are 2 Tesco Express shops with automated checkouts which are always empty of customers AND staff so I can go in pick up a few items and pay and go without interacting with anyone.

My local petrol station is now also a Marks and Spencer so I can do a small shop there too.

i was terrified of going to mcdonalds to order a meal because i was afraid i'd do something stupid or lose my balance or maybe the cashier will ask me something and i won't know how to answer. but i did it and got used to it.
can't you go to a grocery store instead, or seven eleven or white hen pantry? a smaller store would be easier to deal with than a crowded supermarket.
you might want to check out if the supermarket will deliver the food to your house. i know many stores do, don't know about supermarkets, though. worth giving them a call. you just pay the delivery guy when he shows up. my pet store sends my cats food and litter to my house all the time. not that i mind going there, because it's not crowded or loud, but the food is too heavy and i don't have a car, so... check it out.

I prefer to shop at around midnight. The other customers are typically in their own little worlds, there are few people so that reduces the bumping and having to dance the Shopping Cart Tango, the cashiers are less talkative, and it is quiet quiet quiet. That is the only time I am OK with being in walmart for 2 hours (it takes a long time to shop for a house with 7 people).

It's not so much the crowds that bother me but the noise they make. Every time I go to the store I get overwhelmed by the sounds around me and start to feel nauseated.

I hate doing it alone. If I have to go grocery shopping, I do it with husband because I have a hard time bagging groceries. We always to go the one where we bag our own groceries because it's the most inexpensive place in our area. If I need to get a few things, I have no troubles going and I go to any supermarket for it like Safeway or QFC because they are the closest.

I dropped my lunch once at McDonalds--the staff was really nice about it--picked it up for me and got me new food!

If it weren't for toddlers being so LOUD, I think my life would be easier all round, not just in supermarkets.

But NTs get a bit obsessive when it comes to bargains and prices in supermarkets. When I last went with my NT friend, she stopped dead and said, ''oh look - these peanuts are only 87p - they were £1.09 last week! Oh it works out cheaper if I get two!'' And she puts them into the shopping basket. I don't even remember prices of things, and when I walk into a supermarket I don't spot anything except what I planned to get. Oh, I wish I could be more....shopable!

My biggest problem with supermarkets is remembering what to buy- I can quite easily go in and buy a basket of food but still have nothing sensible to eat. I now always have a list- and it;s written in order of where things are in the supermarket as I always go to the same one and park in the same place.
I usually go at 9 at night or 6 in the morning as it's much better for me then. But I only go in, shop, pay and go out, and if I don't have to speak much, all the better.

I will only go to a familiar Tesco. If I go to a different one I freak out. Why? Because I have memorised the exact location of everything in my local! I can literally do a weeks shop in under 10 minutes because I almost run around the shop from item to item. I don't stop to ponder whether to buy the three for two baked beans, or marvel at some new product that has appeared on the shelf, I just get what I need and get the hell out of there! I also usually use the self serve checkouts because it is quicker sometimes (unless there is an empty cashier) and the only interaction is when the staff comes over to verify my bags!

Of course, being Tesco, they seem to enjoy moving everything around on a monthly basis...

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I have HFA, ADHD, OCD & Tourette syndrome. I love animals, especially my bunnies and hamster. I skate in a roller derby team (but I'll try not to bite )

Thank you automatic tellers and online shopping, I love buying most of my consumer needs without human interaction.

I don't buy much from supermarkets and I know the exact location of the items I need. When they are crowded it can be a hassle so I try to do it during quiet times if possible.

When I was living on my own (although not alone) and did my own shopping for food, I'd only go out late at night - no earlier than 10 pm and sometimes in the early morning hours.

Given right now I have basically no control over when I can go anywhere (due to living too far from an urban area for stores to be within walking distance, and I can't drive) I all too often end up going during the busiest hours, which is extremely stressful.

Crowds of people are frustrating and disturbing for me. Not just because they're people, but in that they move around seemingly randomly and I never know when someone nearby will come careening into me. I've had too many occasions of someone deciding to back up right as I'm behind them, and the unexpected contact fries my nervous system as it is.

The noise is overwhelming. Not just people, but the loudspeakers. I've been caught right under the loudspeaker during a repeated announcement (at least four times, possibly more) and my brain basically shut off until they stopped the announcements. I've also had this happen when an employee wheeled an extremely squeaky (more like shrieking than squeaking) cart-thing by.

I have to wear sunglasses, because stores are typically too brightly lit by fluorescent lights.

Trying to find things after aisles have been rearranged adds frustration on top of overload, which is not a good mix. I don't quite have a meltdown, but sometimes it gets bad enough I just walk out of the store instead of dealing with it.

Going to a new store is hugely stressful. I once tried to go to a cheaper store (one my housemate went to) but once I was inside, I was overwhelmed and confused by the unfamiliar layout and number of people and just walked back out.

I don't really care (or even know) what other people might be thinking about me when I'm trying to do some shopping. I just want to get it over with as quickly as possible.

The thing I don't like about super markets is how I always feel like I'm being rushed when I'm there, like the other customers are annoyed that I'm not doing it right or something and they want me to leave.

All I want to do is look at all the different variety of stuff on all the shelves! But I feel like people are watching me and I have to just quickly get what I need and go.

I'd like to go in sometime when no ones around and just inspect all the various forms of breakfast cereal :r

I find going into most shops difficult for various reasons. In the last couple of years it has got pretty bad but before that I did get quite good at it at for some time although I always felt self conscious. I try and go sometimes now though because I feel I need to be able to. I tend to use the self service checkout which most of them seem to have now and I go at a time I think won't be too busy. I only buy a few things at a time though because I can't spend too long in there. I usually get rather flustered so I am glad that supermarkets seem to be rather cold otherwise I would be overheating! I feel like a "rabbit in the headlights" when I am in shops aswell, I get easily overwhelmed by them and then I feel more self conscious because I think I must look slightly dodgy. If I don't write down what I want I will tend to forget something even if it's just 3.