Leaving the supermarket exhausted again

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What is it with supermarkets? I read a few times about Aspies having meltdowns in supermarkets - I suppose it was mostly kids.

For me there's a gradual build up of something, I don't know what to call it but I'll call it stress for simplicity. Then when this gets to a certain level I become physically and mentally exhausted - this last part happens really suddenly and is overwhelming.

Does anyone get that ... or anything similar?

Supermarkets are designed to trap you and to encourage you to spend more than you want to. Between the music, sounds, smells, and noises (some more than others), it's not exactly a sensory-friendly enviroment.

Bright lights, too much sound, navigating the space, being overpowered by the forceful marketing and dealing with people too.

I try to stick to smaller ones where I know the layout and go at less busy times myself.

Ummm, nearly everyone on the spectrum to some degree probably. Definitely me, although I'm much better now than several years ago and much much better now that I understand what's going on with my sensory and social issues.

Supermarkets are noisy, have huge amounts of small patterns, "shelf talker" signs wiggling in the wind, loads of strangers, acquantences you don't know well, regions with hot & cold drafts, automated display TVs, animated lottery signs, floor vibrations when the compressors click on and off, hard flat walls echoing every sound back, food and people smells all over the place, cashiers asking how you're doing when they don't care, very little chance that anything there is your "special interest".

Whatever your sensory or social issues, there's something for everyone. It's like one stop shopping for overload.

Lots & lots of sensory input. Fluorescent lights in most cases which some people are allergic to (AS or NT both.) Messes. Screaming kids. Rude people (taking up the whole aisle, or pushing carts into others, cutting in front of line, having 50 items in the 10 item or less line, checks and credit cards in the cash only lane...etc.)

Then for people who dislike too many choices, in the Western world supermarkets have too many choices of things to buy. Specials, complicating decisions - buy the one on sale not knowing if you'll hate or be allergic to it, or, stick with the tried and true brand, and pay more? So, it's also a bit unpredictable.

Germs, if you're a germophobe (as I somewhat am) - people digging into the barrels with their hands and eating, licking their fingers, going back for more - people opening packages, digging through with their hands, eating and closing it up as if nothing happened, leaving it for someone else to buy - cashiers who lick their own fingers before giving you your change or a bag.

And that's after you've battled the parking lot or taken a cab or bus to get there to begin with!

Which reminds me...I need to do the online shopping Lol.

I can acclimate myself to it somewhat, but some stores find new ways to pile on the misery. My biggest pet peeve lately is the motion controlled advertisements that start blaring at you when you walk by them. I always forget about them and jump out of my skin when the aisle starts talking to me about air freshener or something equally inane.

I owe the loss of my last bit of sanity in stores to the inventor of the kiddie cart.

OMG I'm getting a PTSD flashback just from reading these things LOL.
So true.

To add what was said above, the stores also deliberately stock their foods in a way to make you travel the longest distance trying to get to to buy more things. For instance, the milk display is always in the opposite part of the market that where the entrance is.

Then the understaffed checkout aisles can bring it to a boiling poing point especially if there is a problem with things like a barcode is not in their system so they have to get a manager to do a price check. Or the customer realizes after the whole bill is rung up that he or she has to pay for it then starts fishing for the checkbook.

Yes it is sensory overload problem. Bright flourescent lighting. Usually loud music and announcements over the intercom. Loud noise from food storage and loud noise from cashier area. Maze-like floor layout. Crowds of people all travelling in erratic and unpredictable ways.

I get very close to overload every time I shop at the grocery store. I always have ear plugs on when in the store. And I always have a plan of attack as part of my grocery list; I fill the grocery list out in order of the items I wish to purchase along my intended path through the store, so I don't have to backtrack or spend unnecessary extra time inside.

The worst is trying to find an item I do not know the exact location of. This is particularly bad in my local hardware store. That place is huge and the item placement completely nonsensical to me.

Entering a store I have never been to before is always a problem. 50% chance I leave before getting all of the things I intended to purchase because I overloaded/became disoriented and the... i'll call it the 'fear,' set in. In those cases it is either drop to the floor in the middle of an aisle with my hands over my ears and my eyes shut as tight as they will go, or leave the store immediately.

For me it's sensory overload.
Lots of people talking, music blaring, horrible lights, people getting in my way constantly, and the place echoes.
I try to limit my time there by making meals for a few nights, and I go when its less likely to be crowded.

I've never had any problem with going to the supermarket. I avoid the rush hours though, as they can be as bad as stores are just before Christmas. and standing in line just to switch isles isn't my idea of a good time, lol.

I agree, just reading about supermarkets is like PTSD for me! I have the luxury of being able to go very early on weekday mornings. There is usually no one there except for the people who stock the shelves. I also wear purple tinted lenses now, that helps. Having a well-organized list is a must. Even with all my planning, I am still overloaded by the time I get near the checkout line. I get this terrible tunnel vision and putting in my PIN number feels like the hardest task in the world, ugh.

All the things everyone has already mentioned, plus for me it's the people. Even when it's not that crowded, the cultural habit of the place I live now is that people assign themselves and others far less personal space than they did in the place I previously lived. So, I get a total stranger suddenly shoving their arm right across my nose as they reach for something on the shelf I'm looking at, or standing too close to me at a shelf, in the checkout line, or people walking so close they brush right into me even when there's actually space for both of us to have an invisible bubble.

That kind of thing is really disturbing me in supermarkets and any other store. Personal space boundaries not being observed, even when there is space.