Tuesday, September 27, 2011

The shopping question I hate most:

"Did you find everything you were looking for?"

I wish they wouldn't ask that. The answer is too often no, and where does the conversation go after that?

"Did you find everything you were looking for?"
"No, you didn't have queen-sized purple cotton bed sheets."
[or "No, you didn't have black stretch pants for a baby boy."]
[or "No, you didn't have deodorant that smells like cookies."]
[or "No, you didn't have a painting of downtown Boise done in the style of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner."]
[or "No, you didn't have reasonably priced gouda cheese."]
"Oh. Yeah. We don't have that."
"Yep."

Did either of us get anything out of that exchange? I certainly did not. So I usually answer the question like this:

"Yes."

But then I feel a little bit resentful because they put me in a position where I had to lie.

The shopping question I hate least:

"Would it be all right if we gave you all this stuff for free?"

8 comments:

The Grady's said...

AMEN to that!

Dave said...

Amen and can I get a Hallelujah! too?

Submit this in some suggestion boxes online and see if you get a response. Mr Albertson would have listened.

Happy Rosh Hashanah! And may you have a great year with people asking you the RIGHT question.

Satu said...

I've always hated that question also. It feels so insincere. Like they have nothing else to say! Like Dani, I always say yes because I don't believe they can really help if I wasn't able to find it.

Anita Wells said...

agreed! and "do you want a receipt?" is code for "who's going to throw away this piece of paper?"

Mari said...

Love it. ;-)

Megan said...

Dani--I'm randomly stalking your blog and was sad to learn you're no longer posting (for now). However, this particular post spoke straight to my heart, as I, too, resent being asked this stupid question every time I'm at the store. Not only do I dislike lying, but my time is precious, and I figure that if I say no, I'll have to waste a minute of mine and the others' in line lives explaining what I didn't find, and why I didn't find it. < SIGH >

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FabricCreationsfromFran said...

I hate that question too. I rarely find everything in Fargo ND. so why ask?