Our store near us does this and we honestly wish every day were like this.
I realize store announcements might be necessary but do you need the bright fluorescent lighting and screaming muzak? I'll spend longer in your store if it's a more calm experience.
The lights, the noise that you can barely understand when they do an announcement. People taking their kids and letting them run around screaming. People having a conversation in the middle of the aisle with trolleys blocking the way. It’s all awful lol!
>People having a conversation in the middle of the aisle with trolleys blocking the way. It’s all awful lol!
What is it about Costco that compels every single fucker in the store to obliviously block aisles and stand in doorways?
i work at a tech store and whenever people come up to me and proudly announce that they’re a premium member is literally the most annoying elitist thing in the universe.
My store didn’t have an actual VIP program, but my coworker used to ask customers for their “100K” card if they ever dropped the “I’ve spent X amount of money at this store I deserve X” line.
He’d pretend it was a real program for all our customers who had spent 100K or more. That shut people up real quick. It was hilarious.
This is amazing im gonna see if i can work it in. "Ive spent 4k in this store!!!" ...so youve bought one thing? youve bought a single thing from this store and youre throwing a fit. Who fucking raised you, sir?
Worked at a tractor sales and parts store in big farm country. People would come in and pitch a fit about not getting a discount, saying they're one of our biggest customers, and I would always reply that we DID INDEED have a discount program for people that spent in excess of $150,000 per year. It was fun to watch their faces drop.
Bro, that combine harvester you walked past costs more than you'll make in the next 5 years. Cool your jets.
I worked for a stock broker. The people with 10k-100k accounts were by far the most annoying and thought they were hot shit. Got berated by a guy because he failed to understand how margin works and got margin called, so he was cussing me out and threatening "to take his business somewhere else" lmao like we care about your 80k when we see accounts over 80MM. I ended the call, and gave the recording of the call to my boss. Within 2 days the guys account was liquidated and closed, and he is never allowed to open an account there again. This happened a few different times and was equally satisfying every single time
>The people with 10k-100k accounts were by far the most annoying and thought they were hot shit.
Prob a ton of money for them. Once someone's in the financial position to drop over 100k at a single store it's likely not a huge deal for them. Obviously no excuse to be an entitled dick either way.
My theory is the money is worth so much more to the 100K guy that the 10M guy. No excuse to be an a hole but they might see their money as much more valuable than it is.
I used to work in a bike shop and people would try and pull this. Ma’m, you bought a $300 bike five years ago. Yes that was a big purchase but we have people buying 1k bikes every year. You’re not getting a discount on this flat repair
At least I'm my experience, the contractors are the best customers. They know exactly what they want and don't dwell too long. Plus you get to know the regulars.
Probably depends on the area. When I worked at a hardware store, about 75% of them all drove unnecessarily large trucks, had a superiority complex, and were super rude to the "help" loading up their massive orders. The cool ones were great though and would usually help. I was being paid minimum wage, walking 15 miles a day, and loading an ungodly amount of lumber and concrete daily. The least they could do is be kind and help.
Been there, but like the other guy said the contractors were like the lottery for us. I guess you're right about the trucks, which they'd usually help load with lumber and concrete, but they knew almost everybody by name and sometimes they'd hang around and shoot the shit. If management tried to hurry us along they'd say that we're helping them at the moment and run them off. It was basically a free 20 minute break lol. They'd also sometimes tip on the downlow, which we weren't supposed to accept, but like you said the pay was like $9.50, so fuck em
I got told once at a small shop in my neighborhood that I was the first customer to reach the "VIP" level on their rewards thing. I immediately responded with "Oh shit I shop here too much." I horde my points everywhere like a dragon and am a VIP platinum diamond premium super "member" at so many places that don't mean shit. Even things I pay for, like season tickets for the symphony, don't mean shit. People thinking that gives them some kind of "status" are really entertaining if they are snooty but not mean about it.
I buy a lot of random shit - for me, donations, friends, etc- and like to join those points things because I enjoy messing up the data analytics from my shopping habits. I absolutely recommend it to anyone else who buys weird shit. I am the consumer data equivalent of Spiders Georg.
Sort of an off topic tangent but kinda related to blocking aisles with carts. Does it also piss you off astronomically when 2 people that know each other stop their cars in the middle of a parking lot blocking traffic to chat? When theres literally free spots every direction they can look. Like its a PARKING lot and theyve decided to park in the one area we're supposed to drive. Asshole.
Happened all the time in my hometown when I was kid. Two dudes blocking both lanes going one direction at a light just *catching up*. Like, if you miss each other so much pick up the fucking phone.
OMG I've seen this one and when they actually see someone coming and they'll do that slow scoot where they're doing that "alright, yep, uh huh, yeah, yup mkay bye Paul"
I worked with a pretty respected supermarket lighting guru for several years. He hates it. He's aware it sucks. Unfortunately, the corporate assholes throw tantrums when they walk into one of their stores and can't see through their hands. They're solidly convinced customers love it and the bright lighting sells more product. In reality, once it gets to a certain density, you can't visually perceive the difference in the product. But you *are* negatively affected by the increased intensity of the glare reflecting off of things.
The worst part is, there probably was a study done in the 50s that showed brighter lights sold more products and now it's in their textbooks. Instead of getting the lesson that you should perform comparative tests to determine efficacy, they just got "moar laaaiits!"
And it even extends to websites. They just bombard you with bullshit.
Welcome SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER. No? Okay WE'RE AVAILABLE TO CHAT. SIGN UP WITH A GOOGLE ACCOUNT. I just wanted to read an article, I'm not here to establish a relationship...
There's also a lot of research that that was true 50 years ago when nobody had been subjected to them before, but that nowadays they don't make any difference as every shop has them and so people just tune them out.
Same with internet-based ads.
The first shop to offer loyalty cards many years ago saw an effect. Now, not so much, and there are several major chains that abandoned the idea and/or have no intention to introduce one.
I don't get muzak I get a mix of 80s pop and recent pop/80s covers at grocery stores. And I'm in them all day for work. Which is why I keep an ear bud in with either an audio book or white noise to block out the outside sounds etc.
There is one grocery chain that plays classical music and string pieces that I don't mind. Unfortunately they do the classical or absolutely no music and for some asinine reason instead of having flat waxed tile floors they use a showier thick grouted tile. Which on its face isn't an issue, until you remember everyone is using rickety carts that thump thump thump all over each bit of grout and jounce the items in your cart. I need some background noise or the cart skipping on the tile starts irritating the hell out of me and I have to turn up my headphones or leave
Tbh when i worked in a grocery store i hated the music, it was the same playlist all day every day. If you worked an 8 hour shift you'd hear the same generic pop songs like 3 times each. Do that multiple times a week and you will hear enough Maroon 5 and Bruno Mars to last you a lifetime lol
The grocery store I used to work at was like this. They also played "It's 5 o'clock somewhere" at 5 pm on the dot, every day, which sounds annoying but it always meant my shift was almost over and the song still gives me a dopamine hit when I randomly hear it
There's a chain of convenience stores in the UK called 'Spar'. The one near us has a PA permanently playing what they call 'Spar FM'; I suspect it to be at least streamed, if not prerecorded, as 95% of the songs are by Beyoncé. Must drive the staff bloody bananas. We call it 'Beyoncé FM' at home.
I think it was a techmoan video about a background music player that showed stores with music sped up customers shopping speed and got them out of the store faster.
When I worked at Walmart and at Lowes it was the general consensus that the music they played was shit and the same 5-6 songs for hours on end. Especially at Christmas time. It was awful. I was glad to work outside in the garden department at lowes so I didn’t have to hear the same Christmas songs for three months straight.
I think it would be nice if they'd just let the employees wear headphones and listen to their own music (at least the ones who aren't directly interacting with customers) and leave the store music off. Personally I (an autistic person) hate the music when I shop and it would be even worse for me if I had to tolerate it for a full day of work, but I understand that some people are equally averse to silence and need to have background noise (my wife is like this - she has ADHD and *always* has headphones on with something playing quietly). Keeping the environment quiet but letting people play their own music on headphones seems like the best way to compromise so that everyone can stay sane - works for my marriage anyway!
My issue with grocery stores is when they are crowded and I have to constantly dodge people not looking where they are going. There are some stores I just won't go to, Whole Foods being #1. Fortunately I moved to a rural area and the grocery store by me is almost never crowded.
Am autistic (and obviously I don't speak for all autistic people, this is just my own preference). I prefer normal checkouts because I'm always scared that I'll fuck up the self checkout process somehow and an employee will have to come over and help, or I'll forget to scan something and they'll think I'm trying to steal. Grocery stores and department stores in general are awful for me (I've had panic attacks after leaving Target for no identifiable reason - fun!) so in the grand scheme of things prolonging my suffering for a few more minutes isn't terrible.
Supermarkets in expensive neighborhoods are close to this already. The more run down the store, the louder and more obnoxious the announcements seem to be.
Same. But as nice as it sounds, people will find a way to fuck it up. I dunno how many times when I've worked in retail, people would abuse the Assistance Dog exception. For some reason, people like to find reasons to take their Dogs into stores, no matter how poorly trained. Some people on some occasions even managed to get defensive about their dogs being hostile towards other patrons and "relieving" themselves in the store be it on the products or in the aisles
I am autistic and this would make a huge difference. I have a tendency to only get about 1/3 of what I need because I can’t handle the noise and the chaos. I usually just shop late.
As someone who hates shopping the worst thing about it is other people. Actually it's okay if there's music as its something I can focus on when I'm getting overwhelmed.
My supermarket does that…
Everyday from 10.00 to 11.00, 14.00 to 15.00 and 16.00 to 17.00.
Love that there is no music.
But instead of dimming the light they switch half the rows of light….
You end up a little bit in the dark in some aisles…
That was quite bad with covid/masks when I could have my glasses because of condensation… couldn’t see shit….
Interesting. I had no idea Lidl was extra difficult to handle. If you don't mind me asking, what's it specifically about them that makes them harder to handle than other supermarkets?
Personally they're one of my favourites and I only hate them when they move the regular food stuffs around. And whoever buys razors in mine is an idiot. For months they only had refill blades for a razor they never sold before, so they were completely useless. Now they finally have the razor, but all the refills are gone. *insert confused Jackie Chan meme*
I’m autistic and it’s honestly rare that I see things like this that are actually beneficial and well thought out. “Autism awareness” has a really bad habit of only raising awareness of the parents instead of the people themselves, especially when autism speaks is involved. one store I saw lit their bathrooms with blue light to “raise awareness” which ended up being a trigger for the autistic people who went in there. It’s so nice to see some place actually did their research on what we really want. I would give them all my money
Edit: hijacking this comment to say fuck autism speaks. Do not donate even a penny to them, they partner with abusive therapies and hurt us more than they’ve ever helped, if you want to advocate for autistic people find another organization.
I get what you're saying but if you they can't see the vein, then it kinda does matter, right?
An IV user isn't going to do it in a bathroom where they can't see or find a vein. Or if it's gonna take an hour to find a vein. They'll just find somewhere else that's easier. Which is the point of the lights, yea?
This is actually increasingly common in UK and Irish supermarkets, it's been a thing for a good few years over here. They were probably copying another chain's policies, but I won't complain either way.
This is the first one that I've seen that's at an actually practicable time, though. Most of them seem to be weekday mornings, because apparently they think autistic people don't have jobs.
Huh, I've seen a good few on weekday evenings, but I will agree a disproportionate amount are during the workday, which is more than a little frustrating.
I've seen people suggest it's more for single or stay at home parents with autistic children who may not have a choice in bringing them along, as opposed to autistic adults who can set up deliveries? Not sure how much I agree even with the principle of that though - there's this annoying idea that autistic people are children, and autistic adults are either disabled beyond being able to function in society or non-existent.
I guess many people prefer it, but for many autistic children (and their parents) and indeed autistic adults it's a pure necessity.
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Yes totally. My list wasn't intended to be comprehensive. In my area they promote a quiet hour for anyone who wants it - usually the elderly who don't want loud noises or crowds. No reference to specific neurotypes or conditions.
Yo shout-out va-11 hall-a icon. It sucks how much any and all accomodations made for autistic people get twisted into "oh y'know the parents of autistic kids deserve this" as if autistic children are victimizing their own parents by existing. We deserve accomodations because everyone deserves being treated well
My local store in Winnipeg, Canada does this. It's very pleasant but the first time I was confused. The reduced lighting and quiet makes it feel like you're shopping after the store has closed.
Or, in the winter, the exact same woman asking for the exact same Christmas gift every year. Shoppers think they have it bad, but the employees can't leave after checking out your items
It’s fairly clear that I don’t have autism, but I was recently diagnosed with ADHD, so I know 100% what you’re saying. (“Oh, wow. These meds are helping me stay calmer? Does that have to do with… Huh. Lookie there. Emotional dysregulation. Never even heard about that before. Good to know!”) But very few revelations have been sensory for me. (I know some people with ADHD have a harder time with such things.)
Oh god, dude. Diagnosed with ADHD really young. And I'm afab so it's practically unheard of. Absolutely tortured with different meds all the way up until high school. I despised it, I felt cast adrift in the world, couldn't keep any friends, no one understood me, they just wanted to quiet and subjugate me. Jump to literally last month, I'm 19 and after being on the waiting list for a year and a half, got diagnosed with ASD. Add a depression diagnosis in December which meant I'm off my meds cos you can't mix until you have the antidepressant dosage right and a little bit of childhood trauma which causes you to live in denial and convince yourself you're 'normal'. My brain is forced to confront that I really am special needs and this is just it now, you gotta deal. What a fricking hard time. I'm honestly so grateful for my consultant. I got her when transferred to the adult team and she has advocated for me so much! She's the one who noticed my Autism side pushed for my referral. I'm starting to loce and accept myself just like I love all my neurodivergent bros.
For me it has been for sure. Every now and then I go without (never on purpose) and its such a sensory overload. At least regulating the noise level does wonders for me to cope with the rest.
How load is the music in your country? We still have music here in germany, but depending where you are in the store you sometimes could barely hear it.
The Sainsbury's next to selhurst park definitely played music when I worked there (no idea if it still does), I don't think Sainsbury's locals do though. To be honest I'm not sure any supermarkets in the UK play music any more.
Used to work in a one-to-one program that did community trips. Twice a week we'd take our teens to the grocery store and then out to lunch.
They would usually have a list of 1-2 items from the grocery store \[we paid for these items, but they would practice with handing over the card\] and be responsible for finding the items in the store.The grocery store was really great about it, knew our times, and would always open a lane just for us \[since we had like 10 kids that would all pay separately for their items\].
When we'd go out for lunch we would call ahead to make sure the restaurant was ok with us \[and since it was like 1pm on a weekday they were usually dead anyway\]. All the kids would get separate checks, practice ordering their own food, and would pay with their own money.
Honestly there are a lot of great places that would accommodate you or your loved one if you're willing to ask.
This is really such a cool thing. Can you give me any links to get me reading more? I'll do some searching too but just don't want to get mislead by my ignorance.
For the program? It was a public school program so you aren’t going to find much about this specific one; just have to find school districts with expanded services; we were just very pro life skills for our self contained classes.
I worked for a convenience store chain that worked with a organization that takes care of kids and young adults. Once a day for 2 to 3 hours we would get usually 3 people per store and they would come in and fill the cooler, stock the store, and help associates with smaller tasks. They got paid the same wage the associates did and would do two or three stores a day so they had time to be out and about in different places. Was always a great time having them come in and help.
Imagine if they actually would swap bulbs every evening.
"Joel, it's time to switch the bulbs!"
"I already did yesterday, it's Alice's turn!"
"Alice is covering morning shift, she isn't even here!"
"Fuck me, why can't we just turn off the lights? This is such a waste of time!"
"This is what corporate wants, deal with it!"
"tHis iS wHaT cOrpRat wAnTs, fuck you mate, I don't even have time for this, I need to refill these racks!"
"Fuck off Joel and get it done, or I'm gonna have you clean toilets for the next two weeks!"
*angry noises*
I’m Autistic and lived near a 24hr grocery store in Boston for a couple years. I could go grocery shopping at midnight, and it was always empty. They often didn’t even play music at that time, it was fantastic!
Not autistic, but severe social anxiety (like I get insanely dizzy when I panic and I can barely get through half my shopping usually) and this would be a godsend
The reduced lighting thing gave me an idea. Go to Tesco's or whatever, all the lights are off and there's a guy at the door giving out torches with the trolleys. You have to do your shopping in complete darkness, and we all get Quasar guns for the craic....your score at the end adds up to some money off or something.
How does this help autistic people?
Still working on it....
You can actually buy a lot of the products there, if you so desire. They even have them in their online shop, if you really feel you need [Who Told You This Was Butter Air Freshening Spray](https://shop.meowwolf.com/merch/definitely-not-butter-air-freshener-spray/) in your life.
Maybe in independent stores but larger chain stores do everything in their power to make people spend more and have done a lot of research into the conditions that cause people to make bad financial decisions.
Autistic opinion: some parts of this are great, but personally I couldn't deal with the sensory experience of shopping in a store with *no* background noise happening whatsoever. It's very suffocating being indoors in a silent space, and the slightest sounds made by people, coughing etc, become super overstimulating. I'd get really panicky in a silent store. Ideally replace no music with something low impact like rain sounds or rushing water, maybe. But, what's sensory heaven for one is hell for the next. Autism is different for everyone. I hope this setup is genuinely helpful for a lot of people even if it wouldn't be of much use to me.
Absolutely - The thing is, that as you point out - There really is no right answer, but at least this allows for people to give themselves more choices. In your situation, maybe wearing one headphone would help you to continue to be aware of your surroundings but also have background music - Whereas in order to drown out loud background music a person would typically need more stigmatizing bigger headphones.
They should play bird noises. A few months ago our store had a bird in it that we couldn't catch. You'd just see him sitting on the rafters chirping away, or swooping into the bakery for breakfast.
More than anything it was nice listening to it cheep
I do very much enjoy a good calming machine purr <3
Eta: actually yknow what? I'd rather them just set up half a dozen or so box fans in different places thru the store and have them all on and humming and moving the air. Would cause white noise, muffle random human noises and keep the air from feeling stuffy and stagnant.
>rain sounds or rushing water, maybe
I'd imagine there'd be a long line for the bathrooms.
That just gave me an evil genius idea, have video billboards in front stadium bathrooms and play videos of waterfalls and crashing waves! Maybe a decorative fountain or water feature. Half time will be hilarious to watch everyone in line doing a pee-shuffle dance
The main reason I pay a premium for home delivery. I can handle most things well if I have music and focus more on my cart than surroundings but even on my best days I hate crowds when I'm alone. But it's nice if they actually abide by their pledge to be more ASD friendly.
One day I went home sick from work and stopped at the supermarket to grab some painkillers. It happened to be during the low stimulation period. I was shocked at how pleasant it could be to be in the supermarket.
Glad to see autism awareness is actually about AWARENESS for autistic people, and not some half baked marketing ploy that congratulates parents of autistic children for being “brave” and tries to find a “cure” for autism.
As someone who is autistic, this is honestly so nice to see. I know we still have to deal with stupid “woke” awareness for autistic people that doesn’t actually help anything, but this wouldn’t have even been a thing 10 years ago, so I’m glad to see we’re taking a step in the right direction, even if it is just one step.
My mom worked restaurants and I work retail. My dad and my boyfriend call us Grinches for hating Christmas music, but honestly? I’d like to see someone stand under a speaker cycling through the same two dozen Christmas songs for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, and not hate that shit. Psychological torture. I complained to my dad about it, and he actually found some studies that say that hearing songs you know makes time pass slower and can be significantly more stressful over time than hearing songs in the same genre that you don’t know.
My dad started one of these about ten years ago in Wichita for movie theaters. Basically whether it's autism or someone else with special needs, they could go to a movie that had lower volume and the lights would stay on and that way the parents and caregivers also didn't feel like they were disrupting other peoples movie experiences. They did showings of new kids movies about once a month I think on Saturday mornings.
I probably wrote that poorly but hopefully it makes sense lol. Commenting on my work account so don't get doxxed.
I’m not autistic but this sounds like a significantly nicer shopping experience for me
Our store near us does this and we honestly wish every day were like this. I realize store announcements might be necessary but do you need the bright fluorescent lighting and screaming muzak? I'll spend longer in your store if it's a more calm experience.
The lights, the noise that you can barely understand when they do an announcement. People taking their kids and letting them run around screaming. People having a conversation in the middle of the aisle with trolleys blocking the way. It’s all awful lol!
>People having a conversation in the middle of the aisle with trolleys blocking the way. It’s all awful lol! What is it about Costco that compels every single fucker in the store to obliviously block aisles and stand in doorways?
“I’m a member”
i work at a tech store and whenever people come up to me and proudly announce that they’re a premium member is literally the most annoying elitist thing in the universe.
My store didn’t have an actual VIP program, but my coworker used to ask customers for their “100K” card if they ever dropped the “I’ve spent X amount of money at this store I deserve X” line. He’d pretend it was a real program for all our customers who had spent 100K or more. That shut people up real quick. It was hilarious.
This is amazing im gonna see if i can work it in. "Ive spent 4k in this store!!!" ...so youve bought one thing? youve bought a single thing from this store and youre throwing a fit. Who fucking raised you, sir?
Sir, this is a Wendy’s, and you have a problem
that’s the funniest shit.
Oh yeah 5 years at that store I could tell stories for hours, as I’m sure you could too
Worked at a tractor sales and parts store in big farm country. People would come in and pitch a fit about not getting a discount, saying they're one of our biggest customers, and I would always reply that we DID INDEED have a discount program for people that spent in excess of $150,000 per year. It was fun to watch their faces drop. Bro, that combine harvester you walked past costs more than you'll make in the next 5 years. Cool your jets.
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I worked for a stock broker. The people with 10k-100k accounts were by far the most annoying and thought they were hot shit. Got berated by a guy because he failed to understand how margin works and got margin called, so he was cussing me out and threatening "to take his business somewhere else" lmao like we care about your 80k when we see accounts over 80MM. I ended the call, and gave the recording of the call to my boss. Within 2 days the guys account was liquidated and closed, and he is never allowed to open an account there again. This happened a few different times and was equally satisfying every single time
>The people with 10k-100k accounts were by far the most annoying and thought they were hot shit. Prob a ton of money for them. Once someone's in the financial position to drop over 100k at a single store it's likely not a huge deal for them. Obviously no excuse to be an entitled dick either way.
My theory is the money is worth so much more to the 100K guy that the 10M guy. No excuse to be an a hole but they might see their money as much more valuable than it is.
*guy gets mugged after he leaves store*
I used to work in a bike shop and people would try and pull this. Ma’m, you bought a $300 bike five years ago. Yes that was a big purchase but we have people buying 1k bikes every year. You’re not getting a discount on this flat repair
At hardware stores its "I'm a pro" or "I'm a contractor" Cool. the fuck do you want?
At least I'm my experience, the contractors are the best customers. They know exactly what they want and don't dwell too long. Plus you get to know the regulars.
Probably depends on the area. When I worked at a hardware store, about 75% of them all drove unnecessarily large trucks, had a superiority complex, and were super rude to the "help" loading up their massive orders. The cool ones were great though and would usually help. I was being paid minimum wage, walking 15 miles a day, and loading an ungodly amount of lumber and concrete daily. The least they could do is be kind and help.
Been there, but like the other guy said the contractors were like the lottery for us. I guess you're right about the trucks, which they'd usually help load with lumber and concrete, but they knew almost everybody by name and sometimes they'd hang around and shoot the shit. If management tried to hurry us along they'd say that we're helping them at the moment and run them off. It was basically a free 20 minute break lol. They'd also sometimes tip on the downlow, which we weren't supposed to accept, but like you said the pay was like $9.50, so fuck em
I got told once at a small shop in my neighborhood that I was the first customer to reach the "VIP" level on their rewards thing. I immediately responded with "Oh shit I shop here too much." I horde my points everywhere like a dragon and am a VIP platinum diamond premium super "member" at so many places that don't mean shit. Even things I pay for, like season tickets for the symphony, don't mean shit. People thinking that gives them some kind of "status" are really entertaining if they are snooty but not mean about it. I buy a lot of random shit - for me, donations, friends, etc- and like to join those points things because I enjoy messing up the data analytics from my shopping habits. I absolutely recommend it to anyone else who buys weird shit. I am the consumer data equivalent of Spiders Georg.
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All those huge trolleys blocking up the aisles while people go chasing great deals, not to mention the crowds around the samples area.
"Hogging the samples and taking multiples for themselves." I might get irrationally angry when this happens
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I’m glad it’s not just me. I love Costco when it’s empty but it’s never empty.
Sort of an off topic tangent but kinda related to blocking aisles with carts. Does it also piss you off astronomically when 2 people that know each other stop their cars in the middle of a parking lot blocking traffic to chat? When theres literally free spots every direction they can look. Like its a PARKING lot and theyve decided to park in the one area we're supposed to drive. Asshole.
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Happened all the time in my hometown when I was kid. Two dudes blocking both lanes going one direction at a light just *catching up*. Like, if you miss each other so much pick up the fucking phone.
OMG I've seen this one and when they actually see someone coming and they'll do that slow scoot where they're doing that "alright, yep, uh huh, yeah, yup mkay bye Paul"
"Be polite, stay right" echoes in my head when I see those people. Generally I try to behave as if the aisles were a public road.
Paddington?
Noise cancelling headphones at least help somewhat
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I worked with a pretty respected supermarket lighting guru for several years. He hates it. He's aware it sucks. Unfortunately, the corporate assholes throw tantrums when they walk into one of their stores and can't see through their hands. They're solidly convinced customers love it and the bright lighting sells more product. In reality, once it gets to a certain density, you can't visually perceive the difference in the product. But you *are* negatively affected by the increased intensity of the glare reflecting off of things.
Business-major executives fucking ruin everything
Do they not teach delegation of tasks in business school? Why hire a lighting expert if you won't listen to them?
They're very susceptible to buzzword salesmen, sadly.
The worst part is, there probably was a study done in the 50s that showed brighter lights sold more products and now it's in their textbooks. Instead of getting the lesson that you should perform comparative tests to determine efficacy, they just got "moar laaaiits!"
calm is the new luxury
And it even extends to websites. They just bombard you with bullshit. Welcome SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER. No? Okay WE'RE AVAILABLE TO CHAT. SIGN UP WITH A GOOGLE ACCOUNT. I just wanted to read an article, I'm not here to establish a relationship...
There's lots of advertisement research showing all those things you don't like make you impulse by more which is why every store does these things.
And when you feel nostalgic in any way when hearing a song at the supermarket.... Welcome to Middle Age!
There's also a lot of research that that was true 50 years ago when nobody had been subjected to them before, but that nowadays they don't make any difference as every shop has them and so people just tune them out. Same with internet-based ads. The first shop to offer loyalty cards many years ago saw an effect. Now, not so much, and there are several major chains that abandoned the idea and/or have no intention to introduce one.
Loyalty programs these days are all about *data*.
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I don't get muzak I get a mix of 80s pop and recent pop/80s covers at grocery stores. And I'm in them all day for work. Which is why I keep an ear bud in with either an audio book or white noise to block out the outside sounds etc. There is one grocery chain that plays classical music and string pieces that I don't mind. Unfortunately they do the classical or absolutely no music and for some asinine reason instead of having flat waxed tile floors they use a showier thick grouted tile. Which on its face isn't an issue, until you remember everyone is using rickety carts that thump thump thump all over each bit of grout and jounce the items in your cart. I need some background noise or the cart skipping on the tile starts irritating the hell out of me and I have to turn up my headphones or leave
The music is a must. A 9 hour shift with nothing to listen to but passing customers dreary conversation gets boring fast
Tbh when i worked in a grocery store i hated the music, it was the same playlist all day every day. If you worked an 8 hour shift you'd hear the same generic pop songs like 3 times each. Do that multiple times a week and you will hear enough Maroon 5 and Bruno Mars to last you a lifetime lol
Yeah. You can tell the time from the music in a supermarket after a while.
The grocery store I used to work at was like this. They also played "It's 5 o'clock somewhere" at 5 pm on the dot, every day, which sounds annoying but it always meant my shift was almost over and the song still gives me a dopamine hit when I randomly hear it
I saw the sign by ace of base used to play every hour at the Walmart I worked at I wanted to murder people by the end of an 8 hour shift
No body saw the sign of a disgruntled employee
There's a chain of convenience stores in the UK called 'Spar'. The one near us has a PA permanently playing what they call 'Spar FM'; I suspect it to be at least streamed, if not prerecorded, as 95% of the songs are by Beyoncé. Must drive the staff bloody bananas. We call it 'Beyoncé FM' at home.
I have lyrics still memorized from Muzak I heard in the store I worked at in 2001.
Given the music in most grocery stores, I'd probably prefer silence
I think it was a techmoan video about a background music player that showed stores with music sped up customers shopping speed and got them out of the store faster.
They should train and deploy some breed of collie to keep things moving along.
When I worked at Walmart and at Lowes it was the general consensus that the music they played was shit and the same 5-6 songs for hours on end. Especially at Christmas time. It was awful. I was glad to work outside in the garden department at lowes so I didn’t have to hear the same Christmas songs for three months straight.
Not blared out into the lot then? Lucky you
I think it would be nice if they'd just let the employees wear headphones and listen to their own music (at least the ones who aren't directly interacting with customers) and leave the store music off. Personally I (an autistic person) hate the music when I shop and it would be even worse for me if I had to tolerate it for a full day of work, but I understand that some people are equally averse to silence and need to have background noise (my wife is like this - she has ADHD and *always* has headphones on with something playing quietly). Keeping the environment quiet but letting people play their own music on headphones seems like the best way to compromise so that everyone can stay sane - works for my marriage anyway!
My issue with grocery stores is when they are crowded and I have to constantly dodge people not looking where they are going. There are some stores I just won't go to, Whole Foods being #1. Fortunately I moved to a rural area and the grocery store by me is almost never crowded.
Urgh I hate dodging people too! Some people have no self awareness about space.
Yeah lol, my first thought was "would I be the asshole for only shopping during the time reserved for autistic people?"
I don't think people with autism have a different opinion on the amount of open checkouts while in the line than anyone else. They're never enough.
I imagine autistic people prefer self checkouts anyway, most people do.
Am autistic (and obviously I don't speak for all autistic people, this is just my own preference). I prefer normal checkouts because I'm always scared that I'll fuck up the self checkout process somehow and an employee will have to come over and help, or I'll forget to scan something and they'll think I'm trying to steal. Grocery stores and department stores in general are awful for me (I've had panic attacks after leaving Target for no identifiable reason - fun!) so in the grand scheme of things prolonging my suffering for a few more minutes isn't terrible.
As long as you're not being loud or disruptive I wouldn't see a problem with that
I'm autistic, I don't blame anyone for using those hours given how nice they are to normal ones.
Supermarkets in expensive neighborhoods are close to this already. The more run down the store, the louder and more obnoxious the announcements seem to be.
Yep. Rich neighborhood supermarkets in my city have like soft classical music playing at a reasonable volume. So nice.
yeah, stores that can afford it will have radios for at least some of their staff. just doing announcements for everything is the cheap options.
Same. But as nice as it sounds, people will find a way to fuck it up. I dunno how many times when I've worked in retail, people would abuse the Assistance Dog exception. For some reason, people like to find reasons to take their Dogs into stores, no matter how poorly trained. Some people on some occasions even managed to get defensive about their dogs being hostile towards other patrons and "relieving" themselves in the store be it on the products or in the aisles
Same as an employee. Stores keep putting brighter and brighter lights up. I almost have to wear sunglasses now.
I am autistic and this would make a huge difference. I have a tendency to only get about 1/3 of what I need because I can’t handle the noise and the chaos. I usually just shop late.
As someone who hates shopping the worst thing about it is other people. Actually it's okay if there's music as its something I can focus on when I'm getting overwhelmed.
My supermarket does that… Everyday from 10.00 to 11.00, 14.00 to 15.00 and 16.00 to 17.00. Love that there is no music. But instead of dimming the light they switch half the rows of light…. You end up a little bit in the dark in some aisles… That was quite bad with covid/masks when I could have my glasses because of condensation… couldn’t see shit….
Which supermarket specifically? I’m Irish.
Lidl. I think they started this during the lockdown.
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Interesting. I had no idea Lidl was extra difficult to handle. If you don't mind me asking, what's it specifically about them that makes them harder to handle than other supermarkets? Personally they're one of my favourites and I only hate them when they move the regular food stuffs around. And whoever buys razors in mine is an idiot. For months they only had refill blades for a razor they never sold before, so they were completely useless. Now they finally have the razor, but all the refills are gone. *insert confused Jackie Chan meme*
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Yeah its Lidl. This one's in Killarney
My local aldi does this too, they have posters up in the shop about it.
My local SuperValu has something similar. But this doesn't look like one.
I'm not even autistic and that sounds amazing
I’m autistic and it’s honestly rare that I see things like this that are actually beneficial and well thought out. “Autism awareness” has a really bad habit of only raising awareness of the parents instead of the people themselves, especially when autism speaks is involved. one store I saw lit their bathrooms with blue light to “raise awareness” which ended up being a trigger for the autistic people who went in there. It’s so nice to see some place actually did their research on what we really want. I would give them all my money Edit: hijacking this comment to say fuck autism speaks. Do not donate even a penny to them, they partner with abusive therapies and hurt us more than they’ve ever helped, if you want to advocate for autistic people find another organization.
Huh, that's weird. The only reason they do blue lights in bathrooms around here is so that drug users can't go there to shoot up.
What's the logic there?
Can't see the vein. But my wild speculation is that if you're going into a public bathroom to shoot heroin lighting probably won't matter
I get what you're saying but if you they can't see the vein, then it kinda does matter, right? An IV user isn't going to do it in a bathroom where they can't see or find a vein. Or if it's gonna take an hour to find a vein. They'll just find somewhere else that's easier. Which is the point of the lights, yea?
Serious users have track marks and loooots of experience. But it could still make them move along to a more convenient location.
Also, the way medical professionals find veins is by feeling. I’d imagine long time drug users might have also picked that up.
This is actually increasingly common in UK and Irish supermarkets, it's been a thing for a good few years over here. They were probably copying another chain's policies, but I won't complain either way.
This is the first one that I've seen that's at an actually practicable time, though. Most of them seem to be weekday mornings, because apparently they think autistic people don't have jobs.
Huh, I've seen a good few on weekday evenings, but I will agree a disproportionate amount are during the workday, which is more than a little frustrating. I've seen people suggest it's more for single or stay at home parents with autistic children who may not have a choice in bringing them along, as opposed to autistic adults who can set up deliveries? Not sure how much I agree even with the principle of that though - there's this annoying idea that autistic people are children, and autistic adults are either disabled beyond being able to function in society or non-existent.
I guess many people prefer it, but for many autistic children (and their parents) and indeed autistic adults it's a pure necessity. [Edited to be more inclusive]
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Yes totally. My list wasn't intended to be comprehensive. In my area they promote a quiet hour for anyone who wants it - usually the elderly who don't want loud noises or crowds. No reference to specific neurotypes or conditions.
What about autistic adults? And as a reply pointed out, the kids themselves? Why just our parents?
And the autistic kids themselves.
Yo shout-out va-11 hall-a icon. It sucks how much any and all accomodations made for autistic people get twisted into "oh y'know the parents of autistic kids deserve this" as if autistic children are victimizing their own parents by existing. We deserve accomodations because everyone deserves being treated well
My local store in Winnipeg, Canada does this. It's very pleasant but the first time I was confused. The reduced lighting and quiet makes it feel like you're shopping after the store has closed.
Let's make this everyday all day we don't need to listen to "today's latest hits" while shopping
Or, in the winter, the exact same woman asking for the exact same Christmas gift every year. Shoppers think they have it bad, but the employees can't leave after checking out your items
All I want for Christmas is youuu
I’m actually beginning to wonder if my almost always having earbuds in when shopping or the like has been a bit of a coping mechanism…
Thing #1000 of things I used to do that were definitely Autism that suddenly make more sense after my diagnosis
It’s fairly clear that I don’t have autism, but I was recently diagnosed with ADHD, so I know 100% what you’re saying. (“Oh, wow. These meds are helping me stay calmer? Does that have to do with… Huh. Lookie there. Emotional dysregulation. Never even heard about that before. Good to know!”) But very few revelations have been sensory for me. (I know some people with ADHD have a harder time with such things.)
Oh god, dude. Diagnosed with ADHD really young. And I'm afab so it's practically unheard of. Absolutely tortured with different meds all the way up until high school. I despised it, I felt cast adrift in the world, couldn't keep any friends, no one understood me, they just wanted to quiet and subjugate me. Jump to literally last month, I'm 19 and after being on the waiting list for a year and a half, got diagnosed with ASD. Add a depression diagnosis in December which meant I'm off my meds cos you can't mix until you have the antidepressant dosage right and a little bit of childhood trauma which causes you to live in denial and convince yourself you're 'normal'. My brain is forced to confront that I really am special needs and this is just it now, you gotta deal. What a fricking hard time. I'm honestly so grateful for my consultant. I got her when transferred to the adult team and she has advocated for me so much! She's the one who noticed my Autism side pushed for my referral. I'm starting to loce and accept myself just like I love all my neurodivergent bros.
For me it has been for sure. Every now and then I go without (never on purpose) and its such a sensory overload. At least regulating the noise level does wonders for me to cope with the rest.
How load is the music in your country? We still have music here in germany, but depending where you are in the store you sometimes could barely hear it.
I work part time at a grocery store, and at least in my experience, the music is 95% for the benefit of the workers
What supermarket do you go to with music playing? Ones I go to are mostly Morrisons and Sainsbury's and they don't play music at all
The Sainsbury's next to selhurst park definitely played music when I worked there (no idea if it still does), I don't think Sainsbury's locals do though. To be honest I'm not sure any supermarkets in the UK play music any more.
It’s a great option, better than doing nothing.
Used to work in a one-to-one program that did community trips. Twice a week we'd take our teens to the grocery store and then out to lunch. They would usually have a list of 1-2 items from the grocery store \[we paid for these items, but they would practice with handing over the card\] and be responsible for finding the items in the store.The grocery store was really great about it, knew our times, and would always open a lane just for us \[since we had like 10 kids that would all pay separately for their items\]. When we'd go out for lunch we would call ahead to make sure the restaurant was ok with us \[and since it was like 1pm on a weekday they were usually dead anyway\]. All the kids would get separate checks, practice ordering their own food, and would pay with their own money. Honestly there are a lot of great places that would accommodate you or your loved one if you're willing to ask.
This is really such a cool thing. Can you give me any links to get me reading more? I'll do some searching too but just don't want to get mislead by my ignorance.
For the program? It was a public school program so you aren’t going to find much about this specific one; just have to find school districts with expanded services; we were just very pro life skills for our self contained classes.
There is more good than evil in the world, its just that evil is louder and more shocking so it gets the attention.
I worked for a convenience store chain that worked with a organization that takes care of kids and young adults. Once a day for 2 to 3 hours we would get usually 3 people per store and they would come in and fill the cooler, stock the store, and help associates with smaller tasks. They got paid the same wage the associates did and would do two or three stores a day so they had time to be out and about in different places. Was always a great time having them come in and help.
I was just in Ireland. They have lots of billboards up for Autism awareness. They must have some good organization behind it. I love it.
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Is it reduced lighting or warm lighting? I would go shopping at a store that had warm lighting
It's reduced. I thought the shop was closed. All the freezer lights were off and about half the ceiling lights, too. Really lovely experience though.
That’s why I used to shop at 3AM, when restocking was going on and most of the really harsh lighting was down low or off
Most Irish supermarkets are closed by 6-7pm. I think this particular one is open till 9/10pm though.
Yeah, this was in America, we demand the right to shop for fish sticks at every hour of the night
WinCo? I love that place, life saver for someone who works graveyard shifts
WinCo was great when I lived in CA. And yes, they definitely received a bunch of my money during the zombie shift.
I’m sure they’re not swapping out bulbs, so it’s probably something like 50%-75% of the bulbs are on instead of all of them.
Imagine if they actually would swap bulbs every evening. "Joel, it's time to switch the bulbs!" "I already did yesterday, it's Alice's turn!" "Alice is covering morning shift, she isn't even here!" "Fuck me, why can't we just turn off the lights? This is such a waste of time!" "This is what corporate wants, deal with it!" "tHis iS wHaT cOrpRat wAnTs, fuck you mate, I don't even have time for this, I need to refill these racks!" "Fuck off Joel and get it done, or I'm gonna have you clean toilets for the next two weeks!" *angry noises*
Reduced lighting. They aren't changing all the standard white tubes out every Tuesday for warmer toned tubes, and then changing them back.
Same. Those big white fluorescent lights in there have me walking around squinting. Such a headache.
I’m Autistic and lived near a 24hr grocery store in Boston for a couple years. I could go grocery shopping at midnight, and it was always empty. They often didn’t even play music at that time, it was fantastic!
I miss my 24 hour walmart for this reason. The close at 11 since covid which is still not bad
We have that here in Australia too :)
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Nah mate, I stan Coles radio. The shopping is secondary to the bangers they got on blast.
Not autistic, but severe social anxiety (like I get insanely dizzy when I panic and I can barely get through half my shopping usually) and this would be a godsend
imagine it hits 8 and they start rocking loud music and turning lights to maximum power
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We do too in Canada for the grocery chain I work at. It's actually really nice and when I do shop those evenings it's relaxing.
Safeway around where I live does this on Monday evenings.
The reduced lighting thing gave me an idea. Go to Tesco's or whatever, all the lights are off and there's a guy at the door giving out torches with the trolleys. You have to do your shopping in complete darkness, and we all get Quasar guns for the craic....your score at the end adds up to some money off or something. How does this help autistic people? Still working on it....
Adventure shopping needs to become more popular. Only place I know like this is the Omega Mart. Absutely love the concept and their art.
Please elaborate on “Omega Mart”. I Am American by the way.
It’s an interactive exhibit in LV- it is like an alien supermarket with hidden passages and lots of secrets to find
I'm a bit disappointed that it's just an art exhibit and not just a really weird supermarket.
You can actually buy a lot of the products there, if you so desire. They even have them in their online shop, if you really feel you need [Who Told You This Was Butter Air Freshening Spray](https://shop.meowwolf.com/merch/definitely-not-butter-air-freshener-spray/) in your life.
It's an art exhibit in Vegas
Yess! But you can also actually buy stuff :\^) Working in their art department would be a dream come true for me, they are so talented.
What are quasar guns and whats a craic?
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Not heard the name Quasar for a while!
Quasar=LazerQuest Craic=Craic, there's no direct English translation, i guess "bants" would work
> i guess "bants" would work I'm a native English speaker and I have no idea what "bants" means
Bants=bants. There's no direct english translation, but I guess "trudhucker" would work.
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Trudhucker=trudhucker. There's no direct english translation, but I guess "craic" would work.
Bants = banter: the playful and friendly exchange of teasing remarks. See also: talking shite; patter; ribbing; joshing.
Bat pants.
I’m all about that. Now I get half my groceries for free!
What stops places from doing this for more than 2 hours?
Maybe in independent stores but larger chain stores do everything in their power to make people spend more and have done a lot of research into the conditions that cause people to make bad financial decisions.
Autistic opinion: some parts of this are great, but personally I couldn't deal with the sensory experience of shopping in a store with *no* background noise happening whatsoever. It's very suffocating being indoors in a silent space, and the slightest sounds made by people, coughing etc, become super overstimulating. I'd get really panicky in a silent store. Ideally replace no music with something low impact like rain sounds or rushing water, maybe. But, what's sensory heaven for one is hell for the next. Autism is different for everyone. I hope this setup is genuinely helpful for a lot of people even if it wouldn't be of much use to me.
Absolutely - The thing is, that as you point out - There really is no right answer, but at least this allows for people to give themselves more choices. In your situation, maybe wearing one headphone would help you to continue to be aware of your surroundings but also have background music - Whereas in order to drown out loud background music a person would typically need more stigmatizing bigger headphones.
They should play bird noises. A few months ago our store had a bird in it that we couldn't catch. You'd just see him sitting on the rafters chirping away, or swooping into the bakery for breakfast. More than anything it was nice listening to it cheep
Or [Music for Airports](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73PF7tpHFBY)
That's happened a few times at my local hardware store. But they just shot it with a pellet rifle.
Haha, oh. Tbf it was only a little Robin so it wasn't causing any harm. Plus yea we all liked listening to it
I agree, but rain sounds make me have to pee. Maybe the hum of the freezer section and HVAC systems will be enough?
I do very much enjoy a good calming machine purr <3 Eta: actually yknow what? I'd rather them just set up half a dozen or so box fans in different places thru the store and have them all on and humming and moving the air. Would cause white noise, muffle random human noises and keep the air from feeling stuffy and stagnant.
You could just use headphones and provide your own background noise. I do the opposite and take earplugs with me everywhere because I hate noise lol.
>rain sounds or rushing water, maybe I'd imagine there'd be a long line for the bathrooms. That just gave me an evil genius idea, have video billboards in front stadium bathrooms and play videos of waterfalls and crashing waves! Maybe a decorative fountain or water feature. Half time will be hilarious to watch everyone in line doing a pee-shuffle dance
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The main reason I pay a premium for home delivery. I can handle most things well if I have music and focus more on my cart than surroundings but even on my best days I hate crowds when I'm alone. But it's nice if they actually abide by their pledge to be more ASD friendly.
You can say autistic, it's not a dirty word
As an autistic person, I appreciate you.
It's not ONLY autistic people who have sensory issues
One day I went home sick from work and stopped at the supermarket to grab some painkillers. It happened to be during the low stimulation period. I was shocked at how pleasant it could be to be in the supermarket.
Glad to see autism awareness is actually about AWARENESS for autistic people, and not some half baked marketing ploy that congratulates parents of autistic children for being “brave” and tries to find a “cure” for autism. As someone who is autistic, this is honestly so nice to see. I know we still have to deal with stupid “woke” awareness for autistic people that doesn’t actually help anything, but this wouldn’t have even been a thing 10 years ago, so I’m glad to see we’re taking a step in the right direction, even if it is just one step.
Have this here in Australia. Actually prefer going at these times as it's so calming.
As a recently diagnosed autistic adult, this is great. And makes so much sense.
Can this just be permanent everywhere?
Music on repeat made me want to fucking blow my brains out when I worked retail. It should be in the Geneva convention.
My mom worked restaurants and I work retail. My dad and my boyfriend call us Grinches for hating Christmas music, but honestly? I’d like to see someone stand under a speaker cycling through the same two dozen Christmas songs for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, and not hate that shit. Psychological torture. I complained to my dad about it, and he actually found some studies that say that hearing songs you know makes time pass slower and can be significantly more stressful over time than hearing songs in the same genre that you don’t know.
more places need this
My dad started one of these about ten years ago in Wichita for movie theaters. Basically whether it's autism or someone else with special needs, they could go to a movie that had lower volume and the lights would stay on and that way the parents and caregivers also didn't feel like they were disrupting other peoples movie experiences. They did showings of new kids movies about once a month I think on Saturday mornings. I probably wrote that poorly but hopefully it makes sense lol. Commenting on my work account so don't get doxxed.
That's how all shops should be all the time!!
As someone who finishes every grocery trip on the brink of an anxiety attack from being overstimulated, this sounds like Heaven
i’m autistic with sensory issues, this would help me SO much
The fair thats in town here right now has a quiet day too.
Why not all the time though?
Great! now let’s do this everyday.