Diary of a Working Mum

I only wanted to do the weekly shop!

It’s bank holiday Monday, and I had the sudden urge to get the weekly shop done. Normally I do it on a Tuesday, but as I am off work, I wanted to get in front of the jobs that needed doing.

Feeling all productive and eager to get the shopping done, I got in the car and set off. I could see a group of shoppers outside speaking to a member of staff. I thought it was odd, but headed towards the trolley bay.

Armed with my trolley, I sauntered towards the doors. The staff member caught sight of me walking past the crowd that had gathered, and politely informed me that contactless payments were not currently working, and they could only accept card payments by chip and pin, or cash payments. Neither of which i had on me. I was gutted but I knew there was another M & S Foodhall ten minutes away.

Hopping back into the car, I blasted the music up and made my way to the Barnsley store. The car park was packed full. In the end I had to wait 35 minutes for a parking space. Second time lucky, I sang to myself as I grabbed another trolley.

This time there were no staff members outside and no gathering of shoppers.

Nailed it! I thought as I entered the shop.

I took around 45 minutes to compelte my shopping. I kept walking up and down the chocolate aisle, and had my eye on some bourbons that were encased in an outer shell of milk chocolate. I was fully aware that if I bought these, there would be none left by the time I got home. I am supposed to be watching my calories, as I go on holiday in a week.

My greedy self won in the end, and I placed not just one, but two packets of them in the trolley. I could already feel the pounds expanding my waistline.

Knowing I was headed towards a downward spiral of binge eating, I made my way to the tills. The trolley was overloaded, and the toilet roll kept toppling onto the floor.

Sprinting towards the tills, the queue was unusually long and there were three members of staff speaking to customers . One of the ladies that was speakign to a staff member appared agitated and her vocie was getting louder. She was shaking her head and pointing at her trolley.

Another customer was raising his voice, saying that the store was useless and pushed his trolley to the side and walked out of the shop. Out of nowehere, multiple trollies were now lined up behind the first, all full of shopping.

Reaching the queue, a staff member approached me and told me that contactless payments could not be accepted, and nly chip and pin or cash payments could be used. I was mortified that I had spent nearly an hour in the store and no one had said anything.

I informed the staff member of this, who didn’t seem to give a damn. She shrugged her shoulders and walked away. Therefore my trolley was the next one to join the queue of abandoned trolleys.

I won’t lie, I was huffing and puffing as I walked out.

So for the first time in my life, I complained over social media. To my suprise, I got a response. Then a few moments later, another disgruntled customer commented the same complaint.

I drove home dreaming of the chocolate bourbons I could not buy.

I love M&S. It’s high quality food, and it is now much cheaper than most supermarkets. This won’t put me off going back there, I am just gutted I haven’t achieved the productivity I thought I would. Obviously, the lack of chocolate covered bourbons was also affecting my mood 🙂

Cheerio

E x