I can relate! haha

UT was the opposite with me. She usually sent me, or my sister to go get something she forgot. I always hated that.

Jeder macht in seiner Kindheit diese Traumatische Erfahrung. lol

Nice name!

True nightmare 😱😰😨

No! Carts block so much space in small city supermarkets. If you only buy a few things take a basket!

Das ist perfekte, Deutsche, Organisation! So will ich das haben! Lach! Grüße aus Hamburg

@@issi9740 yeah but the same system applies with baskets. If you buy more than 5 items just get a damn card/basket. Saves time for the cashier and the other people in line. I‘m a cashier and I‘m really annoyed at times that even Germans are so freaking selfish and feel the necessity to bag every single item at the cashier even though they have a card… Honestly guys please don‘t do that. It takes away valuable time for the employees to do other stuff. If you have a card, just put your stuff into it and bag it somewhere else. Everyone will be helped, cause fun fact: You won‘t have to wait as long in the queue and the cashiers (especially at Aldi and Lidl) have other tasks they have to fulfill next to working at the cash register. You might save a minute or two, but the emlpoyee as undone tasks left and you put them under pressure to fulfill them.

@@meganoob12 that's not the customers fault if the time management in your place is bad. I buy in REWE and use their baskets so I have to give them back before leaving the supermarket, meaning I have to pack everything at the cashier line (there is no sideboard for packing stuff like in some other supermarkets), but they usually only have to wait a few seconds, so chill.

@@issi9740 So management is bad yes? Well them be prepared for higher prices if you want to take your sweet time… This is the problem… selfish people! I want the employees to be there for me 24/7 and I don‘t want to wait in line at all, but at the same time I!!!! want to take all the time in the world when it is my time. Oh but stuff must be cheap at the same time ofc. „Eierlegende Wollmilchsau“ is what some people want

aww.i remember that times when they had no scanner..i always wondered how they could remember that many numbers. The line was going to be insanely long when they hired a new cashier who has to look up for the number for every second product..

@@ClaudiaG.1979 moin vom Hamburg. Ja, daran erinnere ich mich auch noch sehr gut. Sie mussten damals 800 Nummern Auswendiglernen. Ein sehr effektives System. Und sie mussten die Waren von deinem Einkaufswagen in den anderen Einkaufswagen umpacken. Ich habe mal gehört dass das am Tag 400 Kilo waren. Das ist Sklavenarbeit. Grüße

I remember those days lol.

yes, that was soo crazy shit these Days

Totally agreed. But the number of identifiers wasn't that high. They had roughly 100 different price tags including the short sale items. The actual item wasn't identified, only its price tag. Most items were registered in one of roughly ten price ranges: 29 Pfennige, 49 Pfennige, 99 Pfennige, 1,99 DM, 2,99 DM, 4,99DM, and 9,99DM. Then there were the more costly items listed at either 19,99 DM or even 29,99DN. Anything above that was exceptional and usually on a daily list of new identifiers. Yepp, and this was still during the DM time when scanners were definitely not a thing yet. That's why they were so damn efficient and fast. Yepp, during those times you had absolutely NO chance of beating the cashier at ALDI. 😂😂 All praise the mighty scanner giving us a chance at beating them! 😂😂

GENAUSO mache ich das auch😊

Perfect description! Imo even if I mess up on the belt, taking my card out of my wallet in advance still makes me feel like I’ve won the battle. The strawberries in my bag might be mush, but I’ll be gone before anyone could notice

I went back to Germany for a long weekend a few weeks ago to visit several old friends. Went shopping to my old supermarket, every time I saw knoppers, smiled and said "Nalf"! I agree with CaLise, but this can be even improved. Rules are 1.- Use a shopping cart, then you throw all things from the conveyor belt into the cart, move away and there are places where you can bag/pack your things at leisure. Should be a stand near to a container where you can rip out the unnecessary packaging and deposit on the container for recycling. Or do it near the parking place for the carts. 2.- If you can, search for a counter, where are young(ish) people with a big amount of things before you. This will help as: a) you will have more time to put your things on the conveyor in the best order (see point 3), and b) they will pay with card or with bills not counting coins! 3.- The last things to put into the conveyor are those things that was to be manually entered and weighted (p.e. bananas) this will slow the cashier and give you an extra time to finish throwing you things on the cart and paying. 4.- Check is your supermarket has counters with a separator for two clients after scanning, You have more time, because you should finish only before the client who checked behind you finish packing. If not available in your chain and another brand has, consider changing brands if the checking process is a big trauma for you😭 5.- Don't be lazy and use selfcheking! No one will pressure you to pack fast. For peace of mind, try to use the stand further away from the queue or the one where it is difficult to see you. The only point of this is that you have to pay with a card. Since that was introduced in my supermarket I never has used a cashier! The only justification for having bagging people, is that is a source of income for: young students, old people who needs an extra income to reach the end of the month, people with disabilities, and where the social security net has many big holes on supporting them. And the fact that most of the people going to the supermarkets use a car for shopping and they will throw all the bags into the car. Here in Europe I walk to my supermarket and I have a 25 kg shopping cart. I have a precise order on accommodating my things into the cart. Unbagging would be a lost of time and packing material.

Pro-tipp: collect some loose and similar looking baked goods and/ or exotic fruits and place these items last on the belt. This will distract the cashier for at least a couple of seconds giving you time to get ahead in packing your groceries ;)

Never been to Germany. However, I too use to be a bagger in my teem years and I too prefer to bag my own groceries.

Aldi USA is fast. But with Nick and Mikey coming from Oregon, Aldi has yet to arrive there. Not sure if they ever visited a US Aldi, but the cashiers actually place everything back into the cart. So you can pack at the packing counter at your own pace. This is the same with Save-A-Lot. Not all Save-A-Lot stores have locks on their carts. One store in the next county has had success with the quarter locks, while another store was forced to remove them, as it was cheaper to let carts roam the lots, than to keep replacing broken quarter locks. That specific store lost too much money from the broken locks, because customers in that area refused to deposit a quarter into the lock, and return the carts.

@@davenwin1973 wow people couldnt just insert a quarter for 30 min and get it back?

@@alexanderdooley5833 unfortunately, most Americans are against using this system for the carts. Even at Aldi, there are people who don't want to be bothered with placing a quarter in the lock, or they'll put a quarter in the lock, but not return the carts. Aldi overall is opening fewer stores in lower income neighborhoods, because of theft in not just the carts, but products too. So far, Lidl USA has not adopted the locking carts, yet, but the carts are capable of supportive them. I believe they'll support them in the future. I'm not in a Lidl market, as they're on the east coast of the US. I'm near Chicago, and I'm in one of Aldi's oldest markets, and they've been in my immediate area since 1979. The locking carts came in 1994.

The aldi checkout stresses me out. Bloodpressure is always rising. Today first time at self checkout at obi hardware store. I was the only one! The rest was standing in long lines at the cashiers.🤔 4 self checkouts without customers .

hahaha so true i am 32 now and German and i still fight against the cashiers :D

Is des ned logischer Menschenverstand, dass die schweren Sachen nach unten kommen?

The first time i had experienced someone packing my Shopping Stuff into Plastic Bags, stuffing them in a Trolley, rolled the Trolly to the Car and throw the Stuff from the Trolley into the Car Trunk in the USA, i was like "whaaaaaat? whyyyy? I'm a grown up! I can do that myself!"... I felt sooo embarrassed and patronized. We never went shopping there again.

@@derauditor5748 Often in the US the people bagging groceries are mentally disabled but capable of work, and want to work. Bagging groceries is actually a good job for them and of benefit to them as they get a bit of pocket money and independence. Not always, but its very common where I live.

@@derauditor5748 I have never experienced a bagger in a grocery store, but I think I would also feel patronized. I even prefer self-checkout so that I can handle everything myself and take my time. But I wonder, with plastic bags no longer free or slowly getting banned in the US, do you pay for an estimated number of bags at the register or do you hand your own bags to the bagger? How does this work nowadays?

Lidl and Aldi in the days before electronic barcode scanning ... those were the real days of legend: I remember the cashiers manning the tills, and how lightning quick their finges moved over the numpad. It was awe-inspiring, and probably faster than today. Stressful times for the shoppers, though.

@@Ned-Ryerson yes, i've commented that too. I remeber the Aldis from the 70s and 80s and the introduction of the first "Scanner Kassen" and it really slowed them down.

I can confirm that in France and Switzerland the check-out is much slower (some would consider it a more reasonable speed😅) than in Germany.

Yeah, just take up the space and time you need. They can't force you to move faster. Do it in your own speed and enjoy the impatience of the line. 🥳

@@noyn4547 many people simply don’t understand the society in which we live in Germany. We are a small country compared to america and also a global economic power. That doesn't come by itself. low prices in the discounter do not come about by themselves. time and therefore money must be saved everywhere so that prices can be so cheap. Customers / people who shop slowly on principle (of course, old and sick people are excluded) have not understood the principle of our society.

@@maurice8978 as a German citizen myself, I understand the work culture. I don't accept the impatience of other people in line as a reason to make me feel miserable about my speed.

@@maurice8978 Also, Germany is not generally famous for being cheap.

@@mynamename5172 yeah and that’s the reason why Discounter have the speed rule on the cash

Belt; conveyer belt

@@mojojim6458 thank you!

Also, everything which has to be weighed or typed (like fruit and vegetables) comes near the end, so you have time to bag away the rest. Also, baskets are much more convenient for grocery shopping than bags, at least if you don't have to walk a long distance afterwards.

Of cause, never try to beat an Aldi cashier you can t win

Do you want them to die or Mike to get emotional trauma?

@@danilopapais1464 🤣

Yes, once I didn't use a trolley, got yelled at because I was too slow to put my groceries in my backpack.

@@AM-yu6ys just don‘t bag at the cash register. Pay, go to the side and bag your stuff at the counters. Problem solved 🙃

And we're all looking forward to the Blackie rating.

Do the same thing here. Sometimes we just stick in the cart, take it to the car and sort and pack it there.

it‘s less stressful because this is the inteded way to use a supermarket… some people are just too selfish to understand

Me too! :D

i always try to be faster but pfff no chance 😅

exactly! I‘m working at Lidl and unfortunately Germans get more and more selfish too… It is sad to see the amount of people who actually have a shopping care bit feel the need to bag everything at the cash register anyways to save a minute or two for themselves. By doing do they waste the time of everyone else and put the employeey under pressure. Here comes a fun fact: Cashiers usually have 1-3 other task next to working at the cash register so when you take your sweet time to bag everything they will have to hurry for you… Just don‘t be selfish and please think of others. Take a card/basket and bag your stuff at the counters that are literally intended for customers to take their time and bag everything.

@@meganoob12 💯

The old mystery of why Germans like their cash is solved with number 3.

to 1. yeah, also the lighter and more fragile goods cannot get crushed by the larger and heavier pieces :)

There were a few years where I couldn't go to Aldi without panicking in the line. I figured out that switching to cash helped, so I always had Aldi cash on me. Aldi is the very worst - Edeka and Rewe are so much more relaxed. I have to feel bad for the employees that are put under so much pressure to be that fast that they unknowingly cause panic in foreigners and even Germans are uncomfortable sometimes. Then again I was yelled at by an old man in line for not standing in line properly, he cut in front of me and told me I wasn't standing close enough to the person in front of me. I left in tears. Another trick I've learned is to always have a cart to put behind me in line for my space, and the cart allows me to literally toss my food in almost as fast as they can scan it. If I bring a Stofftasche, I cannot bag nearly fast enough for them.

yeah i don't take a cart for buying 10 items are you nuts if you are behind me in line and pestering me then i suddenly have the urge to search for my wallet or pay in coins sorry but have some patience or ask if they can open more check out lines.

It is not hard, but it takes a bit of brain use.

only if you buy too much to easily put it in a bag. if it fits, make sure you put the heavy/sturdy/hard stuff at the front of the line, so it is at the bottom of your bag

Exactly what this seventy four year old does! EXACTLY!

With "Mission Impossible" music.

I do that as well like this.

Its like a Titel Fight :D U need to be ready for 5 round

....our local edeka is also very slow, but still in the business.😂🤣👍👍

Aldi used to hire and pay people based on their speed, at least they did 20 to 25 years ago and therefore cashiers at Aldi were the highest paid cashiers of as supermarkets and grocery stores.

And believe it or not in the former times before barcodes the cashiers from Aldi were still lightning fast and knowing the numbercodes of each item of the storetipping it in.

There is no other explanation for the situation than that K-Leistung resport. You know those cashiers are being pushed into a frenzy and it explains why they don't even look at you.

@@LythaWausW You want the cashier to look at you while scanning? I worked at Netto and I greeted every customer with a smile and eye contact before starting to scan the goods. You can be fast AND friendly.

Not all grocery stores in the US have baggers. The names are dependant by where you're at in the US. I'm in the midwest, specifically Gary Indiana, and besides Aldi (Aldi Süd) , Save-A-Lot, and Ruler Foods (Kroger owned), there's Food 4 Less, which is a discount version of Kroger, which looks like a traditional US grocery store, but no baggers. When you go to checkout, after everything is put on the belt, and scanned, instead of a small space after the cashier, there are 2 conveyor belts behind the cashier, and your groceries are diverted down one of those belts. You pack at the end of the belt, and there's a button to advance the belt, so you don't have to go around the other line to grab your stuff. You can either bring your own bags, or use the bags provided. Aldi USA (Süd) does things a bit different from Aldi stores in Europe. The cashiers place your groceries back into the cart, and you go to the packing table to pack everything. I'm in one of Aldi's oldest markets, and Aldi always required customers to bring their own bags. Before 1992, bags were not available at all. Starting in 1992, bags became available for a fee. Save-A-Lot and Ruler Foods also require you to bring your own bags, and like Aldi USA, everything goes back into the cart, and you go to the packing table to bag your groceries.

Amen, Tom.

In many places here you do bag your own i.e. the German company ALDI'S is very popular and you always take a cart and never stuff your backpack. If you're seen doing that the store manager will call the police.

Same in Germany btw, you are not allowed to put the stuff in the backpack before you pay for it. Was also a bit suprised why Nalf did that, not normal in Germany. But Schwäbisch Hall is maybe just a case of wealthy, low crime, small town exception, where people are not suspecting criminal indent and letting you do more than elsewhere.

I don't even think German customers would accept this service. I know I wouldn't like anyone else to pack my bag. And when customers really need assistance because they are handicapped the cashier will take the time and pack their bag, even in Germany.

For me it's a game to see who can be faster 😂 at Aldi , I got the feeling it was worse 10 years ago. Now it's more relaxed

People really think thats a problem?

@@garomash Yes, because legally it is theft!

@@garomash Yes, you can get in serious trouble by doing that :D

@@linchpin6666 I did this for years, no problem... I just switched since corona because carts were mandatory for a while and now I like it more

​@@garomash in fact it is seen by law as robbery. you are actually only allowed to pack your stuff in your bags when you have already paid for.

No, just just send them to re-education camps.

👆Such a smart person! 👍

It is hard not to have help from any family members. There is still the notion that "mum" needs to do it all because daddy has a regular job (and 'supports' you with 'his' money. lol). Of course, I don't know your situation, but it was the same with my parents. My dad now still wonders why he is alone.

When I lived in Orlando for a couple of years we would always smirk and snicker when we were behind a European Tourist who never experienced having that tax added at the checkout stand not realizing the listed price was not the final price with tax included!

I just get a shopping cart and throw everything in there when I go shopping. I'm way faster than the cashier that way. After paying, I push the cart into a quiet corner and put the stuff in my bag(s). Shopping has gotten much less stressful since I've adopted this method.

pls dont add 420 haha

@@BrokenCurtain In larger supermarkets I do exactly the same thing. Problem with the smaller city REWEs for instance: There simply is no quiet corner to pack your stuff.

Loving the 420 remark, definitely worth it..

@@fraenkiboii I usually frequent exactly that type of smaller store and have no problem finding a place for that.

Well, legally speaking, this is not entirely accurate (and yes, this is what Germans do when commenting on German culture: Correct other people!), but your point is a good one: There are grocery shop staff out there who will react to this as if you were a thief. So avoiding the suspicion is good practice. I am quite sure though that NALF knows his REWE shop employees well enough ;)

I thought the same, doing that in a store would give me anxiety

@@dirkschwartz1689 Well, no. Not eager to start a legal discussion here, but usually the theft is completed once you put items in your bag and close it. Because right in this moment you are (wrongly) claiming ownership over this item, now the shopowner's product is in your bag and he can't use it as he likes anymore. But: oftentimes the staff stops you right after you passed the checkout, because then it's even more obvious, that you didn't want to pay. Still: the theft is legally completed when you put the products in your closed (!) bag. Different thing are open baskets as anyone can look into it. (I hope the translation is good enough ;))

@@simonriley6777 Hm. Agree to disagree, but I don't want to drag this on too much either. First thing though: I totally agree with your advice not to do such a thing in a store :) Just one comment: For section 242 of the German penal code - theft - to be fulfilled there must be (and in court you need to prove) intent. Concluding it from closing the bag alone before the cutomer is even in the vicinity of the checkout is problematic in my opinion. Depending on circumstances, you may be right though. To quote a common saying among law students (and practising lawyers I suppose): It depends ;)

@@dirkschwartz1689 You're right - but the intent is something that is proven finally (or not) in court. So in that particular moment you could still get in trouble, get searched, a report might be filed. So that's why a lot of shops wait until you passed the checkout, then it's way easier to prove the intent.

The biggest problem I have encountered (when shopping alone, since my husband hates grocery shopping) is when the cashier starts ringing items up BEFORE you have even gotten all your stuff onto the conveyor belt. (And at discounters like Aldi there is no room to catch the goods you cannot pack up yet.) So they're piling stuff up on the few inches of available space while I am frantically dumping the rest of my stuff on the belt. That's the worst! Luckily, I live in a fairly small town and can generally pick out a line with a cashier who knows me, knows my American shopping anxiety, and is somewhat slower...😅

Haha, the way you wrote "while she's still busy", makes this sound like the instructions for a zoo keeper. "You toss the steak to the lion and while she is still busy eating it, you can run in to the enclosure and get the stuff you lost."😁

Yes, the cashier (especially at ALDI) occasionally asks you to use a shopping cart, so the checkout gets faster. This is intentional, because with a shopping cart you are more likely to buy things that you did not intend to buy. That is, it increases the store's revenue!

@@Bruno_Haible Another German "Ordnung" point (which I do now, even living now in another European country): write at home a shopping list with ONLY the things you REALLY want/need to buy AND the amounts you will buy, and KEEP to the list! No matter how big is your cart, you will not buy anything extra. And if you know the layout of your supermarket by heart, write the list along a path inside the market to reduce the time and the "temptations" inside.

@@formerlyinpragur4736 This habit is not about "Ordnung", it's about being thrifty. With this habit, in the last 10 years, you will not have eaten a single kiwi, a single ananas, a single mango, a single persimmon, a single maracuya, or a single papaya. Not because you consider these fruits to be too "modern", but simply because you walk through the grocery store with your eyes wide shut.

@@Bruno_Haible When I want to buy a papaya I put on the list and pass by the stand... The same with condoms... How your post 5 minutes ago contradict the "more likely to buy things that you did not intend to buy. That is, it increases the store's revenue". Should I buy a mango simply because it is there?

They have them at DM.

@@susella646 dang 3 seconds faster than me

@@florentinenice9146 Sorry ... :-)

mistakes exist to learn from em ;)

Even when I manage to place several shopping bags into the cart such that I more or less just have to throw the stuff into the open bags, I cannot keep up.

Clever.

I’m a sucker for maps

The funny thing is, the people behind you don't actually push. They're just bracing for their own ordeal. The daggers of stares in your back is just them trying to gage how fast the cashier is, how they need to arrange things in order to do better and more or less rate your performance. Like in sports. Learn from others' mistakes.

What I've done a few times when the cashier seems exasperated with me is simply walk away without paying and leave all the stuff there for him to deal with.

@@mojojim6458 nice! :) yeah, why not. I never had a cashier being mad at me, sometimes mad about the whole cashout situation in general he/she has to deal with daily, but if someone would dare to call me out about not being fast enough, yes I can definately see me doing what you did :)

This is how I do it since the pandemic started - and the reason I always use a cart, even for only two items.

Level 1....🤣😂👍

remember when cashiers still needed to type the price into a key pad? Aldi cashiers were INSANE in that