Not all bad, just mostly

I did the weekly supermarket shop this morning.

I experienced a few minor irritations which would be acceptable, were it not for the fact that there are always minor irritations.

Firstly, in the fruit and veg section, I noticed bags of organic Braeburn apples. The notice near the fruit stated "7 apples for the price of 5." I noticed that all of the pre-packed bags contained just five apples. I pointed this out to a member of staff and they said "Uh, guess that's finished" and they removed the notice. There was no apology for the misleading information on display and there was no gratitude for the observation.

For the eighth week I have checked the confectionary aisle for marshmallows (yummy on top of hot chocolate - or even just eaten on their own. Plus I have a pot of chocolate that needs melting for marshmallows, excuse me I'm dribbling). Once again, no marshmallows. I find a member of staff and ask if it would be possible for someone to order some marshmallows, because this is the eighth week I've looked, and the eighth week I've failed to find any. The response is "If you'd like to go to the Customer Service desk..." I walk away shaking my head. I don't feel I should be doing anything to help Sainsburys sort out their stock control? Why should I go and repeat my request to the Customer Service desk which will mean queueing and increasing the time it's taking me to do the shopping? Why should I be further inconvenienced? I've already been inconvenienced over the last eight weeks. Why can't the member of staff I approached, own the problem and sort it out?

Walking down one of the household goods aisles I fail to ignore a huge pallet of goods waiting to be emptied onto shelves. It's unattended in the middle of the aisle. Coming towards me are three Sainsburys employees. I hear one say to the others "That's a really sensible place to leave that." Her voice is laden with sarcasm. They walk straight past. I hear a voice in my head screaming "Then move it! You work for the company. Take some pride and do something." Fortunately, for all concerned, the voice is only in my head.

The other irritations are mainly around poor stocking, particularly two items.

Yesterday I showed Sandra how to make what we call Rockland or Brentwood Mess. It's Eton mess but a fruit mixture replaces either strawberries or raspberries. She told me off on the basis that it tastes delicious and is too easy to make thus making it an easy route to too many calories.

When Sandra left here yesterday she told me she was taking Daniel swimming. I think she lied and actually went to Sainsburys and cleared them out of meringue nests and frozen summer fruit.

But when I resolved to get back into the habit of ordering from Tesco or Ocado online, I am impressed by the checkout assistant. When she's packing my bag she puts similar things together to aid the unpacking process. She's chatty and she's helpful. When she thinks I may have more than one trolley load she offers a second trolley and help getting everything out to the car. She does everything she should including the asking about schools vouchers, reward points and a car park refund.

However there is the small matter of the cost, which is about twice what it is when Dave does the shopping. Maybe he should do the shopping from now on.

So it wasn't all bad, just mostly.