Last minute shopping

I did my grocery shopping last night at PaknSave. At 10.50pm.  Late night is the best time to do grocery shopping because you can have your pick of the best carparking spots, the shelves are fully stocked and  you get to choose the best of best (or the cheapest of the cheapest). If you go shopping at 9pm you usually have to avoid getting run over by the forklifts doing their loading and unloading in the aisles but at 10.50pm - everything is in its place.  I like to go shopping late at night because:

1. The husband is home to keep an eye on the now sleeping children.
2. I am useless at stealing carparks in primo spots during peak shopping (daylight) hours.
3. I hate going to shelves and finding NOTHING there because the shelf-fillers haven't arrived.
4. Seeing how little time I have helps me to get my shopping done quickly.
5. I don't buy anything that is not on the list as I don't have time to look at anything else.

What I didn't think about during the last ten minutes was the poor staff.  There was a guy in front of me and he said in a rather loud voice to the checkout lady, "Can these people get out now so that we can do our cleaning?'.  I think that the comment was intended for my ears and the ears of any other customer who didn't have to stay behind to clean, count cash etc... When I went to pay for my shopping, the checkout person who served me commented on my trolley of goods saying 'Doing your grocery shopping now?'  When I told her that it was the first chance I had had to leave the house today, she replied in a very weary and kind of pissed off tone,"It's after 11pm now and we finish at 11pm." Alrighty, then.  I felt for her then because who knows how many hours she had had to stand and serve and smile fake smiles at people all day? I am sure that the last thing she felt like doing was to serve me with my mountain of groceries at 11pm.  I felt for her and I felt for the angry cleaner who did his shopping before me as I had worked as a cleaner for a short period and I remember feeling the same way about people hanging about in the area I was supposed to clean but I never said anything to them.  I just waited until they left.

While I do have sympathy for the PaknSave staff, I am a customer and isn't the customer always right? Even if the customer finishes shopping after 11pm?  I could have spent my hard earned $$$ at Countdown instead of PaknSave.  Who knows? Maybe I will next time. 

So, what have I learnt about last minute shopping? Yes, you will save money and get everything on your list from the well-stocked shelves but you will not have the goodwill of the staff who have to wait past their knock-off time because you chose to do your weekly grocery shopping in the dying minutes of their work day.  Point taken. I will make an effort to remember the frustration of that checkout lady and the grumpy cleaner the next time I plan to do my 10 minute grocery shopping - and I will try my absolute best to get to PaknSave at least 20 minutes before they close instead of ten.