TheaterFire

What things are worse than your go-to supermarket having a layout change?

Posted by Ok-Friend-5304@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 147 comments

What worse things can happen to a Brit in a day than this? Flippant answers only please

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147 Comments

pinkdaisylemon@reddit

Does my head in! Local Tesco recently had a refurb with new style freezers etc. Still had the shop open so it was a bit of a moveable feast while they juggled everything! However, even now it's finished it still doesn't feel right. They have toiletries in the same isle as food! Nothing makes sense with the new layout. It doesn't feel right looking at a tube of Anusol then turning your head to see a loaf of bread!
View on Reddit #71071150

nathderbyshire@reddit

I went shopping at one of the stores I used to work at and they had brand new fridges, thick fuckers with black borders and I can't explain why but they felt really tight and claustrophobic when I don't usually get that feeling. Felt more like walking through a data centre than a supermarket The fridges did used to go down yearly though, apparently the generator was on the roof which is common as it's cheaper than digging or buying more space to have it level 🤷 so hopefully the new ones are more robust and don't trip off, doubt it though
View on Reddit #71104681

pinkdaisylemon@reddit

Yes they are all upright black fridges. All the fridge items are now also behind glass doors. I think it's supposed to combat shoplifting. Also got TV screens in the aisles. Doesn't feel right at all. Yes, just like a data centre you're right.
View on Reddit #71105633

neilm1000@reddit

What do they show on the TV screens? This is a new one on me.
View on Reddit #72738298

pinkdaisylemon@reddit

The shoppers!
View on Reddit #72740932

neilm1000@reddit

That's...odd. I assumed it was adverts. Are they like the ones on self service checkouts?
View on Reddit #72752983

pinkdaisylemon@reddit

Every time I've been in there it's literally just showing the aisle that it's on. It's a big screen up above the aisle. Weird.
View on Reddit #72759557

neilm1000@reddit

That's weird. Thanks.
View on Reddit #72760537

phatboi23@reddit

> All the fridge items are now also behind glass doors. I think it's supposed to combat shoplifting. makes them more efficient as they're not just cooling the whole building 24/7. might mean the generator for them isn't dying each year too haha
View on Reddit #71288900

pinkdaisylemon@reddit

True!
View on Reddit #71306090

nathderbyshire@reddit

The fridges without doors never made sense anyway it seemed like a massive waste of energy, I suspect the new ones are far more efficient as well, while conveniently being slightly more annoying for shoplifting. But from working there, people don't tend to do it in the middle of the aisle, they either shop as normal and do a runner with the basket - sometimes through the emergency doors which aren't manned by security, or they go to more congested area like clothing where cameras have a trickier time or can't go at all like changing rooms
View on Reddit #71105913

InternationalRide5@reddit

"This new flavour of primula is a bit odd"
View on Reddit #71097147

pinkdaisylemon@reddit

Indeed🤣
View on Reddit #71097349

GnaphaliumUliginosum@reddit

It's a reminder to stock up on high-fibre foods, subliminal marketing for their wholewheat bread.
View on Reddit #71075234

pinkdaisylemon@reddit

Haha you're probably right! Although nowadays I prefer to make my own as I know what's going in it
View on Reddit #71075399

Brexit-Broke-Britain@reddit

What are the ingredients of home made anal haemorrhoid cream ?
View on Reddit #71081187

pinkdaisylemon@reddit

You know, as soon as I posted it I knew this was coming! 🤣
View on Reddit #71081981

Gadget100@reddit

Well, for pickle fans, there was that time that Mrs Elswood pickles changed their label: https://www.brilliantagency.co.uk/blog/creative/mrs-elswood-rebrand/
View on Reddit #71075339

neilm1000@reddit

I was not impressed by this and didn't buy them for some time after. This year in fact.
View on Reddit #72738967

Gadget100@reddit

It was almost the last straw. But I can never say no to Mrs Elswood, whatever she might look like.
View on Reddit #72739038

WitShortage@reddit

Email "Exciting news about your National Lottery ticket!" You've received £2.60
View on Reddit #71075333

neilm1000@reddit

The National Lottery emails are the biggest lie in the world, followed by the washing machine timer.
View on Reddit #72738450

Beary-Cute-Gamer@reddit

Death, I would imagine.
View on Reddit #71069327

sockeyejo@reddit

Or cake
View on Reddit #71142629

catschimeras@reddit

as a rule, a person doesn't usually experience death every week tho. the supermarket thing repeats, which makes it worse.
View on Reddit #71081185

Hamsternoir@reddit

That generally only happens once, supermarket changes are more frequent.
View on Reddit #71071023

matmah@reddit

Supermarkets offering great deals on meals for two. Just makes you realise how tragic you life is, while crying over your overpriced microwave lasagne for one!
View on Reddit #71135185

Polz34@reddit

When the council take out a roundabout and put in four way traffic lights. Bloody nightmare
View on Reddit #71096364

ceehred@reddit

Or if they take the best part of a year to replace a 2-lane roundabout with a poorly designed 4-lane one to "reduce queues". More chaos, anger and minor accidents - leading to more queues.
View on Reddit #71123800

messedup73@reddit

Waiting in for a parcel all day and then getting an email saying it will be delivered tomorrow instead.
View on Reddit #71073404

ceehred@reddit

Or if it says it's been delivered and I don't have it, after searches around back gate, hiding places, back garden, utility boxes, bins, street - and then have to go pester the neighbours.
View on Reddit #71123526

LegoVRS@reddit

Or ordering on Amazon and you've got 2 items that can arrive tomorrow before 1 and then you add another item that can arrive tomorrow but the app decides than the next delivery time is a week on Thursday.
View on Reddit #71120113

ceehred@reddit

Your favourite take-out, when they post the notice about new management/owner or (worse) a new chef. Rarely ends well.
View on Reddit #71123347

yoloswaggins92@reddit

When you order a Just Eat and it's been two hours with no update, no way to contact the takeaway, and the Just Eat app saying it'll charge you the full amount if you cancel the order.
View on Reddit #71070957

ceehred@reddit

Or if the update kept saying 30 minutes, then another 30, then another 30, and on beyond the close-time of the restaurant. IIRC, I wasn't aware of the charge until *after* the cancellation... but I had had a few more beers in my starving stomach by this point. Had this recently, and even after a spirited conversation with their customer support (who I guess is a bot), no refund was possible. Closed my account and will never use those scammers again.
View on Reddit #71123057

nathderbyshire@reddit

Or ordering a taxi with taxi and watching it drive away for you and take 3x longer than the estimated time which you placed the order based on it. Apparently it's such an issue now Uber are rolling out free cancellations now if they drive away for more than 2 minutes or something, probably to reduce call complaints about it. They also used to drive off and refuse to cancel the ride when I was taking my cat to the vet, when it's their fault for not reading my message saying 'i have a cat which will sit on a blanket in a carrier'. It doesn't happen a lot but when it does I'm fighting outside the vets with some guy in his fancy car and another 15 minutes fighting with Uber to get my refund.
View on Reddit #71105216

highrouleur@reddit

A while ago I ordered a kebab from a new place, took ages, tried phoning, no answer, so cancelled through Just eat. Within minutes the place phoned me and said you can't cancel, we've made the food. I replied it's been an hour it's too long and hung up. They phoned back immediately I just hung up. A couple of weeks later the place was raided by police, my mate was hair cut next door at the time. Apparently it's run by an Albanian drug family. And I've pissed them off
View on Reddit #71084183

yoloswaggins92@reddit

WHOOPSIES
View on Reddit #71092264

cherrycocoakoala@reddit

Once ordered a pizza on just eat, it was 2 hours late and when it turned up, not only was it stone cold, but it was completely the wrong pizza. Requested a refund, sent evidence that showed it was the wrong pizza, talked to multiple cs agents, they denied a refund. Deleted my account and never used them again, what a scam.
View on Reddit #71080927

vegan_voorhees@reddit

Rail replacement buses. There is no greater evil.
View on Reddit #71069504

ceehred@reddit

Yeah, and finding the boarding stop can be a challenge for the busier stations when travelling through London. Rail replacement buses at provincial locations happens a fair amount round here. Like when there's an issue in London and they close the *whole* line to S/SW in response.
View on Reddit #71122694

No-Photograph3463@reddit

Even worse when you could of just got the coach for far less, but chose the train as it was faster but is now slower than the coach and you paid more
View on Reddit #71072083

CactusCastrator@reddit

literally. Coach - 4hrs 15 mins, £12. Train, 2 hrs, £52. Rail replacement bus, 6hrs 30mins, £52.
View on Reddit #71108667

ALA02@reddit

Rail replacement bus? Guess I’ll just pay for the ticket with my replacement money then
View on Reddit #71094495

pajamakitten@reddit

I have only had good experiences myself. One even managed to get me home quicker (Southampton Airport Parkway to Bournemouth) and that was during rush hour traffic.
View on Reddit #71090998

ARobertNotABob@reddit

The bus having last been used for a school run and has not been cleaned since.
View on Reddit #71079118

KayMaTrixx@reddit

I am a train choo choo 🚅
View on Reddit #71077415

-Incubation-@reddit

Almost an art form how they can make a 15 minute train journey into a 45+ minute bus journey.
View on Reddit #71070983

Wutanghang@reddit

Its almost like trains move faster than buses or something
View on Reddit #71076705

VioletsSoul@reddit

Was in York the other day and there were so many replacement buses. My god it was lawless. Brother turned on brother. Mothers turned on daughters. Dogs turned on masters. It was a dark time (so about 4.30pm).
View on Reddit #71073984

LegoVRS@reddit

Charity muggers knocking on the door and asking those scripted one right answer questions like "do you think kids with cancer deserve to die in screaming agony" so they cam follow up by requesting you give money to their charity and earn commission.
View on Reddit #71119973

Islingtonian@reddit

When the cellophane doesn't peel off your ready meal neatly
View on Reddit #71071148

ALA02@reddit

Cellophane? Yank spotted
View on Reddit #71094667

Islingtonian@reddit

I can assure you that I'm English. I can't think of what else to call it. Plastic film, maybe.
View on Reddit #71116438

Particular_Tune7990@reddit

Wait. Do they not still make stuff out of cellophane on Blue Peter?
View on Reddit #71097186

MiskyWisky2791@reddit

Adverts popping up on your favourite ad free website or app
View on Reddit #71113258

CactusCastrator@reddit

Seeing someone use the same teabag for two cups of tea. Or genocide. But probably the tea.
View on Reddit #71069528

Raisinsandfairywings@reddit

I used to do that until my colleagues started laughing at me saying “rationing’s over you know, we’re not in a war”. And it made me question why I’ve always felt so unbelievably guilty about having more than one teabag per day (not just at work but in my own home too!). Now I live my life freely and if I want a cuppa I have a cuppa, fresh teabag and all. 
View on Reddit #71111613

nathderbyshire@reddit

My god my burger almost came back up after reading that. Why would you say such things
View on Reddit #71104486

SpudFire@reddit

One would probably lead to the other tbf
View on Reddit #71070837

ncminns@reddit

Having to move desks at work 😬
View on Reddit #71102591

Phoenyx_wilson@reddit

Shrinkflation of butter.
View on Reddit #71100248

pajamakitten@reddit

A limited edition product finally ending its run.
View on Reddit #71091877

Islingtonian@reddit

Having your favourite telly programme cancelled for the football/snooker
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Pixiebel81@reddit

But the repeat of the 15 year old episode of The Simpsons that's on after it is still broadcast
View on Reddit #71071972

pajamakitten@reddit

Still kind of annoyed it was cancelled for 9/11, on BBC2 and Sky One at that.
View on Reddit #71091763

DoctorOctagonapus@reddit

Didn't used to be like that. The Simpsons used to be the first thing Channel 4 would cut if something overran. The worst one was one time the cricket overran by an hour so everything got cancelled. The next day they cancelled it again so they could air a Hollyoaks double bill. That was the point I wrote in and complained.
View on Reddit #71080480

Pixiebel81@reddit

Not in the Buffy days 😭
View on Reddit #71080559

Islingtonian@reddit

And when they did air it, they would cut it to shreds because it was pre-watershed!
View on Reddit #71085321

FantasticWeasel@reddit

'Great new recipe' on your favourite food.
View on Reddit #71069643

pajamakitten@reddit

Adding milk powder to a food previously suitable for vegans and milk allergy sufferers.
View on Reddit #71091035

Chamerlee@reddit

There was a microwave chicken, pesto pasta in a plastic oval tub that Morrisons did circa 2008. They changed the recipe before removing it completely and I still miss it.
View on Reddit #71090590

ohbuggerit@reddit

Translation: "We've added your migraine triggers to one of the few things you could still eat!" Every fucking time
View on Reddit #71079201

RoutineCloud5993@reddit

Doritos' new "crunchier" recipe just made them taste like shit. I won't buy them anymore
View on Reddit #71077700

mattcannon2@reddit

"new improved formula" is another way of saying "we've replaced your favourite ingredients with more palm oil!"
View on Reddit #71073178

ToadInTheHole7181@reddit

The cleaners move all your stuff and don't put it back in the original place.
View on Reddit #71090651

this-guy-@reddit

The council introducing a new road layout because their previous attempt at a road layout actually was worse than before so now they are shuffling the bus lanes and cycle lanes and one way system at great expense because this will totally work this time. According to the theories they currently hold.
View on Reddit #71089167

Apricot_Oasis@reddit

Something containing less sugar.
View on Reddit #71087301

GabberZZ@reddit

Murder.
View on Reddit #71086777

jeanettem67@reddit

When after months of your train leaving from same platform, the train company all the sudden switches to another platform.
View on Reddit #71086050

J_Cross_@reddit

The road being dug up for the return journey when it was fine when you left earlier, now there is traffic, lights, cones, and a 10 minute queue when it usually only takes 2 minutes to drive the entire road - and no-one actually doing anything!!! Oh there may be a couple of lads standing round the hole talking and maybe one old geezer on the mini digger drinking a mug of tea but that's all. It makes you wonder how the road was dug up so quickly if they are just talking about it...
View on Reddit #71085038

emmjaybeeyoukay@reddit

Xmas music in the shops llus the xmas gifts monopolising three aisles WHILE you have to work out where they've moved the yogurts to.
View on Reddit #71083756

Peg_leg_J@reddit

Having to use a VPN now for everything.....
View on Reddit #71070829

mordhoshogh@reddit

Forgetting to turn your vpn off and getting a grilling from it about why you logged into teams from Portugal
View on Reddit #71083198

mattcannon2@reddit

"everything" ;)
View on Reddit #71073249

Peg_leg_J@reddit

EVERYTHING
View on Reddit #71073484

Unlikely_Egg@reddit

My go-to supermarket no longer selling lots of things I like to buy. Looking at you Aldi with the sandwich thins and sugar free jelly crystals.
View on Reddit #71082327

yearsofpractice@reddit

Three things: - Catching your pocket on a door handle - Seeing a colleague on the bus/train to work - Cholera
View on Reddit #71070049

catschimeras@reddit

\#2 is fine as long as everyone involved is a civilised person who knows not to talk to your coworkers on the journey in and save it til we're on the clock. but when you get a chatty miscreant in the mix... the horror.
View on Reddit #71081042

yearsofpractice@reddit

I’m actually having a little LOL at “chatty miscreant”. Such a perfect description. I live in Newcastle and often had to travel to London by train. A colleague was KING of the chatty miscreants and would actively seek out other people taking similar trips so he could bend their ear the entire trip. I - and I can’t believe I’m saying this - would hide in a shop on the platform until the train was pulling in then jump on at the last minute pretending to be on a phone call. I could then feign “Sorry, on a call, will catch up later” if I DID see the chatty man… then hide from him at the other end of the train. He was a ***fucking menace***
View on Reddit #71081531

Sarrebas89@reddit

When someone makes you a cup of tea and they put the milk in first...
View on Reddit #71072866

catschimeras@reddit

the gasp i gosped.
View on Reddit #71081283

iAlice@reddit

Freddos went up in price AGAIN.
View on Reddit #71081192

catschimeras@reddit

pressing the bell for the wrong stop on your bus hourney and now there is literally no other option than for you to get off and walk the rest of the way.
View on Reddit #71080890

Mysterious_County154@reddit

The smell of the nasty toilets at the entrance. It's been like a year now of it just smelling so bad everytime you walk in It used to smell like the bakery but I guess not anymore, thanks Morrisons. So wish we had an asda here
View on Reddit #71080521

underwater-sunlight@reddit

Knowing that the reason they move things around is to put the prices up and hope that it is missed
View on Reddit #71079649

Comfortable-mouse05@reddit

I still weap for the Heinz pudding in a can :( RIP
View on Reddit #71079397

Comfortable-mouse05@reddit

Running out of milk just as I'm about to make a tea
View on Reddit #71079337

BaldGinger82@reddit

Having either teabags or milk, but not both.
View on Reddit #71079310

nightfire_83@reddit

Getting your balls caught between 2 bricks
View on Reddit #71078673

AnonymousTimewaster@reddit

Stepping on the pointy side of a plug
View on Reddit #71071495

Fyonella@reddit

Which is not as bad as kneeling on said plug!
View on Reddit #71078611

Weary_Brain9482@reddit

Trying to open a packet of bacon How is that resealable???
View on Reddit #71078402

Sudden_Hovercraft_56@reddit

Temporary Traffic lights. - 4 way control.
View on Reddit #71078195

Boring_Bastard_72@reddit

AIDS.
View on Reddit #71077985

Perfect_Hyena8148@reddit

Discontinuing the sour cream and honey pretzels from M & S
View on Reddit #71077371

atsevoN@reddit

Atleast you aren’t the people changing the aisles 🫠
View on Reddit #71077175

secret_side_quest@reddit

Going the wrong way out of a service station and ending up having to drive 15 minutes in the wrong direction before you can turn around. Happened to me on the m4 at chieveley services when I had a screaming baby in the car after an already horrendous 5 hour drive with a baby who would not stop crying. Realising I had gone the wrong way out of the services is the only moment so far I have fully lost my shit as a parent. I was crying and screaming louder than the baby.
View on Reddit #71076475

Jip_Jaap_Stam@reddit

Temporary traffic lights on a road that's already busier than average
View on Reddit #71070079

secret_side_quest@reddit

This grinds my gears!!! I know logically they need to do roadworks on busy roads too but I always find myself cursing and blaming them for doing roadworks on a pinch point, as though they chose to be deliberately obstructive with it. There's a terrible pinch point on my way to work at a 6 way crossroad near a school and they decided to do roadworks on it, leading to my 45 minute commute becoming a 75 minute commute. Fuming.
View on Reddit #71076305

33backagain@reddit

Many years ago my student job was helping to refit (“modernise”) various Sainsbury’s stores. I can tell you from experience that getting cancer is worse.
View on Reddit #71076201

menegerie5@reddit

Getting on a full train just in time and as you are just settling in for a long journey then announcing the train isn't going and you all have to get off again.... Happens to me every time I go south these days 🙄🤣 Though to be fair I was super traumatised when our supermarket changed layout so is a close run thing....
View on Reddit #71075358

FamSender@reddit

Getting stabbed, worse if you and your colleagues both get stabbed and you have to keep each other company at the hospital for hours.
View on Reddit #71075053

EnvironmentalCap5156@reddit

items not priced, drives me nuts.
View on Reddit #71074797

Comfortable_Ad_4267@reddit

Standing for the entire train journeys. Even though you've paid premium prices.
View on Reddit #71073812

surgicalcoder@reddit

Roadworks on a road you use frequently, but not frequently enough to remember the roadworks there. 
View on Reddit #71073612

Used_Expert_5968@reddit

Allergen update 
View on Reddit #71073457

Winter_Parsley8706@reddit

Running out of teabags and the shop is closed
View on Reddit #71073128

SceneDifferent1041@reddit

Cancer
View on Reddit #71072902

TheKnightsRider@reddit

Thinking you've won when you spot a free pump at the station, losing your place and finding it out of service.
View on Reddit #71072897

ans-myonul@reddit

The supermarket discontinuing my favourite foods. It's happened so many times it's like they're trying to mess with me
View on Reddit #71072652

CrowsEatCheese@reddit

Coriander in food but not on the ingredients list. Ebola.
View on Reddit #71072235

PavlovaToes@reddit

The weather, obviously! Everyone will be complaining if it rains... but god forbid it's hot and sunny when we have no aircon.
View on Reddit #71072203

TobblyWobbly@reddit

When you sit down to watch Celebrity Traitors finale and discover it's not on until the next night.
View on Reddit #71072050

SnooObjections3103@reddit

Hitler.
View on Reddit #71072049

Herne_KZN@reddit

The holocaust?
View on Reddit #71069433

PavlovaToes@reddit

look into what "flippant" means
View on Reddit #71071998

blainy-o@reddit

Having to suffer nearly 13 weeks of Cadent roadworks, only for them to finish, then start more a week later on the same stretch of road.
View on Reddit #71071951

Infamous-Pomelo9674@reddit

Sepsis
View on Reddit #71071825

WestLondonWoman73@reddit

Putting your washing out on the line and monsoon like weather appears over your garden
View on Reddit #71071638

Rubberfootman@reddit

“25% less salt!”
View on Reddit #71070527

Active-Strawberry-37@reddit

“New recipe!”
View on Reddit #71071533

Henno212@reddit

B/M’s no longer stocking tomato Pringles It was a good three weeks while it lasted
View on Reddit #71071414

Upset_Accident_8435@reddit

The quality of the fresh produce they give you when you order a click and collect/ delivery. Those hollow, bruised avocados haunt my nightmares.
View on Reddit #71071322

zophzz@reddit

All 3 of my local supermarkets deciding to do a layout change within the same year
View on Reddit #71070988

Cyanopicacooki@reddit

Having your nipples wired to the mains and then get beaten with a barbed wire lash? I does piss me off a tad, especially when I helped a researcher construct a virtual store to measure engagement and influence that store layout had, and her results indicated that moving stuff around led to lower sales. Hey ho - enthusiastic young managers think that they're doing something dynamic and empowering, so they make someone happy.
View on Reddit #71069569

Puzzleheaded_Drink76@reddit

I always wonder how much change in the world is because a new person took over and needed to make their mark/have something to point to in their annual appraisal. 
View on Reddit #71070888

UW33377@reddit

Having to go to your work leaving lunch/tea/snack.
View on Reddit #71070585

Tideripper98@reddit

Your favourite foods being discontinued.
View on Reddit #71070462

Capable_Tip7815@reddit

No longer stocking Itsu Korean Chicken.
View on Reddit #71070302

Scowlin_Munkeh@reddit

Climate apocalypse possibly.
View on Reddit #71069775

notraulmoat@reddit

When you get your car washed and they move the seat... that is up there! 100%
View on Reddit #71069565

Particular_Tune7990@reddit

Pfft this is small potatoes to them deciding to no longer stock my favourite brand of ready made noodles.
View on Reddit #71069375

doctorace@reddit

Nothing. Ours changed one day and months later just wouldn’t stop changing and we just had to go to a different one from then on.
View on Reddit #71069297

StGuthlac2025@reddit

Nuclear holocaust. Probably.
View on Reddit #71069206

StGuthlac2025@reddit

Genocide. Probably.
View on Reddit #71069163

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