Published on 12, July, 2020
I'm just writing to a well known food chain, advising them of some shortcomings I am experiencing with their home delivery process.
Post Pandemic, I've realised just how much I utterly hated going "shopping" and I realised we are really invested now in home delivery!
(So much, that I'm actually attempting to get the process to work a bit better)
I wondered if it's just me, or is this a more universal Autism thing?
For those of you who don't like to post or vote, this is a very simple question, and you can possibly excercise a bit of power if you have a strong feeling about shopping.
We constitute about 1/50th of the population if I have my facts correct, (I may not when it comes to that number) so IF we turn out to be "all of one mind" it's worth "niche influencers" like myself (I KNOW companies, and even lawmakers, can be influenced by a well written complaint, as I've been doing it for years! I claim credit for killing a Kellogs ad campaign in the nineties with a particularly vitriolic communication to the right department and the part of U.K. drone law that lets your kids (and me!) fly a toy in your own back garden...
Complaining is like planting seeds, and waiting to see which ones sprout. For those who are lacking in funds and powerless it's a very cheap hobby, too.
You just have to do it creatively, and not "whine"...
So how do YOU feel about a trip to the shops?
For me, shopping in a supermarket is a deeply unpleasant experience.
I know that some hours are offered as ‘low sensory’ times, but as someone who works full time, I can never take advantage of these times. It kind of feels like the least profitable times have been selected as a box ticking exercise, rather than these companies making a genuine attempt at trying to make accommodations for those that need it. Or maybe that is my more cynical side coming out.
But due to me never being able to access these adapted environments, I’m stuck in a very bright, busy and noisy place when I have to shop in person. The worst part for me is when I’ve spent all my mental faculties navigating the people that are all over the place, composed myself just enough to read what’s on the shelves, I’m just about to make a choice and then “this is a staff announcement, could all staff…” booms out over the tannoy. This dominates everything for me, and try as I might, I can’t drowning it out. I have to build myself back up all over again. And usually in the time it takes to do that, some other event is occurring or the next announcement is about to be made!
It takes up too many of my spoons to justify going to the shops very often for me I’m afraid. But when delivery isn’t available, I often don’t have a choice (but also, I don’t really trust the substitutions or the selection of certain products for online shopping either).
I work in a supermarket to pay for living, simply it's the only job except cleaning I could get, and I agree it's no fun. At least they made adjustment for me, and half of my shift is after shop closes.
But I agree with disliking announcements, they make me jump every time, and after you've heard them 1000 times they feel like a forced on you propaganda.