Pop quiz! Do you like going out shopping?

I mostly dislike food shopping because it's usually too busy, people come too close and when they have run out of something it messes up my carefully planned meals for the week. I hate shopping for makeup if they stop selling something I use. Have you seen how much choice there is? It totally stresses me out. 

Online shopping makes sense but I like to be in control of which use by dates I choose on items and I like to try clothes on. If I bought online, it's another trip out anyway to the post office to return things.

I enjoy charity shops, antique and vintage shops and music & book shops, in particular any thing second hand. I don't really like gift shops they just seem to sell tat that you don't need. Same with places like b&m and dunelm. I buy things I need but I hate the departments where they sell stuff you don't need like plastic flowers. It makes me really sad so much stuff is produced at the cost of the environment and the throwaway society that we have. This is one of the problems I have when shopping that it's on my mind so much. AND DON'T GET ME STARTED ON ALL THE CHRISTMAS STUFF

Nope.  I start freaking out and get on edge but do it because i was fed up with getting the wrong things sent on deliveries.  Then got anxious waiting foe the delivery and having to unpack in front of the driver.  

There are more places doing later autism friendly days or rather evenings.  These tend to be shopping malls rather than shops

Nope.

I absolutely hate shopping.

Shops are my worst nightmare. They are busy... loud... chaotic... Every time I go shopping I wish I was equipped with a police riot shield, especially around Christmas time. For some reason people seem to lose their heads when shopping, they become aggressive, pushing and shoving, arguing about the last butter on the shelf. LOL. If – big if – I go into a shop now I go when it’s quietest and keep my head down, always wear my noise cancelling headphones and pray that no one tries to talk to me. I haven’t been shopping in ages, 1 because I have anxiety, 2 because I have cancer and 3 because of the reasons above lol. Another problem with shops is that they play music ridiculously loud and then you get people talking over the store microphone and it’s so crackly and can never understand what they just said but it goes right through my head. Everything’s disorganised, shelves aren’t stacked neatly and nothing is ever in the right place. And I just read what Dawn said, and she’s right, they are forever moving things around and suddenly it’s like being in the middle of a shop I’ve never been in before.

Massive Autistic overload shops. I avoid them like the plague.

sometimes you can reach them on twitter

Online yes but in actual shops no

Homebird said:

you can't email any more which is frustrating

This seems to be an increasing and horrible trend, not just with shops but also banks and others. It's not good enough. Sometimes they have a whatsapp, which is no use to me as I don't use that and don't even have a smart phone.

Oh yes! I do miss bookshops and antique shops, and yarn shops (wretched covid). Any kind of shop catering to a hobby tends to be nicer, especially my own hobbies, but even hobbies I am not into can have nice shops.

I like online shopping in preference to going to a shop as it can feel overwhelming trying to find things. 

On the subject of online shortcomings I have noticed you can't email any more which is frustrating. However they put one of those satisfaction surveys on at just the right time after we had received two replacements that totalled a substantially reduced amount, for example 2 slices of cake instead of a whole one. It is odd because you don't say who you are but since they have replaced with similar qualities. Hope your suggestion results in an improved service.

It depends on the intended purchase. Shopping in bookshops, record shops (vinyl), model shops and antique shops is a joy. Most other shops not so much, the worst is probably shopping for shoes, with clothes a close second.

Dawn said:

Why can't they just leave things alone

It's even more of a nightmare for employees, first you have to swap everything with no extra time to do it, then if you weren't the person doing it and you come restocking you can't find anything and job is taking longer with no extra time to do it

Plus stores are packed already and this way they keep customers milling around aimlessly

NO! Is the short answer.

Too many people, much too stressy most of the time.

My real pet peeve is when stores reorganise stuff.  Their idea is that if they switch the locations of your favourite pasta, you'll pass other temptations and slip some of them in the trolly while you are hunting for the pasta, instead of going straight to where you used to know that the pasta was.  All this means for me is endlessly hunting around the store trying to read the signs with the wrong glasses or trying to attract the attention of an assistant to tell me where the pasta is, while I spend rather longer in there than I wanted to.

Why can't they just leave things alone so I can wizz around the locations I know my dinner is located in, pay and be gone?

I've always hated shopping but in the pandemic I really couldn't cope.  In addition to the usual sensory discomforts, all that pasta hunting, whilst simultaneously trying to track every other individual around me to ensure I was 2 meters away while they all keep moving and I can't read the product labels for the steaming glasses... literally too much information for my processing! and yes, I did melt down.  That had never happened in a supermarket before. It was probably the extreme COVID anxiety on top of the processing difficulty. How embarrassing!

Personally I always found it overwhelming and exhausting. I was quite resistant to trying ordering online as husband liked going to the shop (why?! I do not understand him) but we started this year as omicron was so catching and I have found I much prefer it. As I can do it while physically comfortable it is much easier to compare products and make choices (as long as the relevant info is there, which it is not always!)

If covid is ever actually over for us I would probably want to keep ordering online, but with the stress reduced by him being able to pick up anything missing or getting a few bits so we maybe only had to do it once a fortnight. But he would probably want to go back to him going. I think one reason I prefer the online is that I was a bit out of the choice loop when he went as I could not see all the options.

We do click and collect rather than home delivery.

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.

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).

Might write a longer message later, but it isn't that fun, but necessary for me if I am in the mood for eating any sort of fruit, as I can only eat fruit when it is crunchy (some others may call this 'disgustingly underripe') but it means I would never be able to reliably order a mango or something like that online, because it would turn up and I wouldn't be able to eat it...just your normal 'me' problem