OH NO, supermarkets are to be told to abolish tempting displays of sweets and chocolates at the checkout!
The Department of Health will call on shops to stop funnelling us past attractive racks of unhealthy snacks, and may also restrict the use of cartoon characters on them.
Well, excuse me. I thought it was compulsory to reach for the bars when you’re held up by a slow shopper or one that is bulk-buying for a family of several hundred people.
Chocolate is most definitely called for, if you’re behind the hapless customer who can’t find their purse at the last minute and has to practically undress while we wait for the grand unveiling.
I’m so glad Mr F does most of our hunting and gathering
(in other words, Sainsbury’s visits) as my supermarket etiquette is not always up to scratch.
I once made a real blunder when trying to be kind to an old lady whose sight was poor and whose fingers were not nimble enough to tap in the PIN code.
Maybe she still had her gloves on. Anyway, people behind me were tut-tutting, so – recalling the brownie guide promise ‘to help other people every day’, which is embedded deep in my psyche – I asked if she’d like me to do it for her.
Brazenly asking a vulnerable old lady for her PIN code is not a good idea. I quickly added,
‘No, don’t tell me’, while laughing nervously at the queue with a
‘Ha ha, what am I like?’ expression, which I hoped would stop them calling the police.
I do understand why parents can find it an ordeal to be stuck in a queue with a noisy toddler demanding jelly babies, and I suppose public health minister Anna Soubrey should be congratulated for scuppering the cynical store layouts.
But who can we adults blame now when we return home with the odd ‘impulse buy’ from the checkout, which was entirely the fault of the wicked supermarket for putting it in our way?
Never mind that we had bought salad, wholemeal bread, fruit, vegetables and all manner of healthy food – it was the treat at the checkout that was the real deal.
RIP Percy Pigs. We will not forget you.
