gerardcarey
Veteran Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- CFx2, CPx1
With the upcoming Aldi 'Hiking and Camping Let's Get Stuff for the Camino Sale" fast approaching, I feel a guide for the uninitiated may be of value.
Firstly please note that due to good pricing and limited stock availability, if you really really want something advertised then you'd better get there early, and by that I mean opening time. You have been warned.
For this particular short-lived sale I go commando in a flimsy pair of shorts and body-fit t-shirt.
Those are like my undies over which everything is 'tried on'.
First I get a trolley into which gets chucked any warmer over-clothing I may have needed to wear to keep warm on this winter excursion.
Upon the doors opening, I join the tide, rush inside, then race about grabbing two sizes of everything I either need....or want, whether I need them or not. This is certainly not a time when 'need' assumes a high priority. This is "grab-it in case I need it, before someone else does, and there is none left for me" time.
Then I retire to my changing room with all of my trolley treasures.
As there are no changing rooms at Aldi, I have to create my own.
Experience has me heading for a little gap between shelves.
It's my personal changing room, which is open to the view of other shoppers. To my left I have microwaveable rice and couscous et al. To the right, the somewhat mysterious to me products aimed specifically at female shoppers.
Last time, in my eagerness, I did, much to my chagrin, carelessly elbow over a large stack of panty liners. I wasn't chagrinned for very long tho as important matters needed my attention.
Now I'm pulling stuff out of their packets and trying them on.
In my trolley a 'goodies' pile and a 'baddies' pile grow exponentially.
Sometimes I need to rush back into the fray to score a larger or smaller size, or a different colour....Women get a better selection of colours than us blokes and I show no compunction in grabbing their largest sizes just in case they fit me too. Be aware they do sometimes get grumpy at you grabbing 'their' stuff.
Other female shoppers also get grumpy at my temporary changing room blocking access to stuff they need.
I can handle that ok. I apologise then ask if they wouldn't mind averting their eyes while I try these new underpants on.
That does the trick. They tend to huff and puff and blather while moving quickly away.
Now comes the 'need' and 'afford' stage.
Pretty self explanatory really. Do I really need it? Does it fit within my overall budget?
This can emotionally be a very painful time as stuff you really 'want' has to be returned to the fray.
Be careful not to sustain injury as needy shoppers compete in an attempt to rip returning goods from your hands.
And as to your now unattended trolley? Beware! Those folks with no sense of propriety have been known to nick things out of unattended trolleys. Rotten swines they are.
Now don't worry too much about getting unwanted stuff back into it's correct packet or correct place. That's what they employ staff for isn't it, and we wouldn't want to be the cause of rising unemployment would we?
Just sort of scatter it loosely about in the general direction of where you think it might have come from. That's what everybody seems to do. Traditional behaviour that is.
Now finally, comes one of the best things about Aldi.
Altho you do have to pay for it, you can take home heaps of stuff you need, or want, or think you may need or want, secure in the knowledge that you can take it back for a full refund when your common sense, which you have quite sensibly left at home securely locked in the broom closet, and thrown the key away, is eventually permitted to return.
Kind regards...but keep outta my way,
Gerard
Firstly please note that due to good pricing and limited stock availability, if you really really want something advertised then you'd better get there early, and by that I mean opening time. You have been warned.
For this particular short-lived sale I go commando in a flimsy pair of shorts and body-fit t-shirt.
Those are like my undies over which everything is 'tried on'.
First I get a trolley into which gets chucked any warmer over-clothing I may have needed to wear to keep warm on this winter excursion.
Upon the doors opening, I join the tide, rush inside, then race about grabbing two sizes of everything I either need....or want, whether I need them or not. This is certainly not a time when 'need' assumes a high priority. This is "grab-it in case I need it, before someone else does, and there is none left for me" time.
Then I retire to my changing room with all of my trolley treasures.
As there are no changing rooms at Aldi, I have to create my own.
Experience has me heading for a little gap between shelves.
It's my personal changing room, which is open to the view of other shoppers. To my left I have microwaveable rice and couscous et al. To the right, the somewhat mysterious to me products aimed specifically at female shoppers.
Last time, in my eagerness, I did, much to my chagrin, carelessly elbow over a large stack of panty liners. I wasn't chagrinned for very long tho as important matters needed my attention.
Now I'm pulling stuff out of their packets and trying them on.
In my trolley a 'goodies' pile and a 'baddies' pile grow exponentially.
Sometimes I need to rush back into the fray to score a larger or smaller size, or a different colour....Women get a better selection of colours than us blokes and I show no compunction in grabbing their largest sizes just in case they fit me too. Be aware they do sometimes get grumpy at you grabbing 'their' stuff.
Other female shoppers also get grumpy at my temporary changing room blocking access to stuff they need.
I can handle that ok. I apologise then ask if they wouldn't mind averting their eyes while I try these new underpants on.
That does the trick. They tend to huff and puff and blather while moving quickly away.
Now comes the 'need' and 'afford' stage.
Pretty self explanatory really. Do I really need it? Does it fit within my overall budget?
This can emotionally be a very painful time as stuff you really 'want' has to be returned to the fray.
Be careful not to sustain injury as needy shoppers compete in an attempt to rip returning goods from your hands.
And as to your now unattended trolley? Beware! Those folks with no sense of propriety have been known to nick things out of unattended trolleys. Rotten swines they are.
Now don't worry too much about getting unwanted stuff back into it's correct packet or correct place. That's what they employ staff for isn't it, and we wouldn't want to be the cause of rising unemployment would we?
Just sort of scatter it loosely about in the general direction of where you think it might have come from. That's what everybody seems to do. Traditional behaviour that is.
Now finally, comes one of the best things about Aldi.
Altho you do have to pay for it, you can take home heaps of stuff you need, or want, or think you may need or want, secure in the knowledge that you can take it back for a full refund when your common sense, which you have quite sensibly left at home securely locked in the broom closet, and thrown the key away, is eventually permitted to return.
Kind regards...but keep outta my way,
Gerard
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Sadly I will have to manage with shopping at either Aldi Mona Vale or Brookvale. Is it cheating to go to the store at closing on Friday and hide the best stuff in the kid's toys or the toilet paper departments?
Gerardcarey, Tigger, Trude, you are hilarious. 
Thanks for brightening so many days. 
