Linda Hall.
We discuss a lot of things in our office. Last week one such discussion turned to supermarket shopping and someone said, "Whoever invented those trolleys for kids should be shot."
"Yes!" I cried. I've had that same "unspoken" thought for a long time.
"Children can't control them," someone said.
"Well, I don't mind them at all," another said. "I just hold on to the handle and steer them in the right direction."
But that's where they are wrong. The child pushing the trolley thinks they are in control - and in fact they are.
The adult holding the handle thinks they have control but they are so busy desperately trying to help the child avoid other shoppers and supermarket displays that they just follow wherever the child decides to go.
I find it hard enough to control shopping trolleys, although they are not nearly as bad as they used to be. Remember the ones with the wheels that went one way while you were trying to push it the other? I occasionally get a tricky one, but even ones that behave themselves take a bit of care and attention to manoeuvre around a busy supermarket.
There never seems to be a quiet time at supermarkets anymore. No matter what time of day I go, the carpark is full and the supermarket busy.
Enter a child on a mission to fill their trolley. After all, that's what trolleys are for, to put things in. Everyone else in the shop is doing it, so why can't they? You can imagine what goes on in their heads and I know because I've had the "joy" of taking two children, each with a trolley, into a busy supermarket. It was a nightmare. They bumped into people, they bumped into things in the aisle and wanted everything they shouldn't have.
Luckily for me they are pretty easy to reason with, but I've seen tears and tantrums at the checkout when children have not been allowed what they had in their little trolley. Then you get to the checkout. Now these little darlings want to scan everything. Never mind the queue of people waiting.
Really, I don't care if I have to wait while children scan groceries. They love it. To them, supermarket shopping is fun. They have no idea how stressful it can be, especially for people on a tight budget. After all, apart from rent or mortgages the supermarket would be the place where you spend the better part of your pay packet.
I think we are pretty lucky in Hawke's Bay when it comes to service. Sure you have to wait, and sometimes the queues are long and frustrating, but the people are friendly and helpful.
I can't remember the last time I struck a grumpy checkout operator, and when you stop and think about what they have to put up with every day - with customers complaining about things that are totally out of their hands - you can understand why they might just be a bit touchy some days.
So next time a see a tot coming at me full bore, armed with a trolley full of lollies and a harassed parent holding the handle pretending to be in control, I'm going to thank my lucky stars these things weren't invented when my children were young.
And next time I take children shopping? Well, I know which door to take them in now - not a little trolley in sight.
- Linda Hall is assistant editor of Hawke's Bay Today.