Do you take forever in the supermarket? | ADHD Information
All depends on the alignment of the planets. I mean really if you know you are distractible well congratulations, you are in the awareness phase, someday you will admit it and we all know admitting is the first step and be able to deal with your, eer excuse me I feel a sneeze coming on ah-ah- ah- ISSUES! There I feel much better. Now where was I. Oh yes, Shall we group hug., except for Michael.
Wal-mart is kick butt! They have a 90 day w/receipt cash back policy*. If you have your receipt but it is beyond the 90 days, you get a store credit. It helps I have a transparent blue Wal mart labeled envelope for receipts. For all those that can’t focus long enough to put the receipt in the envelope, well, its Determination, Dedication, & Discipline (the 3 D’s). ask your self how did I get to wal mart today? did I drive? I must be 16 or so, am I wearing Velcro shoes? Meaning I learned how to tie my shoes, or buckle, or put them on, hopefully. If not that door greeter is not doing their job.
*some items not included. Computer items and other outdated stuff before it hits the shelf are subject to a restocking fee greater than the cost of the crap you purchased. How else will the remaining Walton’s stay in the big 10. Sam died and we are out of idea’s wait did we have any original?
Best time to go to Wal Mart Sunday’s before 11 according to the service desk.
Weekdays from apx 930-close. Ever experience a midnight closing at Wal-Mart? Interesting. But only bla thing about later shopping the isle are smaller due to the pallets rolled out for restocking at closing. But it is like a interactive soap opera, You can make comments, laugh with or interrupt Phil in shoes taking about his hot date with Renee in house wares.
Not so good times: after the kids are dropped of for school. Moms are in a rush to do what ever.
And NEVER, NEVER go during traffic hours. I mistakenly went. Not paying mind to the time. I had people ram their carts into mine and give me the evil eye. Hey I was parked and on the other side of the store before you found me. I mean you got tired folks in there most likely not had dinner yet, kids rebounding from meds and parents these days do not spend much time with kids let alone theirs with out meds. Who’s undecided? But cheapest pharmacy with out insurance, but with CHADD.org discount parm. Card. Any one actually mail order?
Sad how we are WOW-ed by people simply doing their job with a smile. I know Im a bit messy with paper work and the customer service people are great each and every time. Ive witnessed some not so nice customers. But that is a whole other topic. Take the time to fill out a feed back form. People are so negative and so quick to complain but rarely if ever compliment. Take a few home, Pre fill them leaving a blank for the person’s name. Havfe your kid fill it out. Or draw a picture. For example:
Your associate _______________ was awesome. Im glad to have had ________ help today. I look forward to coming back and buying all the items I had to have and forgetting the one thing I came in for, again. Sincerely, YOU! Adder/adhd-er name here not YOU.J
I've been known to spend my whole lunch hour at a big store like Wal-Mart (except we call it K-Mart) picking out 2 items and then I get to the checkout and the queue is 1 hour long and I've run out of time. I just have to leave the items and walk out empty handed! [QUOTE]I could spend half the day wandering up and down the aisles looking at all the lovely colourful things on the shelves, comparing prices, trying to remember what I came to buy, trying to decide what I want. It sometimes takes me an hour to go to the shops and buy 2 items. [/QUOTE]
I am EXACTLY the same way!
"You were gone the whole afternoon and all you bought was a loaf of bread?" 
That's why I hate shopping. [QUOTE=chocoholic]My weak spot is a library. I have to stop and read some of everything. I could stay there for hours and never remember to eat! Its so quiet and peaceful and there are so many wonderful books.[/QUOTE]
I do that too. It would be nice to actually read a WHOLE book instead of just a little bit of everything.
[QUOTE] I don't go to the supermarket because I get terrible trolley-rage
The wife insists I stay at home.
Mark -[/QUOTE]
I'm assuming that what you call trolley-rage in the UK is what we
would call "shopping-cart-rage" in the US. Or do you really get enraged
when driving one of these?
that's "funny" ZORG!
OMG, Wal-Mart! I like to buy certain things there, but YES, narrow isles, and too much stuff to navigate. Very "customer unfriendly" to get around. Feel sorry for the little old people shopping there.
I can spend a good hour shopping. First, I like to talk to people...who, me, talk?
Second, I'm an extreme comparative shopper. And if I find an outdated food product, I immediately search out an employee to notify. I should be hired to search for outdated products.
My worst experience was when I spend almost two hours grocery shopping using their weekly ad flyer. When I got to the checkout, I was told that was last week's ad, which I found IN the store! I again searched out the manager, and after almost weeping my predicament, the sweet man let me have the purchases for last week's prices.
Why can't they have just one or two brands of everything?!
They're all owned by same companies anyway.
Oh, any any store with greeting cards! I'll stand there laughing and hooting for ages. "See that strange woman there?"
GypsyWomyn38420.5022453704I could stay in the grocery store for ages if:
1. I was alone (as in, without my let's-get-the-hell-out-of-here-as-fast-as-possible boyfriend)
2. the store is not crowded.
I can wander around at leisure thinking of things I'd like to buy that I normally don't think of at home or at work. "oh look - a new BBQ sauce - this looks tasty". LOL.
On the other hand, if the store is crowded, I don't even want to deal with it. I absolutely DESPISE Wal-Mart in particular. I can't believe how narrow the aisles are, and how packed with CRAP the main walkways are. Not to mention the PEOPLE. All those PEOPLE with buggies, children, and stuff........ and do they HAVE to take up the WHOLE aisle just to look at a bottle of Mr. Clean?????
I hate shopping- for anything! So, I try to go to any kind of store as infrequently as possible. Yay for online shopping!
Mark, I hear you on the "trolley rage" as you so aptly put it. There's nothing worse than some dumb*** person and their 6 runny nosed kids taking up the entire aisle
trying to decide which of the 4 varieties of Cheez Whiz they want. MOVE, already!!
My weak spot is a library. I have to stop and read some of everything. I could stay there for hours and never remember to eat! Its so quiet and peaceful and there are so many wonderful books.
I don't go to the supermarket because I get terrible trolley-rage
The wife insists I stay at home.
Mark -
[QUOTE=GypsyWomyn]Taag Man...did you say you were on meds? I'm envious of how you can shop. If not, are you sure you're AD(H)D? [/QUOTE]
When I shop it is almost like a military operation.... i go in quick, and out fast.... i plan every step i take, and what to buy.... If i don't do it that way, I will probably buy one of each thing they have... he he.
I have a piece of paper in one hand. With what i need, and then i go in, find them one by one... from the top... (this is one of the reasons, that is have to be a small shop... else i will wander back and forth all day...). I am very hyper-focused when I shop... he he
And no.. I am not sure... but I am unable to focus on non-stimulating things, unless I have just done something i like... and then the anger outbursts...
I have a meeting with a psychiatrist the 31. may.... damn long time to wait.. but it's free....
Not medicated yet... but i hope that my focus problems and procrastinating nature will get me the medications
Taag Man38424.6646527778Hi, all. New here.Eliza & greengiant, I can identify wholeheartedly. I HATE shopping (especially grocery) because once I'm in the store, I'm TRAPPED in a hell of forgetfullness and indecision. It's bad enough if I'm only shopping for myself but, inevitably, the BF and the next door neighbor add things to my list. Of course, I don't have a list b/c it takes too long to "make" one (i.e. to sit on the couch and smoke a cigarette while staring off into space wondering how in the world a person could be expected to actually remember what all one needs at the big, blooming, buzzing confusion normal people cutely refer to as a grocery store... To make a list do I have to [ick] PLAN MEALS?? Do I have to buy things that GO TOGETHER???). The responsibility of getting the right things for other people is sometimes staggering (what if there IS no 97% fat free Turkey Bologna?? What brand??). And then everyone thinks it's so cute that they were able to successfully predict that you wouldn't return home for 3.5 hours and that you would forget items X, Y and Z.haha... ha. sniff. Anyway... yeah, I know what you mean.
I run through the store, getting the stuff as quick as i can, so I can get out again... I avoid big shops with lots of stuff...
Ha ha ha ho ho ho....Wyrd Mary, you're gonna fit right in here! Welcome.
BTW, if you hate shopping so much, it's a shame you can't tell your neighbor, etc., that you only have time to shop for yourself. Of course, neither of us would do that, the big hearts we have.
Or tell them to order on line ?? But karma....we'll be rewarded some day somehow for being so compassionate and giving.GypsyWomyn38424.6639351852Taag Man...did you say you were on meds? I'm envious of how you can shop. If not, are you sure you're AD(H)D? Sounds like you've got a good chance of being dx'd w/ADD, that's what I think. [QUOTE=GypsyWomyn]Good luck Taag Man. Remember to let us know results. And of course even if you end up not being AD(H)D, you're still welcome here. I would have waited that long also if it was free. Actually, my dr IS free, right now anyway.[/QUOTE]
I am sure that I suffer from low dopamin and noradrenalin levels. My addictive nature tells me this... and that I have low self motivation...
And then, that I have a good head, but havent had any luck getting a fitting education, because I just can't make stuff that I don't like.... even though I try really hard, I just cant get it done....
All my educational experience involves doing everything at the last minut... or when the principal made threats...
I used to use whole days, trying to write a paper about something wich was actually very, very easy.... because I just couldn't get startet... until I imagined the principal was filling up his flamethrower hehe...
I don't know... what do you think?
Good luck Taag Man. Remember to let us know results. And of course even if you end up not being AD(H)D, you're still welcome here. I would have waited that long also if it was free. Actually, my dr IS free, right now anyway.Does anyone else spend hours and hours in the supermarket? Or do you zip in and out in under 10 minutes?
I could spend half the day wandering up and down the aisles looking at all the lovely colourful things on the shelves, comparing prices, trying to remember what I came to buy, trying to decide what I want. It sometimes takes me an hour to go to the shops and buy 2 items. 
I'm trying to go to the supermarket only if I want less than 3 things and I know exactly what they are, or if I have a shopping list. That way I can cross things off as I get them and save a little time. I can't decide when surrounded by so much choice!
what things do you take ages to do?
eliza38420.1001736111I have only taken a long time when I am depressed. When my first wife divorced me I spent so long in the supermarket in the neighborhood I moved to that the Manager threw me out because he thought I was trying to shoplift.
Normally, however I try to get in and out as quickly as I can. I have items I particularly like and I rarely, if ever, buy anything else.
It's a chore...zip in zip out. I try to go off peak. More than once I have walked in and seen long register lines and walked out.
I'm usually in and out, but that's how i forget and get into trouble and end up going back 3-4 times a week, I wouldn't reccomend it, but lately I've been spending an hour in the store, which has been hell on me especially with 3 kids, i can't seem to make up my mind, and then i end up getting things not on my list and so on, very frustrating.
mysticalzoe
Thanks for the welcome, Gypsy. You know I could never do anything so simple as tell someone 'no'! haha. hmm.
Well, Taag Man, at least you're blessed with some measure of self control (with the shopping, at least). I don't know how it goes in Denmark, but if it's anything like my recent experience, you should have no problem. After putting this off for years and having all kinds of nameless fears associated with long-term meds and seeing a headshrinker (no offense intended to any headshrinkers who may be present; it's an affectionate term
) I finally got my appointment and it was remarkably easy to get medicated. ... Maybe TOO easy. 
I've had 4 15 min sessions (over the course of 2 months) with a psychotherapist who has prescribed effexor and now concerta based on nothing more than a 12 item scale made for children (1 self report accompanied by another one filled out by a very reluctant boyfriend). The headshrinkers at the clinic I go to seem to think adult ADD is just too new a concept for there to be any resources or research they could read up on. In fact, the psychotherapist doesn't even think I have ADD (unless she's changed her mind since the first session... I wouldn't know). She thinks I'm depressed or have anxiety (duh, both. but neither really bothers me like having an old bees nest in my head). STILL when I told her that the Effexor (SSRI + Da reuptake inhibitor) wasn't doing much more than making my tongue feel like a sponge in a desert (after 1 month), she prescribed Concerta.
On second thought, I hope your experience is nothing like mine. I hope you get meds because you're evaluated by a professional who knows what they're talking about and offers you support to go with the meds. And I recommend reading up on them (which you probably have or you wouldn't have arrived here).
Picking out movies! Grocery shopping, Walmart,,, everything that takes a decision!
I go down the isle looking for toilet paper,,, see some cool candles,,, head that direction,,, see some great curtians,,, go over there,,,,, see that the garden center is in,,, head for there,,,,, stop by the clearance isle on the way,,,,,,,,,,,
Oh yah! Glad I am not the only one! I love you guys!
Hey Taag man
I can relate to you. I make lists,, and , I actually plan meals ahead. If I don't,,,,, I can't figure out what the hell to make for my family for dinner! I just stare at the cubbords in a fit of anxiety.If I dont' have a list,,, I won't know what the heck to buy. I even cross things off my list as I buy them,,,, or else I forget a bunch off the list.
When I go backpacking (which is a rare occurance now that I have two little ones), I actually have a master list on the computer. No fun to get stuck in the middle of the mountians in a blizzard,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,without your rain gear., or forget 1/2 of your food ........or worse yet,,, stuck somewhere 15 miles from a road,,, with no feminine products..............aggggghhhhhhhhhh !!!!!!!!!! Sorry Taag man,,, that one was for the ladies.
I am so forgettfull that I have come up with coping mechanisms. See I didnt' find out that I was ADHD until last month. Well,, ,I always new,, but didn't realize you could treat adults.
So, to help me forgetting everything , I make lists. And lists of my lists. And loose them half the time.
We all come up with coping mechanisms for ADHD. You just have to to get buy. I went through 6 years of college,,, and never graduated with my BS degree. I kept changing my major, and had to work full time,,, and then when I had babies,, forget it!
Ramble ramble.
I will spend ages in the supermarket going up and down every aisle. I hate going to the store with other people because they make me feel rushed and I won't get the stuff I need. Sometimes I even make multiple passes down aisles because I can't decide if I want to buy something or not. Or I get to the last aisle and realize I forgot something back on the first and have to go all the way back there.One day last week I went to the store for ONE reason: toilet paper
I came home with peanuts, pasta, soda, cookies, tuna, but NO toilet paper. Doh!