6 Rude Things People Can’t Stop Doing at Trader Joe’s Grocery Stores

Even though it’s been a few years since I worked at Trader Joe’s, I still cannot unsee many of the rude (and often quite bizarre!) behaviors that customers repeated on a near-hourly basis. I’m no grocery sociologist, but I do believe the combination of generally chipper employees, 1950s surf rock blasting, and free-flowing samples of your favorite desserts, seems to bring out something in Trader Joe’s shoppers that has them, well, not on their best behavior.

Of course, these were coupled with ultra-heartwarming interactions with some kind regulars and newcomers alike, but years later I find myself terrified to commit any of these faux pas and sidestep them like I’m dodging laser beams in Oceans 11. 

My own sweetie-pie mom still works at Trader Joe’s, and I try to allot her enough time to do a weekly vent about the horrors she has witnessed (we call it our “I Don’t Think So, Honey” minute). Maybe we could just agree to stop doing most (if not all!) of these things so we can spend that minute talking about, like, cheese? The weather? Literally anything else would be great.

This one always confounded me, and yet It Happened Every Weekend. Here’s the scenario: A customer, who is currently in the store, asking me quite pointedly why the store is so full of people, all while forgetting they are also contributing to the packed nature of the store. Catch this phenomenon every Saturday and Sunday at pretty much any Trader Joe’s.

I was in charge of ordering cheese at my Trader Joe’s (Fun fact: Every section in every store has an order-writer). When the Baked Feta Pasta craze tornadoed across America, it wiped out every last feta option available for months. Which was fine — it is what it is. 

Shoppers are understandably disappointed when a viral (or popular) item is out of stock, but too often, they take out that annoyance on employees who are doing the best they can to keep shelves full. Chances are, that same employee is glad to help you find an alternative that might be even better than the one you saw on TikTok. 

Those words are, of course, “You look bored over there.” Dad-joke or not, these words make 100% of Trader Joe’s employees sigh with existential angst when you approach us at checkout. It’s insulting, because it implies we aren’t doing anything, or aren’t working hard. 

In fact, we likely have just finished breaking down heavy boxes of wine, wheeling a half-dozen stacks of groceries off a truck, and/or spending two hours in the freezer or cooler restocking some of your favorites. It’s usually a combination of all three, which is why we might be taking a brief relaxing pause between large cartloads to clear our minds, stretch out our sore backs, or just have a quiet moment. Each hour at Trader Joe’s, employees typically change tasks, from register to working the floor, ordering items, and breaking down products to refill shelves. Trust me, working at Trader Joe’s is truly never boring. 

“Excuse me” is a tried-and-true classic. The best times to use them are before you grab a heavy jar of artichokes above an employee’s head, before you reach your arm through our legs to get pasta sauce, and before trying to get your cart by us as we cut through boxes of frozen items with our trusty box-cutters. Saying “excuse me” before any of these actions gives us a heads-up and prevents mishaps from, well, happening.

You’ve weaved through the aisles masterfully, gotten everything on your list, and maybe made a friend or two at the samples area. Success! Did you also stick your polite customer landing at the checkout? There are a few ways to earn some politeness points and save yourself some time (and stress for everyone in a five-feet radius). 

First things first: no phone calls! This is just rude everywhere, not just while checking out, and it slows a lot of things down. 

Second of all, now is not the time to tell your cashier you’re “in a rush.” One of my many proverbs is, “One is not in a rush if they are in a Trader Joe’s.” It’s just not a thing, nor is it the responsibility of your cashier to make up for lost time or poor planning. 

Lastly, commit to bagging, or don’t. Either one is totally fine, but a half-bagged job usually means a lot of things are in weird spots (ice cream cartons on top of bread loaves) and your cashier can get in trouble for bad bagging jobs if it really goes sideways. Also, it slows things down for you and other shoppers, too. 

I worked during the Early Dark COVID-19 Times (when hoarding toilet paper and sanitizing wine bottles was an all too common sight). What was also common? The lack of awareness that Employees Are People Too. 

This takes a lot of different forms, but these are a few of the more common behaviors I witnessed: coming into the store visibly sick (and/or waiting on a COVID test result), handing us rotten food (that you’re returning — a receipt alone is fine) or trash, touching employees (yes, really!), and bringing in reusable bags that have seen better days (or are full of garbage/diapers/more rotten food). We all gotta eat, but we all need respect, too. 

Witnessed any rude behavior at Trader Joe’s? Tell us about it in the comments below.