11 Annoying Things Customers Do That Make Trader Joe's Employees Roll Their Eyes

Trader Joe's is one of those grocery stores people claim to adore (mostly). After all, we love the snacks, adore the specialty products, and truly delight in discovering our next new seasonal obsession when a new lineup of autumnal or holiday-inspired snacky snacks debuts. And yet, there come those times when the enthusiasm of even the most die-hard Trader Joe's fan wanes. That split-second when they peel themselves away from the seasonal finds and get real about things that burst their Jingle Jangle bubble.

We've previously covered several of these irks and icks that customers hate when shopping at Trader Joe's. But buckle up, because we need to break it to you: Some of the biggest eye-roll moments come right down to one common denominator that diva Taylor Swift knows all too well. (It's you, hi, you're the problem ... it's you). Yes, dear Trader Joe's shopper, there are common mistakes customers make at Trader Joe's (or just downright faux pas behaviors) that employees find hard to stomach.

From treating the checkout like a therapy session to assuming every Trader Joe's employee knows exactly when your fave discontinued item will magically return (if it ever will), the list of things shoppers do that employees really, really would rather they not is long. So, before you grab your reusable bags (more on those landmines later) to nab your specialty item, consider (and avoid) these most annoying customer habits that can make Trader Joe's employees roll their eyes.

One of the common Trader Joe's myths people seem to still believe is that employees are encouraged to flirt with customers. While it is indeed expected for cashiers and clerks to be friendly, hate to break it to you, but no, that Trader Joe's employee at the checkout is not flirting with you. In fact, the friendliness factor is one of the tricky ways Trader Joe's reels customers in and has them spending more. And while this friendliness is well known (dividing customers who appreciate it and those who would rather buy their groceries and get out, sans conversation), employees at the grocer list customers who mistake the friendliness and just ... go too far among their top pet peeves.

We're talking TMI (too much information, for those unfamiliar with the acronym). Now, there's friendly small talk, which we will allow. But then there's sharing your entire life story while lowkey attempting to trauma-bond with the poor person required to remain at the register (regardless of exactly how much info you choose to unload). Said hostage employees have reported customers sharing deeply personal family situations and other spiels, leaving the cashier scrambling for an appropriate response while still attempting to do their job. One worker shared that a shopper launched into a fiery political rant before snatching their receipt and stomping away, and there was even an unexpected (and unasked for) prayer session reported.

If Lady Gaga wrote a song about Trader Joe's employees' biggest customer pet peeves, it might be called "Bag Romance." Because when customers hand over their reusable grocery bags, employees never quite know what they're going to find inside. And just like the song implies, opening these surprise-filled sacks can quickly turn a routine grocery run into a truly toxic relationship.

What's with all this song and dance? Well, Trader Joe's employees have encountered some truly unfortunate surprises inside customer reusable bags, and are now listing these scary satchels among their biggest pet peeves. One worker described opening a bag and finding a feminine hygiene product stuck to the interior, while another encountered one with such a strong salmon smell. Poor employees even shared that customers handed over bags filled with stinky, sweaty workout gear.

While reusable bags are great for the environment (kudos to you, being a grown-up and loving Mother Earth), they also can become catchalls. Gym clothes? Toss them in there. Yesterday's groceries? They'll be okay to stay in there a bit longer, surely. Trader Joe's employees say ... wrong. It's not that they expect your bags to be fresh from the store. The request is simply to keep the bag reasonably clean, dry, and presentable. Nobody needs to break out disinfectant before daring to touch it.

Most people would likely agree that there is a perfectly reasonable way to get your groceries from cart to checkout while shopping at Trader Joe's. Chances are it would look a lot like this: Place the items on the conveyor belt, then let the cashier take it from there. Two steps. Done. Well, according to Trader Joe's cashiers in the know, some shoppers have apparently decided that their version of an optimal system is to turn checkout into an interactive hand-off routine.

Employees repeatedly report customers handing over every single item, individually, sometimes with children enthusiastically leading the charge. The intention may be genuinely sweet. But the execution (especially during a rush) not so much. A toddler carefully delivering one product at a time might look adorable from a shopper standpoint. From behind a register when a line is building at breakneck pace, the charm wears off real quick (somewhere around item number seven, let's say). Workers point to parents encouraging the behavior, causing an even more awkward situation, leaving the cashier to smile, say thank you, and somehow try to keep everything moving.

Employees also prefer items placed on the belt because it lets them arrange them tactically while scanning. Handing over products one by one takes that control away and slows things down. And while employees understand kids genuinely wanting to help, there is a time and place for junior cashier training (and a packed checkout line ain't it).

Ludacris' "Move B**** (Get Out the Way)" might be a classic driving beat, but when it comes to the grocery store aisle, Trader Joe's crew members are begging shoppers to dial it back to a gentle "Pardon me, B-uddy." According to employees, shoppers regularly cross the line by reaching directly over, around, or dangerously close to workers who are struggling to stock shelves. Trader Joe's stockers have even reported having berries dropped onto their head amid the jostle and hubbub. Berry uncool. 

The problem becomes especially awkward when an employee is kneeling or working close to the floor. Someone reaching over them without saying anything is not just rude, but it can genuinely startle the person trying to do their job. Nobody is suggesting you wait for an aisle to become employee-free before swiping your favorite snack. But the request is to simply acknowledge the human being occupying that space. A quick "excuse me" gives the worker a chance to move, while preventing a possible collision (or at the very least, an awkward game of grocery store chicken).

Plus, Trader Joe's aisles are already notoriously cozy, so there is zero need to make them more intimate. In light of this, maybe next time an employee is restocking the exact item you desperately need, use those magical words (and basic good manners) to nab that necessity the right way.

Trader Joe's workers commonly complain about kiddos running, shrieking, having full-blown temper tantrums, fill-in the blank of all manner of madness here ___. Basically, from toddlers to tweens, these mini-humans are treating Trader Joe's like their own personal indoor playgrounds. One employee mentioned the greatest of their Trader Joe's grrrrrs being their ankles constantly getting assaulted by kid carts. And then there are the shoppers who apparently allow their children to roam free in the grocery wild, while they nonchalantly carry on with their shopping.

The register can be an equally chaotic environment where kiddos remain untamed. Specifically, Trader Joe's employees recall children demanding lollipops or treats repeatedly (read: relentlessly), even after being told they'll get a goodie after the transaction is finished. Others have had kids throw products as they attempt to scan them, while parents simply sit by silently.

There was even an account of an employee getting punched in the arm by an unwieldy wildling. That is shocking enough, but the real kicker is that the parent did nothing. That is a lot to ask of someone whose actual job is ringing up groceries. So yes, Trader Joe's can be a fun place for kiddos. There are so many yummy snacks to discover, and even free samples floating around. But Trader Joe's employees are just sounding off to gently suggest that fun does not necessarily equate to free-range parenting (at least not in the grocery store, folks).

Humanity is no stranger to abandonment issues. But Trader Joe's employees deal with a highly specific, daily epidemic of neglect. Call it cart neglect. Specifically, Trader Joe's employees have a particular grievance with shoppers who leave carts at the register, park them mid-aisle, or abandon them in the parking lot rather than returning them to the proper spot. Let's just say they are officially out of Aloha spirit for this specific crowd (no matter what those flowery lei shirts suggest).

The aisle version of said cart desertion is perhaps the most impressive. Trader Joe's stores are not exactly known for giving shopping trolleys much room to roam, so leaving one stranded sideways in the very center of the tiny thoroughfare is the quickest way to transform a regular roll-along from product A to B ... into a full-on grocery store gridlock.

And that's even before you get to the checkout. Here, Trader Joe's cashiers recall customers unloading groceries, collecting their bags, and then proceeding to leave their now-empty carts sitting (nay, abandoned) right at the register. And, of course, the parking lot poses one last opportunity for customers to irk those workers by leaving those carts willy nilly, anywhere but the designated drop-off corrals. A staff member even joked that the company needs a dedicated cart monitor to constantly police the premises. Let's just hope it doesn't take a literal citizen's arrest to clear the aisles. Just return your cart.

"Excuse me, could you tell me where the olives are?" works beautifully. So does "Hi! Do you know where I can find the ketchup?" According to Trader Joe's employees, approaching from behind and barking, "KETCHUP!" as though you believe the staff is hard of hearing does not work. Believe it or not, this apparently happens a lot at good old Trader Joe's, with crew members saying shoppers are known to skip the hello, the excuse me, the please, and basically every social nicety before launching into a one-word grocery-oriented command.

Imagine being approached with nothing but the product name, or having a customer repeatedly demanding "GLUTEN-FREE??" loudly, then even louder when the initial request isn't understood. It happens. Somewhere along the way, "Hi" apparently became an optional ingredient in that super-short recipe of a request. And while Trader Joe's employees are indeed hired to be there and help, they are not there to be at your beck and call (especially when those calls are eerily similar to how you would summon a canine or other pet).

Basically, Trader Joe's peeps seem to convey the difference is between being brief (absolutely okay) and treating the human staffer standing in front of you like an at-command robotic grocery kiosk. A quick "Excuse me" gets their attention, and sprinkle in a "please." That makes the request downright pleasant, so save the one-word commands for Fido or Siri.

Another simple rule Trader Joe's employees would love shoppers to follow: using words, not hands. If you need their attention, say so. If you want help finding something, ask. Seeking someone to reach an item? Politely (and verbally) request it. You do not need to tap, pat, grab, or otherwise make surprise physical contact with the helpless individual sporting the Aloha shirt simply trying to make it through their shift.

Trader Joe's crew members have shared some truly astonishing examples of shoppers flying in the face of this contact-free protocol. One shopper reportedly put both hands on an employee's waist to get them to move, despite not knowing the employee at all. Needless to say, the worker was gobsmacked, and their colleagues were also stunned (especially upon discovering the two were strangers). Another worker recalled having their arm caressed while a customer asked for directions. Still, it should be crystal clear, caressing-is-too-far territory; even shoulder taps or back pats can still be startling (and unwanted).

Reading employee accounts, this is clearly one of those situations where the safest assumption is also the easiest. Err on the side of caution and follow the no-touchy philosophy. Also, Trader Joe's crew members are already perfectly reachable through the ancient technology of speech, which has served us perfectly fine thus far. And lastly, the grocery store is not a petting zoo. So, keep those hands to yourself, lob those questions out loud, and everybody leaves happy.

Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" is a catchy tune, and a fine request ... except while heading through the Trader Joe's registers, at least according to exasperated cashiers. Now, taking a phone call while shopping at Trader Joe's is not inherently wrong. We get that life is busy and multitasking is often necessary. But when you reach the register and still have that cell phone glued to your ear? No bueno.

Trader Joe's employees describe how phone use can make checkout feel less like a two-person interaction and more like a cashier communicating with a brick wall. One crew member put it bluntly, explaining that if a customer is on the phone, that staffer automatically knows the interaction will be kept to the bare essentials (as in, silence, then a final verbalization of the exact total owed). And even then, there are still issues! 

One employee described scanning an entire cart (shopper staying on her phone the whole time), only for said shopper to look up at payment and announce the groceries were not hers. She'd apparently been pushing someone else's cart around and hadn't noticed because she was so distracted by her phone. The transaction was canceled, and another employee had to sort out the confused grocery kerfuffle. Nobody is suggesting Trader Joe's needs to establish a strict no-phone policy, but at checkout, giving the person scanning your groceries a moment of attention seems like a reasonable courtesy.

We've all changed our minds in the grocery store. We pick up that pint of Ben & Jerry's, then convince ourselves carrots may be a better choice, so quietly abandon it somewhere en route to the register. But Trader Joe's employees would like to submit one tiny amendment to this all-too-common grocery shopping tradition. If shoppers must abandon unwanted bits and bobs, just don't leave frozen or refrigerated thingamabobs in areas only shelf-stable sundries have any business being.

Trader Joe's workers report customers regularly changing their minds about products, only to deposit those unwanted groceries wherever they happen to be standing at that exact moment (this is seen as having zero chill factor, sometimes literally). That's because when said products are cold items, the aisle shoppers happen to be standing in sometimes falls firmly into the dry-shelf category, and those should-be-cool groceries end up lying there until an employee eventually discovers them, mostly in a more soup-than-solid state by that point. 

Crew members describe finding random products in the wrong aisles so frequently, it becomes a major frustration. And it's totally fair if you realize you do not need that frozen cauliflower gnocchi. But maybe just hand the item to an employee at the register, or take a few extra seconds (and strides) to return it to the proper freezer spot yourself.

Many agree Trader Joe's is among the best private label brands, which explains why shoppers have special items they routinely buy ... and get super upset about when they go missing. Whether discontinued or simply sold out at the moment, Trader Joe's employees have shared how shoppers get big mad when failing to find their favorite product on the shelves. The worst part is that they often unleash this failure-to-find fury on the workers who have zero control over said products.

One employee joked about being treated as though the person stocking shelves is some deity deciding products' existence. Another recollected a shopper seeking an appetizer before a big holiday. When the employee explained it was sold out, the customer panicked. Disappointment is understandable. The ensuing meltdown on a staffer? Decidedly less acceptable.

Shoppers can ask when an item might return or seek help finding a substitute, but no ire should ever be aimed at an employee. Crew members do not control discontinuations, inventory, or (shocker!) the supply chain. They can only tell shoppers what is (or isn't) on the shelf. So, mourn your missing Trader Joe's seasonal snag or favorite snack if you must. You can even sigh dramatically into the freezer case (zero judgment from here). But please, for Trader Joe's workers' sakes, direct any fury somewhere other than the employee who just confirmed that, sadly, there are no more chocolate-covered-whatchamacallits hiding in the back.