Observation on the Behaviour of Shoppers at Taste-Testing Booths

Those of you who know me know that I am not a shopper. REALLY not a shopper. I plan my trip in advance and am in and out. I have little patience for shopping as my attention span in a store is that of a gnat, or perhaps a fruit fly.

During a long (two hour) trip to Sam's with my mum, I had plenty of chances to people watch. And, one of the most fascinating things to watch people do was to watch them visit the taste-testing booths. They resembled animals hunting out their next meal. I felt like I was on a safari, trying to see what was going to happen next. Granted, most of their eating habits resembled relatively domestic animals, but, hey, it was something to pass the time.

There seemed to be three categories of people and their eating/foraging habits:*
1. Grazing cows
2. Darting squirrels
3. Aggressive lions

Grazing Cows
Grazing cows are the people who leisurely make their way through the food-tasting area of the store. They meander through the aisles and take the food as they come to it. They barely stop on their way, walking and eating slowly. They just take their food and move slowly onward. They may say "please," and "thank you." They may even carry on a polite conversation. They have no real plan. They eat what's in front of them, with little thought at what they're eating or where they're going. They're just glad for the meal.

Darting Squirrels
The squirrels are the crafty, the quick, and the clever. They know what they want, but use stealth to get it. These are the ninjas. They melt into a crowd. Never sticking out; never drawing attention. They may visit a booth three, four, even five times before anyone realizes they look slightly familiar. These are the women who are willing to use their children as scavengers for them. These people could be drafted for covert government operations for their ability to retrieve desperately needed supplies and never attract attention. These are the customers the booth operators fear the most. You never notice you've been visited until your food has disappeared.

Aggressive Lions
The lions plot out their route before even stepping foot in the store. They are the king of the jungle, of the grocery store. These are the people who work their way up to the front of the line of people waiting for the last Cheez-it. These are the people who the pork tenderloin lady has to tell to let others have some too. These are the people who will come to fisticuffs over Holiday Eggnog. They know exactly what they want, and they're not afraid to do anything to get to it, even if it means trampling their grandmother.

Which one are you?












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*Note: These are the extreme behaviours of each species. I may have missed several or even lumped some together. This is, so far, a rather tentative theory, but it can and will be developed.