Did you brave your local supermarket for a big Friday night shop earlier? I'm an online groceries girl myself, but if I were the type to set foot in a supermarket on a regular basis, I'd be delighted about the news that a branch of Tesco has introduced a 'relaxed' checkout lane.
The idea of the new slower shopping lane is to make the supermarket a less stressful place for customers who find the whole shopping experience a bit overwhelming.
The Mirror reports:
Tesco said the lane, developed with help from Alzheimer Scotland, was "aimed at anyone who just wants to take their time," including shoppers with dementia, social anxiety and autism.
What an ingenious idea; I love it. I'm probably guilty of being one of *those* shoppers who hurries through the store at a rate of knots, tutting at anyone who gets in my way and muttering under my breath if people take too long loading up the conveyor belt at the checkout.
But I KNOW I'm always in too much of a rush and I'm painfully aware that I ought to slow down a little, and this is exactly the kind of thing that could help me actually do that.
More importantly, for families of children with autism or other conditions that make busy places difficult to be, this is just the sort of scheme that could make a profound difference to what can be an incredibly stressful experience.
According to the paper, the idea for the relaxed lane came from a dementia information session, held regularly to help staff members better understand and support customers with dementia. Another brilliant idea; who knew supermarkets even did such things?
Well played, Tesco. On a truly weird day (yes, I'm talking about Trump) in the midst of what can sometimes feel like bleak times, it is truly heartening to read about a supermarket doing something to make life a little easier for its more vulnerable customers.
If more supermarkets follow suit, I might just ditch online grocery shopping and start nipping out to my local Tesco for a little quiet, unhurried me-time.
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