I got yelled at.. at Lowe's.. was I wrong. I can admit to it

Listen.

It's fine. You're fine. Get your orchid. You didn't go out just to buy a plant. That, maybe don't do that. But you needed the draino and you minimized your out time by buying other things you needed anyway (garbage can).

No I don't think so. We went to Menards recently. Initially, the list was for stuff that DH really didn't need but needed a project to keep his hands busy. While we were there, I got a case of furnace filters for my parents, garbage bags for us, a seed cake for the birds, a lightbulb to replace the one DH broke while cleaning out the shed, and one of those cubbies set.

I saw a post this morning that basically said don't judge those who are buying "non essential" stuff. It may look like non essential to you but to the guy that's buying wood it's the difference between relapsing and getting drunk and staying sober. Replace wood with dirt and plants.

Was it an employee or just a random person also out shopping?

My Mom works at a greenhouse. They are doing curbside pickup of plants. Totally not essential, but it's making a few people happy.

People need to mind their own business. For all that man knew, you might have been buying that flower to put on someone’s grave.

I am in the middle of a remodel. I do not have a kitchen. I've had to go to Lowe's or Home Depot daily for random crap. If someone even dares to yell "unessential items" at me I will not hold back. I will unleash the stress of the last three weeks on them. Even if you did go out for plants only who the eff cares? All the nursery's around here are still open. On Saturday, while out on a Home Depot run, Green Acres was PACKED!

Sort of like the judgy people who shout "You don't look handicapped" when my husband parks his car in a handicapped spot (with his placard.) He just smiles and says "Thank You!" He's thrilled that I don't have to push him around in a wheelchair anymore and he can actually walk in the store on his own.

I just got back from my Costco run, and they had plenty of plants, soil, and fertilizer out that lots of people were buying. I was tempted, but it's really still too early here.

The way I interpret getting "essentials" is to go to the shop, go to what you need, pay and go home.

It's the wheeling the cart around looking at multiple things like it's "normal" shopping that isn't on as far as I'm concerned and in that aspect I do the think the OP was in the wrong.
Wandering around browsing, stopping and looking at various things...that is NOT essential. That is exactly what we are not supposed to do. The fact that you got a cart when all you went there for was draino hows that you had every intention of wandering around looking at other things and that's the exact opposite of what buying essentials means.
It's not the exact items that are being purchased...it's also how someone is doing it.

I'm having my flu vaccine tomorrow (we are being told to have them and to go to pharmacies and GPs) as a nurse it's an essential for me every year anyway, the pharmacy I'm going to is large, it sells skin care, make-up etc, just because I'm already in the shop doesn't mean it's OK to wander around and look at lipsticks etc. like I normally do. Usually they make you wait for 10 mins after the vaccine to make sure there is no reaction and I'll do that if it's still required, but other than that I expect to be in and out in under 15 mins and on my way home. There will be no looking at other stuff just because I'm already in the shop.

if i need something that seems non essential, i am going to walmart or target where they have food that i needplus the other things i need (spray paint). i feel like that is ok, plus you won't run into much of anyone in the spray paint aisle.

i wouldn't make a special trip just for the spray paint, though.

last time i was at the store (which had WAY TOO MANY PEOPLE IN IT) there was a family of four there shopping. it has been said that only ONE person from a household should go to the store, but here we are with the whole family. i didn't say anything to them, but i did say to myself, "what the F is wrong with you idiots?" why does a young family need to take everyone to the store? i am ok with stores limiting groups to one or two people.

when we were leaving, there was a large group of people all gathered out near the edge of the parking lot. looked like they wanted to hang out. LOTS of cars (20 or more) people getting out and fist bumping and touching each other. again, i didn't say anything, but WTF? this SH!T doesn't work when so many people disregard the "rules".

I think you've been here long enough to know that the likelihood of that happening is almost non-existent!   There are always going to be the handslappers, the ones who come on to express their rage, call names, tell others that they are doing it wrong.  It's in their nature, and no amount of discussing is ever going to change them.  

Then you've got the 'kumbaya' group that glosses over any and every little thing someone does is just fine.  No one can do any wrong, it's all good.  Again, that is just their nature and there is no changing them.  Everyone plays a part here, so much so that I can usually predict who will be handslapping and who will be singing kumbaya.  

As for myself, I prefer the middle of the road.  I was once told I was Switzerland, so it stands to reason that I like to stick to the middle and try to see both sides.  

Of course we can. I must have wrote and deleted a response to the online non-essential shopping thread two or three times. I had an ugly thread very early on when I mentioned the economic impact of the shutdown where more than a few people basically said I cared more about money than people dying. But that thread was all about justifying keeping their favorite scrapbooking/fabric store in business and surely their mental health related to their hobbies was important. And a whole bunch of introverts are just about breaking their arm patting themselves on the back about staying inside and vilifying people going outside - which in one case included a parent of a disabled child going for an "unnecessary" drive or god forbid having a beer with their neighbor sitting 6 feet apart outside. But them having a bunch of warehouse workers and drivers doing things for them out in public is a-okay. 

I think that many, many people want to justify their own behavior and demonize their neighbor and blame them for the problem with quite frankly much less of what's wrong and right being the potential spread of the virus and a whole hell of a lot more about what they want.     


ETA and just in case it was in clear from my response- at workingclassdog I have no issue with you picking up a few other items while out.  The day my grocery store has plants outside (which they always do in the spring) I'm buying them to brighten up my deck and if anyone has an issue with it they can find a bridge to jump off.   

I won't even judge the people picking up lumber, paint or other such things. Sitting at home for weeks on end with nothing to do but watch TV can lead to some pretty ugly domestic situations. I get the local police reports and I've already seen an uptick in domestics. I'd far rather see people with projects. As long as it is not against your state's lockdown order, I don't think it is any of my business.

I say you were not wrong. You went to get something essential and found a couple of needed and pleasure items while there. So what? It is not someone else’s business what you were doing there. This pandemic is something that is taking a toll on people. I hate that people are turning on each other during thIs very difficult time. And if that was an employee yelling at you, I’d be talking to the manager. If the store policy is to not sell nonessentials, post it that way. And approach the customer to politely let them know, don’t yell it across the store! My guess was it was a shopper who is becoming more and more stressed over this. Maybe they are not able to work and are getting scared. They were wrong to yell at you, regardless.

Mothers letting their kids play on a closed playground with other kids? Common sense tells you not to do that, and if the mother were a friend of mine, I would point out how it could be dangerous to her family, but I wouldn’t yell at a stranger for it. Hopefully they will not have to learn the hard way by losing a child to this.

I am readying my house to get it on the market when the bulk of this is over. I was going to hire people to redo my back yard, including some of the plants. I had gotten bids before this hit. Now I will be doing this myself because I don’t want to bring anyone into or around my home during this. My dishwasher died and I’m hand washing rather than getting a replacement. I have a new oven, stovetop, and toilet sitting in the garage waiting to be installed. I will continue to wait to have others in my house, but I will be buying plants, bark, decorative stones, and whatever else I need to prepare the yards for the sale and I won’t feel guilty about it. Selling my house is essential and getting the yards in shape is part of that. I figure it is safer than bringing in other people right now.