Unfortunately, I have to use the services of the Dublin Taxi Service. The standard is absolutely appalling, the cars are old and smelly, the cab drivers are old and smelly, but they come with attitude.

They are experts on everything, they apparently knew that the "recession" was coming, they say that it'll be "worse than the 1980's" and yet they drive a smelly cab for a living. They are also never wrong as they "know what I am bleedin talkin about'

They are agressive as I found out this morning, I was going to the same place as I have been going for the past 3 weeks, I joined the queue and every thing was moving along nicely, taxi came to the rank and the next person(s) get in. They gobshite taxi driver stops to pick someone else up half way up the rank.

 A woman standing next to me says "typical", I walked up to the taxi driver, and said "there is a queue of people up here waiting", he attacked "How the f#ck did I know "he said, "Why, were you driving with you eyes closed,and its a taxi rank, and there are people standing in the rain" I replied .He drew up to the top of the queue gets out of the cab and comes towards me" D'ont you ever f#cking touch my cab again"

I looked straight at him without opening my mouth, He shouts "whose f#cking next", all of the people ahead of me to a person said that they would not get into the cab, with a "lunatic", I think a woman from Northern Ireland called him, he was'nt happy, and off he sped, without a fare, still giving me loads.

Tomorrow will mark my 15th and last Dublin taxi of the 14 previous I would say that 3 of them were genuinely decent people trying to make a living, and provided a quality service, but unfortunatley they appear to be in the minority.

If there are approx 16000 taxi licences in the Dublin area, that would mean that about 3400 are providing a good service, and I for one am willing to pay for good service, whilst 12600 are just there to take your money and treat you like shite.

We do have a taxi regulator in this country perhaps we should start letting her know when things are shite. I did today when I got home by email.

One other thing if you are'nt making a living from being a dublin taxi driver, give it up, and stop whinging, its not everyone else's fault. Thats basic economics

Watch out guys, if you have been adding Activia to your shopping basket you could be accused of being a gay or a girl. This yogurt is as feminine as tampons and panty liners. This was lost on me until I saw the current TV advert for the product which alienates male consumers by using the words "every female" instead of "everyone" in the sentence "I have every female in my family eating it".

The message is simple. It's a girls product. Guys don't eat it. I am a guy, I shouldn't eat Activia yogurt. I wrote to Danone for clarity. A spokeswoman from the UK Danone Careline responded to my email saying it was "fine for men as well". Rather than being assured, the reply made me more apprehensive as it read more like "you shouldn't have any side effects you freak".

I have dropped Activia from my shopping list since seeing the advert. The email did not attempt to get it back on there. I guess men eating Activia is something they can't be seen to condone. If you are male and eat Activia consult a specialist, you need help.

The response from Danone:

Good afternoon

Thank you for your e-mail. Activia is fine for men as well as women.

The core target audience for Activia is women aged 30-45+. This is why we advertise with women only, around this age. We are aware that men also consume Activia, but understand this is low compared to the number of female consumers; hence our advertising is targeted at women. We have not ruled out men in advertising and this is something we may do in the future.

All of the Irish Newspapers have visited the topic of Irish consumers being charged, in some cases up to 50% more, for same goods that are for sale in British multiples that operate here.Cries of Rip-off jump from the pages daily.

They have all being banging on about this outrageous practice, and asking questions like,why are the savings accruing from the weak sterling/euro exchange rate not being passed on by the likes of Tesco.

There has been so much written it has caused Brian Cowen, Taoiseach, to call members of the National Consumer Association "f*#kers", indeed this must be a serious issue.

As the newspapers ask the stores to explain, what are they doing?, exactly the same thing. I buy a newspaper almost everyday, and on Sunday this extends to 2 or 3. All these newspapers carry dual pricing in Euro and Stg£, and here are the prices being charged and what the should be charged if you use £.79 exchange rate.

I buy 5 Irish Times and 1 each of the Sunday Newspapers it would cost you €16.30 for the week, this would be £9.75 and this translated at .79p it should cost me an Euro equivalent of €12.32. The difference is €3.98 , which means that the above Irish Newspapers are, on average are 32.30% more expensive in Ireland than in the UK eventhough they are produced here.

So if the newspapers want to be the consumer advocate should'nt they get their own house in order first? and start explaining why they are'nt practising what they preach.

Waterstones that bastion of thespians and lesbians has changed.

It was always a place where I disliked buying books primarily due to the "langers" that worked behind the counter. Many if not all were college graduates who had the ambition and drive to work in a shop,albeit a book shop. They always looked unkept and could'nt resist having a peek at what you were reading and then snootingly packing then into a bag before handing them back to you.

On Tuesday I was in Dublin and decided to call in to the Waterstones shop on Dawson Street, as I had never paid a visit. On entering at approximately 11am I was overcome with a strong smell, I said "whats that". It was so powerful it stopped me in my tracks, I looked around and realised that it was the smell of vegetable soup, thats right vegetable soup, wafting in the air from the restaurant on the second floor.

Christ it was terrible, the pong filled the air so preventing you from having a good browse. Additionally would'nt you think that due to the "higher intellect" of its staff they could have cooked a nicer smelling soup, for example tomato and basil.

Why cant we live in a world where book shops sells books, coffee shops sells coffee, and cafes sells soup.

Needless to say I did'nt stay very long and I certainly w'ont be back

I noticed an awful lot of middle-aged men, of which I am one, now d'ont tuck their shirts inside their trousers anymore. When did this become a fashion statement?.

They look feckin stupid with their shirt tales hanging out over their arses and the front hiding the substantial girth that they has amassed over the years. They look like walking marquees.

Christ when I was growing up,tucking in your shirt was a must, my father used to say "show a little respect for yourself and tuck your shirt in ". I continue to do it today,and insist that my own son tucks his shirt in .

Would these people wear a suit with their shirts out? no, so why do it when you are wearing "casual" clothes.

Whats next no trousers?

For feck sake tuck your shirt in you look stupid, and no, you d'ont look 20 years younger either.

I have decided to entitle this post "Carbon Arse Print" because I cannot see the point in calculating my households carbon footprint.

For those of you that wish to carry out this exercise, here is the Irish Calculator and here is the UK Calculator

When I was filling in all the information on these websites, I was amused on the level of detail that they were requiring, for example,

• "How many light bulbs in the house?"
• "What is the energy rating of your washing machine ?"
• "How many kms/miles do you travel by public transport every week?"

Unknowingly I began to answer these questions as best I could, I even got off my arse and looked at the washing machine for an indication of its energy rating, but to no avail. This is when the light bulb, a non energy saving one, went off in my head "Whats the feckin point of doing this?", there is no point, its all bollocks.

The reason why governments wants the ordinary person to calculate his/her carbon footprint is to deflect attention from their policies and strategies on waste management,traffic congestion, and the hefty profits that Bord Gais and the ESB make every year, whilst being semi-state companies.

For feck sake my green bin is only collected once a month,when I remember to put it out, everytime I go to the recycling bottle bank, its full.

Whats even more annoying is the fact that the largest polluters in the world, USA, Russia, China did'nt even sign up to the Kyoto agreement, so why the f*#k so the ordinary joe public be shamed in calculating his/her carbon footprint?. Is it going to be the topic of conversation down the pub on a weekend ?, I doubt it.

Anyway even if you did reduce your CO2 would you be any better off financially?. No most of the gas companies are putting prices up by 20-25%, so you use less and you still pay more, whats the feckin point?.

What does being "Carbon Neutral" mean?, the only way I can see anyone not contributing CO2 is by being dead, and a long time dead, as I'm sure decompostion must add some methane to the atmosphere.

This is a scam on a global level for someone else to make money as our expense. Carbon Emissions credits are traded on the ECX on a daily basis, thereby enabling business and Government to buy offsets, the cost of which will eventually find its way into your pocket.

Energy saving light bulbs are more expensive than ordinary light bulbs, in Ireland we pay a recycle tax on any electrical goods that we buy, even if the goods are at the highest energy rating, again showing that someone, somewhere is making money out of this.

If Governments want us to lower our CO2 emissions, they could, make energy efficient goods cheaper and make recycling easier for all.

          This is my first ever post/rant but I'm doing it with the hatred of the situation fresh in my mind.

          I work as shop manager in a small, independant retail outlet. One of the things I hate most about working in this place is customers spending next to nothing and then having the cheek to ask for discount!

          As a small, independant retail outlet you are striving to keep the business going all the time. There is always a bigger shop offering cheaper prices then you right around the corner. You pride yourself on being able to offer the best competative prices and a more personal service then the cooperate drones nearby, but the average joe-public seems not only to be totally unimpressed with your service but he tries to push you into giving him discount for nothing.

          For example- a customer puts two £1 items and one £2 item onto the counter. "That's only £4 please" you say to him, and so it is. It's not £868.93 or £60, it's a petty 400p. The customer hands me £3 in change. "Hang on!" I say, "that's only £3, the total is £4 please". The customer pulls a smug grin; "How much for cash?" he says. There is a pause for a couple of seconds whilst I give him a chance to consider that he just asked me to discount three items adding to a grand total of £4.00. "It's still £4.00" I point out in a dead serious tone. "Are you sure?" he says. "Yes" I say. "Sure?" he tries once more. "Yes I am" I say. The smug git turns to his wife next to him and says "Didn't go to the same school as us did he". "No I didn't" I say with a smile, whilst thinking "no mate, in the school I went to they taught us how to add up to 4"...

         This happens more and more frequently all the time. I can see why in our outward spiraling economy you might be tempted to ask for a discount- we would all like to get things for a little less. We are actually happy to offer discount, as long as the customer is after enough of the same item from our shop to get a discount from our suppliers. We are not happy to offer discount to annoying cheapskates who are trying to get the price of fish reduced for nothing whatsoever. Do you barter with your local supermarket over the price of a tin of beans? No? Why not? They not only have a much larger profit margin then our small independants but they probably make several billion pounds more then we do every year. If they don't offer discount why would we?

          My point? Don't ask for discount unless you definately think you might deserve it. Less then 10 items of less then £3.00 each- not worth discount. We have customers spend £200 and expect no discount at all, what makes you so bloody different?

Why are "Fair Trade" goods so much more expensive than un-Fair Trade goods?.

Take for example a cup of coffee, there are a number of places that you can buy a cup of coffee where I live, additionally there are as many prices but generally they range from €1.50 to €1.95 a cup.

The only exception is the coffee shop selling "Fair Trade" coffee at €2.95 a cup.

Why is the coffee from the Fair Trade coffee shop so much more expensive?. I understand and appreciate that the growers are, or at least are meant to get, a better price for their coffee. You can be assured that they are not getting the 50% premium that you and I are being charged.

Are you meant to feel better about yourself when you buy free trade coffee?, I certainly d'ont , I feel ripped off.

Next time you are in the supermarket look for the "Fair Trade" section, most of the multiples have them, and carry out a simple comparision purely on price. Then ask yourself are you willing to pay that much extra? I know I'm not.

One final thing what have penguins got to do with "Fair Trade" ?

There is to be a push in Ireland to get students to study Latin. In 1971, 9061 students took Latin as part of the Leaving Certificate, this reduced to 117 students in 2007.

Reason, Latin sucks.

Simple.

Gordon Brown is looking a bit arse about face over this 10p tax rate.

Over the last number of weeks the Credit Crunch has filled our newspapers and news bulletins. For those who would like an understandable explaination click here.

So there you have it, the credit crunch is as a result of the Banks lending money to people that could'nt afford to repay,lying about the value of these "assets" and hoodwinking some into thinking that they could afford bigger mortgages by giving them "discounted introductionary offers".

Unlike other businesses that are usually allowed to go bust when they make a bollocks of their business, banks are given assistance,( Northern Rock and Bear Sterns), to fix the problem and preserve their vast profits by Governments and Central Banks, only yesterday the Bank of England announced its making £50bn available to UK Banks to assist in increasing liquidity as banks now are'nt lending to each other, because they c'ant trust each other.

Who will end up paying for all this, you and me in the form of higher interest rates, lower returns on stock markets, lower house valuation the list goes on

Really really annoying shit

Marks & Spencer don’t have a plan B. They do have a Plan A, and Plan A is all about tackling "some of the biggest challenges facing ..... the world".

Their eco-marketing literature says we’ll see them work with "customers .... to combat climate change". As part of the plan they’re introducing a 5p charge for plastic bags from the 6th of May, to help reduce the amount sent to landfill. Until then, every shopper will get a free bag for life with their food purchases.

I got one yesterday. It was handed to me, neatly folded, after I finished packing my purchases into the environmentally damaging plastic.

Pardon me for stating the "bleedin" obvious – but shouldn’t the free bag be handed out first – are you really serious about Plan A, or is this just more marketing to mug the consumer?

While watching the news last night a story in relation to the upcoming "Partnership" talks, for those who have'nt heard of this I'll explain simply.

Years ago it was decided for the Government and the Trade Unions to sit down and negotiate pay increases, social policy etc, for the betterment of everyone and the economy as a whole. It has worked very well and many feel that it assisted in the creation of the "Celtic Tiger".

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions have voted to again, enter into these talks with the Government with the usual left wing bullshit, more pay for workers blah,blah,blah.

What I noticed was all the various trade union heads were wearing expensive business suits, I said to myself where are all the socialists gone, you remember the socialist activist, desert boots, chunky jumper, beard, (they nearly all had beards, must be a marxist thing) copy of the "Marxist and Leninist " under their arm, shouting and debating openly for the rights of the less fortunate in society.

Now its expensive business suits, powerpoint presentations, PR consultants, and spin doctors lurking in the shadows, the trade union activists now look and act like capitalists.

It would appear that socialism is dead, which is a shame we need different points of view, you may not agree with the view, but we need different points of view to the homogenised claptrap that is shovelled out everyday by Governments and their agencies.

 I remember the guy who religiously walked through many pubs in Cork selling the "Marxist and Leninist" despite the collapse of communism going on all over the world, and engaging in debate with capitalists like myself, now they are all gone.

A song from Billy Bragg now would be appropriate.

Christ I have heard it all, apparently Aer Lingus had a computer problem yesterday that essentially meant that Business Class flights to the US were offered on the website at €5 when infact they should be €1775.

Aer Lingus "copped on " to this problem after 2 hours and after some 100 people had "availed" of this offer, and paid with their credit cards, which would appear to satisfy the law of contract, but no! Aer Lingus cancelled all of these peoples bookings by sending them an email and "inviting them to re-book".

I heard Enda Corneille, Director, no less, of Corporate Affairs speak on Morning Ireland and saying something to the effect that people should have realised it was a honest mistake, I almost threw the radio out the window.

I heard recently of someone making their way back from a trip and the return date was incorrect on the piece of paper.The return date was entered incorrectly by the person, a honest mistake, but that person had to pay €400 to get home, and Aer Lingus's attitude was " its your fault you pay for it".

So when Aer Lingus makes a mistake, its our fault for not realising that the price could'nt be correct, when we make a mistake again its our fault. One would begin to wonder if you can trust anything that would appear on the website by way of prices.

If Aer Lingus are allowed to get away with this what is stopping them from changing the price of flights after you have paid for them?, I know that sounds silly but were are the customers rights here?. More importantly due to the advent of internet shopping, is the law of contract no longer valid? from this situation it would appear so.

I cant believe that they did'nt simply say "right we f*#ked up let the people go for the fiver", they could have actually used it for good marketing, I know thats an oxymoron,but no,they came out with a defense that frankly in the same class as "the dog ate my homework".

Mayor Ken Livingston, posing outside City Hall, as he promotes his plan to create a beach on London's South Bank; an urban beach to rival the Plage in Paris.

Ooops, did Ken accidentally forget to put on his Speedos? Uh la la!

Why is doing the weekly shop such a pain in the feckin arse ?.

I have just completed another "sortie" to the supermarket, I use military terms because I now plan my weekly shopping trip with military precision.

I make a list, I visualise the route I am going to take through the isles, I have a few contingencies in my head just in case something out of the ordinary happens. I now go early in the morning in order to get the feckin thing done and out of the way, and to avoid some of the feckin ejeets that occupy parts of my world.

This becomes a bigger chore when my children are with me due to school holidays, for the constant pleas "Daddy can I have this " or "this is my favourite" despite knowing that the last time we bought that "favourite" it ended up in the bin with a large blue hairy mould attached to it. When I say "no" and I do, just because my six year old decides to throw a hissy fit does'nt mean that everyone has to stop their shopping to have a gawk, I genuinely feel like telling them to "piss off"(not my children, the gawkers).

Another thing I firmly believe that people should be taught how to push a trolley through a supermarket, I love the common practice of simply abandoning the trolley in the middle of the isle whilst the owner peruses the shelves, meanwhile a trolley tailback is now forming behind the offending trolley, and still the perusing continues. Perhaps the trolleys should come with hazard warning lights that can be switched on when stopping. Why can't people simply think?. Just pull your trolley to one side and this will allow other shoppers to pass, you moron.

Couple the above with the trolley pusher that simple bashes their way around the supermarket, you begin to wonder what goes on in peoples heads, if anything at all.

And just when you think that people cant get any ruder(not sure if thats a word,but I'm using it anyway), you find yourself looking for a product, you stand, well I stand, about 2 feet from the shelf and some gobshite squeezes into the 2 foot gap between you and the shelf, whats all that about? you feel like giving him/her a kick up the arse.

When all this is done and your trolley is full to the brim, you finally make it to the check-out, the gateway out of the hell you have just endured. You spot a checkout with another customer almost finished you pull up and begin to unload your shopping, you're half way through the unloading and the checkout person says "I'm closing this position now", "Why did'nt you tell me that when I arrived?" I ask, a shrug of the shoulders is the reply.

You relocate and get unloading again, the first question from the checkout assistant "do you have a loyalty card ?", "No I d'ont" the assistant looks shocked, everyone has a card, the cards are free, she continues in a state of shock.

Beep,beep, beep, your shopping gets scanned and pushed down, so that you can pack them yourself, the checkout assistant makes no feckin effort to help you , and then it happens the person behind "only has a few items" and the checkout assistant starts scanning eventhough you're not finished. I am boiling now, "excuse me can you please display some level of manners and allow me to finish my packing before you attend to other customers" I hiss, you know they think you're a grumpy old fart but I d'ont care manners are free.

So the next time you decide to part with your hard earned cash and do the weekly shop, just be prepared for the gawker, the trolley abandoner, the unhelpful checkout assistant,and the pusher.

Why are old sheets and pieces of cardboard beginning to replace the traditional birthday card? Hang them up on a fence at the bottom of the road or over a bridge. They'll be so excited when they see their birthday sheet!

I'm an Orange mobile customer for over ten years. In that time I have had one phone upgrade, and a lot of very expensive bills. The phone upgrade didn't last long. It was an Ericsson T28s which didn't allow you to speak. You'd dial a number and could hear the person on the other end answer hello before hanging up. I remember walking into an Orange Retail Shop on Oxford Street only to be told they couldn't help as the Orange shops were seperate. Great Service!

If you don't upgrade your phones you're meant to get a discount. I've never had one. Occassionally my monthly bills top a £100. Am I on the right plan? Who knows, all this marketing gibberish about Dolphins, Racoons and Panthers is just too confusing.

In any case, the issue is international calls which are normally out of plan and where the Mobile companies rake it in.

If I'm away in Cork it's 38pence a minute to make a call, 19pence a minute to receive a call and 25pence to send a text message. From the UK I call Irish mobiles and at the end of every month I am left with unused minutes and unused texts which only roll over a month. Orange keep the rest.

The good news, I found a way to do it for free. All I get charged is a local rate call which gets swallowed up in the unused minutes I lose every month. Mobiles in all the countries listed below can be called for free...

Ireland, USA, Autralia, South Africa, Canada, Belgium, China, France, Spain, Argentina, Austria, Bahrain, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Norway, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Luxembourg, Mexico, Lithuania, Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, Poland, Romania, Slovnia, Skovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, UK

The company doing this are called Rebtel. With a name like this they should come from Cork, but they don't. They're based in Stockholm, and it's easy to get started.

Next thing I need to find is how to make free or very low costs txts, anyone out there in Neverland know the answer?

Eating out should be a treat.

At Cafe Rouge, about five minutes from Brighton's seafront, early on Saturday evening, people were being turned away because there were no tables.

They were lucky.

This would have been anything but a treat.

The service at Cafe Rouge was so bad I think it is the first restaurant I ever walked out of without leaving a tip.

We waited an hour for the Salade de al mer, a main course which, unbelievably, was smaller than the side salad. Is it a main course, or have we been mugged and served a starter portion?

There is no one to ask. We can’t even order another drink as there is no service. Not once did anyone visit the table to see how things were.

Having waited twenty minutes for a coffee I complained about the children’s meal. There was no banana. The waiter didn’t seem to understand.

I cancelled the coffee. Just bring me the bill, I hissed.

People were still being turned away. Not because the place was so busy, but because the service was so abysmal.

Outside I look back, take out my camera and photograph the facade. I make a mental note: never return, dissuade anyone from going.

Many of us, if not all of us, now carry a mobile phone. We all have different methods of paying for the usage of these phones from "Pay as you go " or "Pay Monthly", I have been a pay monthly customer of Vodafone for a long time.

I decided to carry out a little analysis of my bills to see if I was getting the best value for money from the tarriff that I was on. When I was reviewing the data that I could get my hands on from Vodafones website I noticed that I was calling and continue to call 1890 numbers.

1890 numbers are shown on many advertisements and documentation to be low cost numbers, well they are not if you use your mobile.

My tarriff gives me a monthly allowance of 200 minutes of calls to any network and landlines in Ireland, and I find it hard to meet this on a monthly basis, and usually have minutes carried foward to the next month, yet I still get charged for calls that I have made to 1890 numbers at 25c per minute, which does'nt meet my defination of cheap or low cost.

When I called Vodafone to ask why this is the case, "Its always been like that" was the response, I asked could it be ascertained why 1890 numbers are not part of my monthly commitment? "I'll need to find out and get back to you" I'm still waiting, and have a feeling will be waiting for sometime to come.

Another thing I noticed that Companies and Government Agencies, such as the Revenue Commissioners, print these numbers so that you can contact them cheaply, but they never print an alternative number ie an ordinary landline number, which I can assure you is part of your monthly flat charge and you won't be charged extra.

One would have thought that 1890 would be part of "any network" but it would appear to be apart of "some other network".

When I penned my original blog about iphone, iphone me bollocks ,this piece of technical crap was'nt available in Ireland yet, well come March 14th all that will change.

Please follow the link below as Pat Phelan articulates these points much better than me. If you decide to buy one of these phones after reading his blog God help you.

M&S share price has dipped again after news the retailer issued 70,000 to 800,000 20% discount vouchers to employees and pensioners in an attempt to boost trading. Sales are still down since Christmas, and while it may be convenient to blame consumer confidence or "tough trading conditions" or interest rates, where M&S are concerned, other controllable factors are clearly contributing to the decline. In fact, if you have the vouchers, there is every possibility they'll still be in your pocket at the end of the day.

Take their clothing. Last weekend I visited M&S at Hedge End. Out of a large selection of suits there were actually only two choices. One,a grey city pin, had the right jacket size but not the right trouser size. For the other, the complete opposite. They had the right trouser size but not the jacket. Are there any sales assistants?

I wait for one. I give up and wander away to another section. I come back. I wait. I give up again. I overhear an old dear confide to her friend "they used to do fantastic stuff in M&S but they seem to have stopped doing it for some reason". I couldn't make up this comment. I come back. I wait. Finally, after about fifteen minutes, a sales assistant appears only to say "We don't keep stock Sir. Just whats on the rails. We can order it in for you?."

Order it in? Great! Shall I just wait here for three days, by the changing room? I leave. Next day I visit M&S in Portsmouth. Unbelievably, in the grey pin suit, they have the right trousers but not the right jacket size. It's Sunday trading, so I have no chance of making it back to Hedge End before closing to get a full set.

During the week, as I still need a suit, I interrupt my commute home and get out at Oxford Circus. I walk to Marble Arch, home to the largest M&S store in the UK. Inside, I have to give right of way to a sales assistant before going up the escalator to Mens. Rails and Rails of suits to walk passed. Their biggest store in the UK, a huge choice of suits, but still the same issue. You can't get a complete set.

Tough trading conditions. Don't give me that cow crap, when the buying conditions are impossible!

Tesco have added a wall of diy tools to its Express in Port Solent as it continues to expand and expand and expand. I went in to do some quick grocery shopping, but what an effort! Firstly, there were no baskets by the door and I had to literally hunt one down. None at checkout one. None at checkout two. None at checkout three. What the f_ck, did they send them all out on a training course! Finally, I find one lone basket at checkout nine.

You know I read recently that well over 50% of the people who shop at Tesco find it irritating. I'm sure the rest find it really annoying. Half the aisles are littered with packaging and there just seems to be no pride in keeping the place clean.

No pride. What's this? Pizza Express pizzas dated the 13th. That's three days ago, and they are still on sale at full price. Now that's just taking the piss!