10 Things Aldi Employees Wish You Would Stop Doing

Aldi's employees are the lifeblood of its business. The people who take delivery of the items, stock the shelves, and ring up your goods at the cash register are the folks who keep the supermarket ticking along: Without them, shopping there would be a very different experience. However, it's way too easy to take their presence for granted. Like any other supermarket, the work that Aldi employees are doing behind the scenes is making your shopping experience as smooth and stress-free as possible. It's therefore hugely frustrating for them when customers do certain things again and again — things that make their lives way harder than they need to be.

That's why we thought it was time to put things right. There are a lot of things you probably don't know about how Aldi employees work, from the reason why they sit down at the register to the logic behind the cart next to them as they scan. We're going to break down why these protocols are in place and why the things you may be doing — like bagging at the register or taking that cart away — get in the way of their work, as well as all the other annoying things customers do.

It's sad that we have to talk about this one at all, but here we go. Aldi employees can face a barrage of rudeness from customers when they're at work, and this can quickly wipe the smiles off their faces. Perhaps people feel as though they can get away with this because Aldi's a slightly cheaper store than others, which maybe gives the impression that customer service and niceties aren't at the top of its agenda. However, not only is that not the case, but it doesn't justify being rude to employees in the first place.

When you're shopping at Aldi, try to remember how intense a job it actually is. Store employees work incredibly hard to make a good experience for you while you shop there, and because of its lean and efficient business model, they're often doing so with smaller staffing numbers and tighter deadlines. When you're rude or demanding, it undoes all of that hard work and takes away from their job satisfaction. It doesn't cost a lot to be nice, folks.

Have you ever wondered why Aldi employees speed through your items so fast at the register? It's because it's literally their job. Aldi workers are under strict instructions to keep things speedy at the checkout, with employees allegedly being told that they have to scan around 1,000 items or more per hour to meet targets. That's why they're allowed to sit down while they work: Basically, they're moving so quickly with their hands that they have to give their legs a rest in order to keep things as efficient as possible.

As a result, it can be seriously annoying for employees when they're criticized by customers for the speed at which they're working. It can also be irritating when shoppers find issues with how they place the items in your cart afterward. Aldi employees have to move the items off the belt as quickly as possible, and sure, this can mean that they're not putting your items in with the most grace in the world — but they don't have a choice in the matter, guys. Rather than get angry, get ready: You know it's gonna be moving quickly, so ensure that you're operating as fast as they are.

Ah, the dreaded stockroom question. This is something that plagues Aldi employees perhaps more than any other. From a customer perspective, we do admit that it makes sense to ask whether something that's not on the shelf is in the stockroom. It could be that it just hasn't been placed on the shop floor yet, after all. However, Aldi employees know that this question is largely redundant, because at the store nothing's ever really kept in the back – items are restocked super quickly, and if it's not on the shelf, they likely don't have it at all.

Understandably, you might ask this question when there's just one item missing in a row of loads of other products, but when the shelves are completely bare, it's a query that really gets Aldi employees riled up. It's not like they're not bothering to do their job, after all: They're probably just waiting on the next delivery. You should do the same, and employees recommend checking back the next day to see if your desired item is back.

The so-called "aisle of shame" at Aldi stores is home to some pretty shameful behavior. One of the things that annoys Aldi employees the most is the way that people act in this aisle, and especially how they interact with the products in it. Customers have a pretty wild tendency to treat the Aldi Finds in this aisle with total disrespect, ripping boxes open to inspect items and then putting them back in the wrong place entirely. Who has to then deal with the clean-up? That's right — the employees.

You should remember that the Aldi Finds aisle has a logic to it, like any other. The items in it aren't just thrown in with wild abandon; it just looks that way because of the way that customers treat it. When you're looking at things in the middle aisle, treat them with the same level of respect that you would the rest of the products in the store. Don't open them, don't move them around too much, and if you don't want them, don't place them at the other end of the store. Oh, and try not to fight other customers for them, either: It's not a free-for-all.

Some customers treat supermarkets like their own personal palace, and for whatever reason, this happens at Aldi a little more than at other places. This extends to how people act around its closing times. It's not uncommon for customers to rock up 10 minutes before the store closes and then shop well beyond its advertised closing time. As you might expect, this is pretty annoying for Aldi employees, who have their closing tasks to do before they can go home.

It's crucial to bear in mind that Aldi workers aren't allowed to stay however long they want. "As an employee, we don't 'want' to be out the door at 8, because that doesn't happen. We 'have' to be out by our scheduled time, usually 9 or 9:30, so they don't get write ups for staying too late," explained one worker on Reddit, before going on to state that it's the duty manager who usually gets in trouble. Aldi's notoriously strict on its timekeeping, and if you're the one pushing things too far, it's not gonna be looked up very favorably. We'd urge you to be a little more organized and get to the store earlier.

So, let's talk about that cart next to the cash register at Aldi. The store's employees follow a strict system when it comes to carts and how they move goods through the store, keeping the flow of traffic around the cash register smooth. When you arrive at the front, the cart from the person in front of you is used to hold your groceries after they're scanned. Once you've finished, the employee will then use your cart to hold the groceries of the person behind you, and so on. Remembering this checkout rule can make your life a lot easier when buying your items. 

Where things get complicated is when people think that they can take the empty cart that the cashier has next to them for their own personal use. This is hugely irritating for employees, who then have to go and find another cart for the system to continue working as it should. This can slow things down for both the cashier and the people who are waiting to have their items scanned. Don't be that guy. If you need a cart, bring a quarter to unlock one before you go in. If you don't need one, don't suddenly decide that you do halfway through your shopping trip.

Stores are places where everyone rubs shoulders in relative harmony, but there are certain things that you can do that will seriously destabilize that. One of them is not looking out for your kids and ensuring that they don't make a mess. We're not entirely sure why it happens, but some parents suddenly feel it's acceptable to allow their kids to do whatever they want the moment they walk into a store. Then, they walk out without a care in the world, leaving a huge mess in their wake.

Who has to clean up all of that mess? The employees — and they won't like it. "Aldi is a great place for all ages, but employees will get annoyed if you allow your kids to make a mess in the store and don't clean up after them," former Aldi employee Andrew Bronson told Business Insider. Remember that Aldi workers likely have enough to do in their day as it is, and dealing with a spillage or a trail of snacks left by kids probably isn't high on their list.

The cash register operation at Aldi is famously quick, and some people can be pretty overwhelmed by the speed of it all. Others can view it as a challenge. A common problem that Aldi employees have is customers trying to bag their items as they're rung through, racing the employee to pack everything up. "This is so extremely frustrating every time I ring. I ask them politely not to bag here and wait until they reach the bagging area," said one employee on Reddit, who then explained that they've had to deal with a barrage of rudeness after they ask this. Some people even ignore this entirely and continue to bag things up.

If you're one of the people who does this, it's time to stop. The cash register isn't the place for bagging items up: The whole point is to get through as quickly as possible. There's a dedicated shelf towards the back of most Aldi stores where you can transfer your items from your cart to your bags, and that's where you should head after you've paid. Otherwise, you'll just create more chaos and stress.

This is a rule that applies to pretty much all supermarkets, but you'd better believe that it's annoying when people do it at Aldi. Some customers tend to leave the items they don't want on random shelves, instead of placing them back in the place where they found them. Others will abandon their carts entirely, having decided that they don't have time or don't want to buy them after all. They then leave an employee to encounter it, guess whether it's been abandoned or not, and then put every single item back.

This is annoying at the best of times, but when people do it with freezer or refrigerator items, it can lead to stock being wasted and potential damage to other products. Remember that there's nothing wrong with telling employees if you don't want a certain item, particularly if you're doing so at the checkout: Most of the time, they'll be happy to put it back for you. However, if you can't find anyone, then just take the effort to put it back yourself. It'll take what, like ten seconds?

Here's a question: Why do some customers think that they have the right to rearrange everything they lay their eyes on? Sadly, it's something that happens a lot at Aldi, and the workers there really don't like it. Aldi shoppers seem to love moving boxes around to find the items they're looking for, or to select a better version of the product they're buying. When they do this, they're then just as likely to leave the box they moved in a random place, or worse, on the floor in the middle of the aisle.

Look, we can understand the temptation of trying to find the best Aldi items for your money. However, if you really need to root through all of the products on display to get it, then you should at least do the courtesy of arranging things as they once were. Better still, don't take this job upon yourself at all; ask an employee to help you find the item you want. They'll likely be grateful that you're not trying to disrupt all of their hard work and be more willing to assist.