@autism101@actuallyautistic I don't have this problem all of the time, but it gets incredibly bad for me if the store is packed. This happened to me the other day, and I just wanted to scream and run out of there.
I was at a book show with my kids this morning. I love books, but book shows are a lot to process: a lot of people, a lot of noise, a lot of light, a lot of labels and signs that all compete for my attention... and a lot of people I know, but out of their usual context, takes a lot of brain cycles to find the names, how I know them, what to say...
I was drained when we left after no more than two hours. Ate something quick and took a nap for over an hour.
It should be quite simple though. Grocery stores are somewhat all built on the same model, with aisles identified with overhead signs. But somehow, my brain refuses to simply process this and instead goes "where is this thing, I can't read all the labels, how can I find it without reading the labels, I'll be forced to ask for help if I can't do it myself..."
My favorite grocery store used to be independently run but was eventually bought out by Safeway. Safeway has its own way of organizing things which is much different from how this place did it. Thankfully when customers complained, the management got the OK from Safeway to keep the organization the same and to continue selling items that Safeway normally doesn't sell. A decade or so on, it's still fundamentally different than most Safeways. I forget this until circumstances force me to shop in a different Safeway. Then yikes!
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