Standoff

[FunSizedNinja]

Had an incident in Aldi this afternoon with my mom and worried i was bu as to the "Aldi ettiquite"? I had a full trolley load of shopping and my mom had some items in the front of my trolley. Whilst i was about halfway through unpacking onto the belt this burly man dumped all his stuff on the belt leaving me no room at all to finish unloading (still had half a trolley full) and walked off. So i moved his items further back to make a small space to carry on. He comes back and literally starts raging at me and im not exaggerating. How "you fucking bitch squashed my bread" ( I didnt - i picked it up and moved it not shoved back).

I looked up at him and politely said "well can you not be so rude to place your items when you can see i havent finished?" And he just raged at me saying he would " fucking make something of this etc etc... I'll sort you out" so i looked him in the eye and told him if he wasnt so ignorant there wouldnt be an issue. I was stuck, the checkout woman couldnt scan as my trolley was still half full. He was ranting obsceneties at me and my mom. The checkout woman didnt call security or anything. Ended up having to balance everything on top of each other so she could scan whilst he went on and on. Should i have moved his stuff? Should i have just left it? Imo he was the rude one to dump his stiff there?!? He was blatently trying to intimidate me. After putting up years of DV from my ex im not a meek woman anymore who will be easily intimidated. But im doubting myself now! I know.... first world problems 🙈

[Caribou58]

Complain in writing (paper-based - in my experience, they never respond to emails, despite claiming they will) to the manager of that store that you were intimidated and threatened with violence by a male customer and no staff assisted you.

[TestingTestingWonTooFree]

He sounds like an arsehole. I guess if I was on the checkout I might not want to confront an angry man

[PorkyPortia]

I’d have moved it too
I hate this , now I keep the trolley behind me when unpacking my shopping

[bert3400]

He was being an intimidating cunt . I would of shoved all his food on the floor and stomped on his bread. Well done for sticking up to him, I'm surprised the checkout person didn't say anything, maybe he is known to the store to be an arse . I would send Aldi an email just letting them know what you and your mum went through .

[GreenFingersWouldBeHandy]

Good for you for sticking up for yourself. Whether by paper or email, get in touch with the store manager and try and find the Chairman's contact details and .cc them in as well. Ask for CCTV footage and their security procedures when customers are being threatened. Cashier should have called security.

[Daniellebt]

I would have lost my shit, he sounds like an absolute arse hole . I would haven take all his items and then chucked them flying .. x

[FunSizedNinja]

Thankyou for your replies.. i feel better it wasnt me over reacting! I think i may email, doubt anyone will take much notice for negative feedback. Just really felt security could have maybe intervened. It wasnt as though he was just standing there huffing and puffing. I felt sick when i got back in the car but wouldnt give him the satisfaction of him seeing he was getting to me!

[Grumblepants]

Wow im so impressed by how you handled this. I go to jelly in tgese situations and probably would have cried. But you should still complain to the store.

[DarlingNikita]

Well done, OP. He sounds foul.

Definitely complain and ask why security didn't intervene.

[CombineBananaFister]

Yanbu. Tbh, even if the cashier was too scared to confront him too surely they could have rung for help. Not very nice to be left in that situation while people stand and watch. If he didn't want you touching his stuff, he shouldn't have put it down 7ntil you'd finished

[bigbluebus]

I shoved a man's stuff back yesterday for doing the same thing - although he didn't rant and swear at me.
I think I would have pointed out to your man that it wasn't actually his bread at that point as he hadn't actually paid for It! Can't imagine that he'd have taken kindly to that either but i would have demanded that the cashier called the Manager to deal with him (we don't have security in our Aldi)

[userabcname]

God this is the second account of unwarranted verbal aggression I've heard of in an Aldi in the past couple of weeks! You were not being unreasonable. I am shocked the cashier did not call a manager or security. That was clear verbal abuse and threatening behaviour. Definitely complain.

[BewitchedBotheredandBewildered]

Well done for being assertive and calm.

Easy to say from where I'm sitting but I would be inclined to make it Aldi's problem.

Say to the cashier "I can't unload the rest of my shopping because the belt is blocked." and then just wait for them to deal with it.
If they asked me to push the other shopping out of the way I would say I don't want to touch someone else's shopping.

I am now forearmed thanks to you

[BreakfastAtSquiffanys]

"it's not your bread until you pay for it.
It's Aldi's bread"

[GreatDuckCookery6211]

What a bastard. Honestly the more I here about Aldi and the stress that people have shopping there the more I think that I'll never go there again.

Poor you

[TERFragetteCity]

I would just hand the items to the checkout operator one by one - not your fault that he is stopping you from speeding it up. Knobber.

[Bratsandtwats]

Knowing me I'd have probably looked him square in the eye and thrown his shopping on the floor.

Not the best way to deal with it though as he would probably have become physically violent towards me.

[GreatDuckCookery6211]

I would have walked out and left the bloody shopping. Retaliating to people like him is likely to get you nowhere or maybe even thumped.

[mommybear1]

What an arse. OP I think you handled it brilliantly in the circumstances but they really should have got security- I would like to think security would have thrown him out without serving and squashed his bread in his face - for you this evening

[MereDintofPandiculation]

I would just hand the items to the checkout operator one by one - not your fault that he is stopping you from speeding it up. that wouldn't work, though, would it? The point about Aldi is you speed up the check-out process by lobbing all the items straight back into your trolley ... which would be blocked by the items waiting to go on the belt. I can't see any solution other than standing firm until the belt has been cleared.

[FunSizedNinja]

That was my point, i couldnt hand them to her as they had nowhere to go then. I said to her "Im not sure what to do, the man has blocked the belt and i cant finish unloading" and she just looked at me with a vacant expression while he was ranting. Tbh she was probably a bit worried but then she could have called for someone surely? I wanted to pick his bread up and chick it down the isle but then i would have reduced myself to his level. There is just no need for it. Do people really get a kick out of trying to intimidate others? Prick

[JaniceBattersby]

I hate this , now I keep the trolley behind me when unpacking my shopping

I also do this after a similar experience with a horrible arsehole kept trying to pile my shopping up on the belt so he could squeeze his own on the end for no reason other than to intimidate me.

My husband calls it trolley spreading

[BlueEyedBengal]

Man spreading gets everywhere cf's

[Beamur]

I had this happen to me recently too. Not in Aldi and it was a woman. I still had half a trolley full of shopping to unload and she started putting hers onto the belt. I stopped, looked at her and politely said 'you haven't left me enough space for my shopping' and then waited until she removed it all before I started again. She did have the decency to look embarrassed and move her shopping though. And I didn't say sorry.

[DepressedAspie]

Men take up too much room. Even the not particularly large ones. They’re like that foam that expands to fit the space. It’s because they think they’re most important.