Customer demands to charge her phone at supermarket

Obviously it makes sense to let her so she can pay you, but I haven't got much sympathy for anyone who just never bother to carry cards or money anymore and only relies on their phone, and then makes their disorganisation other people's problem.

Networks go down, signal is dodgy, phones run out of charge or are glitchy. Why wouldn't you have a back up in most situations?
And if expecting to use my phone a lot or rely on it (eg tickets on an app) , I take a portable power bank.

And a supermarket isn't comparable to places that will only let you use an app/ encourage your tickets to be online because they take multiple forms of payment, and arent encouraging you to only use your phone.

You know chargers last more than one charge and are likely plugged into the shop’s electricity. I’m not sure the angst about personal chargers is justified.

There may have been rudeness in how the request was made. The actual request wasn’t intrinsically rude

Odd that she carries around a charger with her!

This happened to me in Asda - I was using their app to do scan and go and my battery drained from 60% to zero in 45 mins. The lady at the checkout said this is a known issue and had no issue letting me charge for the 2mins it took to be able to pay.

It’s happened to me. My phone went from about 20% to off in minutes. The bloke on the till unplugged his phone (it was charging there) and plugged mine in for a few minutes. Very kind and solved the problem.

But, in the days before mobile phones, did you not carry an 'emergency tenner' somewhere that wasn't your wallet? And have you not considered that it's a good idea still to do that, in case you lose your phone? Although £20 is a better sum nowadays given inflation.

Well the supermarket could revert to cash only then people won’t have this problem, or offer a tiny bit of flexibility that allows someone to pay for their shopping that someone else will otherwise have to spend time putting back. Technology and times have changed.

This exact situation happened to me a few weeks ago, phone battery went down really quickly, died just as I was queueing to pay and didn’t have my purse on me

really politely asked the phone shop section if I could plug my phone in for a few minutes so I had enough battery to pay, they couldn’t have been nicer about it and didn’t have a problem

Yes that sounds like a good idea.

Yes, there aren't charging points in supermarkets as far as I know, they would have to use a charger, maybe someone's personal one. If it was a big problem they would provide public charging points near the checkout.

I am surprised most supermarkets don’t do the emergency power banks where you can hire a battery tbh. I have used them in hospitals whilst waiting for hours.

Maybe they could just add £10 to the bill.
That should be a disincentive to most people - or an incentive to carry their cards as well.

If a supermarket can charge for a disposable carrier then why not for charging a phone? A £5 fast charge fee should do it.

Safety implications? WTAF

Surely most people know how charged their phone is and wouldn't rely on it as a payment method if they went out knowing it was low.
Unless the shop has a clear policy regarding use of a shared charger for this reason I would be hesitant to let someone do this. There is the possibility they are chancing it and have a broken phone which they will accuse the shop of breaking claiming the charger is faulty/phone was fine before and also the issue of where do people wait to do this. Are they stood to one side, shopping kept back til they have paid?
It sounds like more hassle for the shop.

The world was different. I don’t even step out with a wallet anymore- no point. My money is all on my phone. If I lost it I’d be in trouble just as I would have been previously if I had lost my wallet so swings and roundabouts.

Maybe women shouldn't go out alone.

Well, you have managed to derail the thread

Who would be holding her hand as she crosses a road, or telling her where the kerb was?!! 🫨
Am assuming she's come by car if a large shop, couldn't she charge it in the car?

The OP mentions restaurants and hospitality too. So, yes my point still stands, safety at the end of an evening is important for women on their own. That doesn't account for rudeness though, that's not on at all.

What a load of rubbish

Shops usually give paper receipts if you ask. I always ask for paper ones.

My colleagues and I have just been told that while we are expected to identify shoplifters, we are not allowed to confront them anymore. At all. We are a convenience sized shop with no security guard. We can tell them to go away and they’re banned as they come through the door. Sometimes it works at that time. Sometimes it doesn’t and they kick
off. Last week we were cleaned out of cheese, steak and persil, by 3 different thieving cunts people. On the same day. The fuckers don’t even run anymore, they walk out with a bag full of loot.

We are just as frustrated by this as you are as a paying customer, believe me.

They had all the charging leads when it happened to me. It makes business sense and took up about 1 minute of their staff's time.

Southern trains advertise that they have power sockets so you can't get out of your contact less payment - it is in their business interest?