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Original poster

Customer demands to charge her phone at supermarket

280 replies

Jdot · 10/09/2025 06:54

She came into the supermarket wanted to pay for her shopping on Apple Pay but her phone is dead. I saw her talking on the phone in the store.

Supermarkets and other places that people pay for products and services - restaurants, retailers, leisure places etc are NOT responsible for people’s mobile batteries and them not carrying their physical cards on them.

OP posts:
JustMyView13 · 10/09/2025 08:55

Ratafia · 10/09/2025 08:45

In which event having a phone is unlikely to be of much use.

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I’d rather have my phone to call for help, or share my location, than not.

SapphireSeptember · 10/09/2025 08:55

I worked in a supermarket and we let a bloke charge his phone during lockdown, the café had plug sockets that anyone could use, but that was closed when this happened. He wasn't even trying to pay for his shopping! He needed his phone to get home though.

Ratafia · 10/09/2025 08:53

rainbowstardrops · 10/09/2025 08:43

Probably completely missing the point but forgetting the insurance side of charging a customer’s phone, where on earth would they actually charge it?!

At an electric socket?

Ratafia · 10/09/2025 08:52

MySaintedAunt · 10/09/2025 08:37

I was in the arse end of nowhere 😄 I live v rurally. So yes, i could call the recovery service from my phone.
I've also broken down, years ago, in town and despite blocking traffic and asking for help there was little forthcoming. This was pre mobile phones and not having access to one then made a difficult situation much harder.
Point is, whether rightly or wrongly, many people's lives are in their phones now and they rely on them. Saying "how did we manage before?" is irrelevant - NOW they are useful and routinely used for many things.

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Surely if you were in the situation where your phone was out of charge when you got into the car, you would put it on the charger immediately? So chances are that it would have charged enough to call emergency services by the time you broke down.

LittleBearPad · 10/09/2025 08:52

BoogieBoogieWoogie · 10/09/2025 08:45

How does this work in reality? He effectively closed down his till for a few minutes? Or he voided your transaction and rescanned a few minutes later?

Either way seems an inconvenience, though very kind of that shop worker

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He served the next customer. It was only a few bits so he rescanned them.

in supermarkets you can suspend the transaction and come back to it. So nothing to stop the next customer being processed.

LittleBearPad · 10/09/2025 08:50

KimberleyClark · 10/09/2025 08:41

Was he able to serve other customers while waiting for your phone to charge?

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Yes.

Jaws2025 · 10/09/2025 08:50

KimberleyClark · 10/09/2025 08:41

Was he able to serve other customers while waiting for your phone to charge?

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Well the alternative would be someone having to replace all her shopping (and I'm not sure if they can even do that with the frozen stuff) which would take longer than the few minutes of charging

nomas · 10/09/2025 08:49

Queen0fTheNorth · 10/09/2025 08:47

Exactly. How many people will just stroll up to a stranger or a strange house and ask to use their phone? And I certainly wouldn’t be handing my phone to a stranger to make a call.

This just highlights the difference between living in a rural/ remote place and in a town/city. Where I live people help each other. I absolutely would "stroll up to a stranger" and ask to use their phone. And I can pretty much guarantee they'd let me use it. I've had people knock on my door asking for help or to use my phone. It's a sad state of affairs if people won't ask for or offer help.

It’s not unique to remote places, I live in London and have asked to use people’s phone. In my experience, most people like to be helpful, whether in a city or village.

LittleBearPad · 10/09/2025 08:49

Ddakji · 10/09/2025 08:30

You wouldn’t cancel your cards if you lost your phone?! I would.

I always keep a small wallet with my main cards in it in my bag as well as have them on my phone.

And I never use my phone to tap in or out at the station - it’s always people using phones to do that getting stuck and causing hold ups for everyone else. Use a card, people!

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No. I wouldn’t. I’d block the phone. A Iphone doesn’t have the actual card details in it.

Ratafia · 10/09/2025 08:49

Jdot · 10/09/2025 08:22

Some retailers may have policies that they can’t use their own chargers on the shop floor. As the ones you plug into the mains require testing. Plus limited to what they can have on them. As when I worked in retail, I was only allowed my locker key, a pen, a pack of tissues and a cutter for undoing cases.

If a supermarket had that sort of policy, then it would probably allow customers to use the supermarket's chargers. It would make much more sense, given that the problem with phones running out of charge unexpectedly isn't that uncommon.

Queen0fTheNorth · 10/09/2025 08:47

Exactly. How many people will just stroll up to a stranger or a strange house and ask to use their phone? And I certainly wouldn’t be handing my phone to a stranger to make a call.

This just highlights the difference between living in a rural/ remote place and in a town/city. Where I live people help each other. I absolutely would "stroll up to a stranger" and ask to use their phone. And I can pretty much guarantee they'd let me use it. I've had people knock on my door asking for help or to use my phone. It's a sad state of affairs if people won't ask for or offer help.

nomas · 10/09/2025 08:47

BananaPeels · 10/09/2025 08:04

The same can be said for a wallet surely? You lose your wallet then you have to cancel all your cards. You lose your phone you just get a new phone and download it all back on to it. No cancelling required. Much better.

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Yes, I always keep a £20 note in my car sun visor pocket for emergencies.

BoogieBoogieWoogie · 10/09/2025 08:45

LittleBearPad · 10/09/2025 07:44

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.

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How does this work in reality? He effectively closed down his till for a few minutes? Or he voided your transaction and rescanned a few minutes later?

Either way seems an inconvenience, though very kind of that shop worker

Ratafia · 10/09/2025 08:45

JustMyView13 · 10/09/2025 08:10

Bold comment.
Almost always, when a woman does not complete her journey home safely it is not a lack of capability, but a lack of male ability to control themselves & their urges.

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In which event having a phone is unlikely to be of much use.

rainbowstardrops · 10/09/2025 08:43

Probably completely missing the point but forgetting the insurance side of charging a customer’s phone, where on earth would they actually charge it?!

Paganpentacle · 10/09/2025 08:43

Again..... how exactly was she expecting her phone to be charged?
Did she have her own charger?
If not... was she expecting someone to have a compatible one?
Where was she going to charge it?
If it was a personal charger without a valid PAT test- it shouldnt be used in the workplace....

KimberleyClark · 10/09/2025 08:41

LittleBearPad · 10/09/2025 07:44

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.

Show quote history

Was he able to serve other customers while waiting for your phone to charge?

Ratafia · 10/09/2025 08:39

Moonnstars · 10/09/2025 07:34

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.

Vanishingly unlikely, and easily dealt with by a standard disclaimer from the shop.

Ddakji · 10/09/2025 08:38

BoredZelda · 10/09/2025 08:36

True there were more phone boxes, but there’s generally either a house or a person nearby that you can ask to borrow a phone. Although it is also true back in the day people were less hysterical about the fact that everyone was a serial killer.

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Exactly. How many people will just stroll up to a stranger or a strange house and ask to use their phone? And I certainly wouldn’t be handing my phone to a stranger to make a call.

However, I still don’t think it’s a disaster to go out without a phone, especially if you’re just popping to the shops.

MySaintedAunt · 10/09/2025 08:37

Lanzarotelady · 10/09/2025 08:22

You would still have been in trouble with your phone? Would you not - your phone didn't stop it happening - you were able to call for help - which I presume you could have done anyway - by opening your mouth and asking?
Pretty sure if you're holding up traffic - someone would come to help??

Show quote history

I was in the arse end of nowhere 😄 I live v rurally. So yes, i could call the recovery service from my phone.
I've also broken down, years ago, in town and despite blocking traffic and asking for help there was little forthcoming. This was pre mobile phones and not having access to one then made a difficult situation much harder.
Point is, whether rightly or wrongly, many people's lives are in their phones now and they rely on them. Saying "how did we manage before?" is irrelevant - NOW they are useful and routinely used for many things.

TheCurious0range · 10/09/2025 08:37

It's all in the approach surely.

I'm so sorry I thought I had my cards with me but I don't, I can pay using apple pay but my phone is dead, could I possibly charge my phone for a couple of minutes just to get enough to do that please? - Fine

I need a charger, well how else do you expect me to pay!! - not fine

BoredZelda · 10/09/2025 08:37

AnAlpacaForChristmasPleaseSanta · 10/09/2025 08:35

True. But I was specifically referring to the walking part, which not everyone has the luxury of being able to do.

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In those cases, people are more than likely never going to find themselves without a phone.

BoredZelda · 10/09/2025 08:36

MySaintedAunt · 10/09/2025 08:20

Well people didn't use their phones as a means of payment and generally carried cash/cards, and public phone boxes were 10 a penny, for starters

Show quote history

True there were more phone boxes, but there’s generally either a house or a person nearby that you can ask to borrow a phone. Although it is also true back in the day people were less hysterical about the fact that everyone was a serial killer.

AnAlpacaForChristmasPleaseSanta · 10/09/2025 08:35

Lanzarotelady · 10/09/2025 08:33

But it still hasn't stopped your car breaking down and you could still ask for help

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True. But I was specifically referring to the walking part, which not everyone has the luxury of being able to do.

Ratafia · 10/09/2025 08:34

ThisJadeWriter · 10/09/2025 07:11

Even if it’s just for a short time.
There are liability risks

What liability risks?

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