Customer demands to charge her phone at supermarket

Can’t say I worry about any of that tbh on a day to day basis. If I lose it/get it stolen I’ll get another one. If it gets damaged, it gets damaged. Not the end of the world, just annoying but given how much I drop mine I know from experience they are pretty robust! I even accidentally put mine through the washing machine- came out unscathed!

can’t think of anywhere in the UK where I have had absolutely no signal or no WiFi. you can make payments using you phone without any connection whatsoever.

I found worrying about my wallet and the implications of the admin loss of all my cards/ driving licence etc was far worse.

I do carry a power bank on me if I know I’m Going to be out for a long time. I rarely get caught with lack of charge but it can happen rarely.

No, because you can carry some cash elsewhere and your wallet won't hold all your phone contact numbers and whatever else highly phone-dependent people might keep on their phone. If you lose your wallet, you still have your phone to ring your bank and cancel the cards and to phone anyone you might need to come and help you.

If you lose your phone, but still have your wallet, you have the means to get home or buy anything you need. I personally keep a couple of emergency phone numbers inside my wallet as well.

Personally, I never left the house until they invented the mobile phone.

Maybe she has a faulty battery. My last phone dropped from 30% to 1% suddenly.

Seriously? You know us women were perfectly capable of travel before mobile phones existed right?

@Buddrinker84 please tell us about the safety implications of a woman getting home from a supermarket without a phone?

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.

I was at the hospital urgent care department last week, they had power banks that you could rent. Maybe supermarkets should do the same.

Well yes but the worry about losing my phone, having it stolen, me damaging it by dropping it or getting it wet, it getting hacked, running out of charge, being in a place with no signal etc etc would just stress me out so much it would negate any benefits.

Obviously supermarkets aren’t ‘responsible’ for charging people’s phones. We all know that but I just don’t see why you are so up in arms about it at all.

So.... she had her phone charger with her did she?

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.

You can usually charge it enough to pay in under 5 minutes. In my view there's no harm in asking if there's a charging station or similar available as long as the customer doesn't do their dinger if there's not. And while people ideally should be prepared (e.g., carry a power bank & cord) it's possible to be caught out for reasons other than complete carelessness - I had a situation where my iPhone was fully charged and then suddenly dropped to 3%; restarting it took it to 100% then down to 2%. Turned out the battery was faulty and the fault was also causing the battery health meter to read as high when it was really low. Easy enough to fix in a few days with a battery replacement, but definitely took me by surprise!

😋

Did she have a charger? I would have plugged it in a socket at Customer Services for her.

Why wouldn’t you?

How was she rude? You haven’t actually said what she said that was rude?

I work in a supermarket and we keep a variety of chargers and have zero issues with people who need 5 minutes charge to pay for their shopping, as long as they stay with their phone or accept that we take no responsibility for it if they choose to leave it charging.

Each to their own. I think it’s amazing. I don’t need a cumbersome wallet. Everything is all in one place. I don’t have worry about dropping cards anywhere and having a Billion different loyalty cards loose. When I go shopping I only step out with a tote bag now and can’t remember the last time I took a handbag with me.

Excuse can i charge up my phone for 1 min so i can give you lots of money, who's gonna say no

Oh I would absolutely hate to be so reliant on my phone.
It worries me the amount it intrudes on my life as it is without making it my only source of paying for things.

What are the safety implications of not having a mobile phone? I managed quite fine for 30 years, I don’t see the crime figures are any worse now except the rise of phone thefts!

I’ve charged my phone in store before it died between putting in clubcard and paying. So annoying. I apologised and asked them to just hold the shopping and aid go to car and charge but they said they have a wireless charger as it happens all the time. A few minutes and it had enough juice, I paid and left.

It wasn’t a big deal atall.

Isn’t the problem with customers charging their phones at shops not so much the cost of electricity but they might want to leave their phones while they do more shopping and then it’s a big deal around insurance and potential (or feared) access to the data on their phones

Can you not guide them to a cctv blind spot and accidentally give them a good kicking?

And frankly if you are organised enough to carry a charger about, why not just carry round a portable power bank instead?

In the days before mobile phones no I never carried an emergency tenner. And even if I did carry £20 what would I be doing with it? It certainly couldn’t pay for a supermarket shop! I can’t hail an Uber with it. If I was going to get a black cab home I’d just get my card from home once I got back.