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AIBU?

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WIBU To ask for a different lady to scan my shopping?

316 replies

goodoldsussexbythesea · 20/05/2026 19:13

I do my big shop in Tesco once a week. I usually have around 100 items. I do scan as you shop and I seem to get picked a lot for a random basket check. Fine.
There's one lady who always seems to be working on the self-scan when I go in. She's an older lady and she is incredibly slow. It's so frustrating as I usually don't have a lot of time.
I don't just mean a little bit slow either. I mean about 10 seconds or so between scanning each item. With lots of sighing and breaks and stopping. I think last time she could see the frustration on my face because she said "it's stressful, isn't it?" and I'm like yes... because you are being so slow (didn't say this out loud). I almost asked if she'd like to give me the scanner and let me do it for her but I didn't want to be rude.
Last time, the scanner was telling her she needed to scan over 80 items so it took absolutely forever.
And she puts it all back into the bags wrong too.

So anyway, today I went to tesco, got selected for random bag check and saw this lady was on. My heart sank. I needed to rush home and put it all way and then go on the school run. I didn't need another 20 minutes adding on. She started making her way very slowly towards me and I said, in the politest voice I could muster "do you mind if your colleauge does it?" She looked really taken back so I said "it's just I'm in a bit of a rush, sorry" I tried to look as apologetic as I could but she looked really confused and a bit upset.

The colleague heard the conversation, came over and started scanning. I was out of there and in my care in under 5 minutes.

I feel so bad though. I don't like upsetting people and I keep thinking of her face. I just couldn't do it though, it's so bloody painful.

I don't want to be mean enough to say anything to her supervisor but I really don't think she should be on that section. She should be sitting down on one of the tills, where she's not on her feet and customers haven't chosen a quicker option.

WIBU?

OP posts:
SylvanMoon · 20/05/2026 20:37

Surely just check out at a till as a solution to this "problem".

dosja · 20/05/2026 20:36

She should be sitting down on one of the tills, where she's not on her feet and customers haven't chosen a quicker option
That's not really how they want it to work at tesco though, they don't just want a check out person, If you keep being picked up for scans it can be because you're adding and removing stuff often or if you don't really have a "normal" shop and it changes often.

youalright · 20/05/2026 20:36

I think you need to delay your shopping by one day and do click and collect

goodoldsussexbythesea · 20/05/2026 20:34

bugalugs45 · 20/05/2026 20:32

Today is Wednesday , you said you have to shop Thursdays

Yes, sorry, I explained it further up.

OP posts:
goodoldsussexbythesea · 20/05/2026 20:33

Jellybunny98 · 20/05/2026 20:30

Honestly if you’re frequently getting stopped for the check I’d just stop using the scan and go and do it as a normal shop, then you can choose which till to go to yourself.

Or, if you get paid on a Thursday then do an online shop to be delivered a Friday.

I can't. The time isn't available to me on a Friday. My daughter's SEND school does half days on Fridays. I finish work at 12:30 and have to be home by 1pm for her transport dropping her off, then have to collect the other two by 3:25pm and she can't be in Supermarkets.

OP posts:
bugalugs45 · 20/05/2026 20:32

goodoldsussexbythesea · 20/05/2026 20:16

No..... I went shopping today?

Today is Wednesday , you said you have to shop Thursdays

youalright · 20/05/2026 20:31

This site is funny. Everyone needs to get of benefits and get a job.
I don't want to be served by the elderly or disabled they're to slow

goodoldsussexbythesea · 20/05/2026 20:30

bugalugs45 · 20/05/2026 20:26

OP said she has to shop on a Thursday , and today is Wednesday so I guess that’s where the confusion is…

OK, I can see how you got there. Sorry. This week was a one off. My boss asked me to do a couple of extra hours at the pub I work in at weekends tomorrow (I take my daughter with me to this btw and she sits quietly in the staff room, it's a tiny family pub with a friendly and understanding owner), so as a return favour I asked him to pay me early so I could do the shopping today instead of tomorrow and this has totally thrown me and made me think today is Thursday when its Wednesday.

The rest of the time I work in a school and finish at 2pm, giving me the time between 2pm and 3:25 to rush around doing the shopping. This is the only time available to me.

OP posts:
Jellybunny98 · 20/05/2026 20:30

Honestly if you’re frequently getting stopped for the check I’d just stop using the scan and go and do it as a normal shop, then you can choose which till to go to yourself.

Or, if you get paid on a Thursday then do an online shop to be delivered a Friday.

TheTortiePuffinNeedsHerBreakfast · 20/05/2026 20:29

I think you were fine to express it the way you did. You politely asked for someone faster because you know this worker to take lots of time, which you didn't have. You knew she couldn't offer you the service level you wanted, which as a paying customer, is fine to speak up diplomatically about.

TY78910 · 20/05/2026 20:28

bumptybum · 20/05/2026 20:20

Wow. The ignorance thinking that everybody has lots of time to do whatever they want

The OP is a single mother with an autistic child. It works two jobs and has to buy the groceries on Thursday when they get paid because they live paycheck to paycheck.

How about have a little bit of compassion and understand they’re not everybody has the freedom that you Appear to have with all the time in the world

I don’t have the time - I find ways around my time. Everybody has stuff going on, everyone needs to go somewhere, sort something out, even the retail staff. The understanding needs to go both ways, not just for the customer. There is this attitude that the customer is king and the staff are just there to serve and it has to match everyone’s individual expectation.

bugalugs45 · 20/05/2026 20:26

Coconutter24 · 20/05/2026 20:19

Where did OP say this happened a week ago?

OP said she has to shop on a Thursday , and today is Wednesday so I guess that’s where the confusion is…

vanessashanessa99 · 20/05/2026 20:26

YANBU.

meryl streep food delivery GIF
Frugalgal · 20/05/2026 20:25

goodoldsussexbythesea · 20/05/2026 20:08

I tried to do this but it says you can only edit up to 11:45pm the night before delivery. Then when you edit it to make it a big shop, it checks your card. I don't get paid until the next day so it doesn't let me do it.
By Wednesday night, I usually have less than a tenner in my account. I'm on a tight budget at the moment.

Yes they try to take the cost of the shopping at the time you check out so you need the full amount in your account the night before.

silenceinthemind · 20/05/2026 20:25

YANBU I would have done the same. I have this argument with DH who insists on doing scan and shop and then gets wound up when the girl they have doing it take a ludicrous amount of time to do it and takes everything out and leaves it on the side. He has also left a trolley and is not a shoplifter.

Seriously, just go to the normal til while they are still there, the people on them are fast and its way quicker to pack your self at the end instead of having to repack what the check person has scattered around on the scan and shop. And any time you save by walking around the shop scanning and then having a smooth departure is less than whizzing round, chucking it all in the basket and then sorting it out yourself at a normal til, imo.

TY78910 · 20/05/2026 20:24

goodoldsussexbythesea · 20/05/2026 20:16

You claim to be all understanding of other people and their difficulties, and say that anyone asking to be served by someone else is simply displaying micro-aggression, but then you go on to judge me and my abilities, claiming its "just poor planning". You don't know me, my circumstances, my life or the time I have available any more than I know others. Who are you to judge me for what you deem as "poor planning?"
I didn't choose to have an autistic child with abuse related trauma that can't cope with supermarkets so I can only go during school hours. I didn't choose to have an abusive ex that I had to flee from leaving me in a remote location with no partner and no family I can leave the kids with. I didn't choose for him to financially abuse us to the point that I am working 7 days a week (I have to take my daughter to work with me at my weekend job) just to stay afloat and pay the debt he left us with, leaving me with very limited spare time. I didn't choose to not be financially able to have the spare money in my account to order my shopping in advance.
I didn't choose any of this any more than your colleagues chose to be deaf or disabled.
So don't you dare come on me and accuse me of being judgy and then turn around and judge me in the same post.

I’ve not once said you haven’t had a tough life, that’s not even come in to it. I’ve also not judged your life, but there are other ways to shop as already explained upthread.

The woman is just doing her job, and for all you know she’s lived a life and a half just like you have and just wants to go to work and feel respected. You said in your OP that a time before this she could see you were getting impatient, next time you asked to be served by someone else saying you don’t have time for her. Of course that’s going to upset her.

Joey1024 · 20/05/2026 20:24

Tesco definitely dont check funds before hand as i have often forgot to top up my bills account. I get a text in the morning on the day of delivery saying not enough funds we
will try and take the payment at 3pm if you dont have the funds by then your delivery wont be made. And its always been fine i just transfer the cash over and all goes ahead

Foughties · 20/05/2026 20:24

I'm totally amazed at this. Surely you calculate the time in for doing the check out if you've got over 80 items of shopping and don't expect to be done in 5 minutes if you have to do the school run?

Because she is not expecting a rescan every time! She is doing a self scan as she goes around to be super quick.

PixieTales · 20/05/2026 20:23

goodoldsussexbythesea · 20/05/2026 20:20

That's not been my experience. It always checks my card for available funds whenever I try to place an order or edit one.
I don't have time available to go on a Friday either. So I can't edit it the day I get paid and then go the next day.

You could edit the order Thursday when you get paid and have it delivered Friday morning.

Or you could just stop using the self scan and go through a normal check out if this happens so often that it’s slowing you down?

Imaginingdragonsagain · 20/05/2026 20:23

YANBU. Hope things get easier for you soon.

ThisCandidMintGoose · 20/05/2026 20:22

of course YANBU

you were pleasant, you made a reasonable request, which was dealt with immediately.

Some people still use supermarkets for social interaction, brilliant, they can spend all day nattering with a slow cashier. It doesn't mean the rest of us can't use a fast till/ fast worker.

Cashiers in my local Aldi are absolutely amazing. It's the same process, not sure why everyone else can't be just as efficient

goodoldsussexbythesea · 20/05/2026 20:22

Bamboozle30001 · 20/05/2026 20:20

If you're getting rescan that frequently then you might be doing something wrong?

I asked them and they told me it's because I come at a quiet time.

OP posts:
Bamboozle30001 · 20/05/2026 20:20

If you're getting rescan that frequently then you might be doing something wrong?

goodoldsussexbythesea · 20/05/2026 20:20

PixieTales · 20/05/2026 20:17

It doesn’t check your card as in check you have the funds in the bank at the time of ordering it’s taking your card details to process the order on the day of delivery/collection.

If you then didn’t have the money in your bank that day they place the order on hold till you can provide payment.

That's not been my experience. It always checks my card for available funds whenever I try to place an order or edit one.
I don't have time available to go on a Friday either. So I can't edit it the day I get paid and then go the next day.

OP posts:
bumptybum · 20/05/2026 20:20

TY78910 · 20/05/2026 20:00

I work in retail - we employ older / younger / deaf / wheelchair users. There will always be a customer that finds a fault with any person that is different. Sometimes they ask for me to vent, most of the time they wait for the email survey which they don’t realise is sent directly to the employee. It’s all round sad. They will make out that it’s not because of the characteristic but it’s 100% a micro aggression.

My stance on this is - why on earth are you doing a shop with more than 80 items just before the school run? That’s poor planning, sorry. Frankly the people that work there don’t care you have a school run to go to, just as much as you don’t care they need a little longer to re-scan your items.

Wow. The ignorance thinking that everybody has lots of time to do whatever they want

The OP is a single mother with an autistic child. It works two jobs and has to buy the groceries on Thursday when they get paid because they live paycheck to paycheck.

How about have a little bit of compassion and understand they’re not everybody has the freedom that you Appear to have with all the time in the world

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