I went into Aldi one evening to do my normal shopping and picked up a couple of little ball toys from the Specialbuys aisle. They were marked at 79p but scanned through at 6p each. What a lovely little bargain! Paid for them along with the rest of my shopping, no issues whatsoever.
Then I had a lightbulb moment. My daughter is having a birthday soon and these would be perfect for her birthday party bags! So I popped back round, grabbed another ten and headed to the self-checkout.
Scanned them all through. Grand total: 60p.
The shop was practically empty, and a member of staff had been hovering nearby. Just as I went to scan my card, she intervened and refused to let me purchase them.
Apparently, Aldi reduces certain stock to 6p as a way of marking it as waste rather than pricing it at 0p. The toys were supposed to have been removed from sale, but staff had been too busy putting out new stock to actually take them off the shelves.
So, to summarise, Aldi hadn't removed the toys, Aldi's own tills were happily scanning them at 6p, and Aldi had already sold me two. But suddenly my additional 60p purchase was a matter of national security.
I explained to the staff member that they were for my daughter's birthday party bags. She said she'd call the manager over, and I naively assumed this meant someone with a bit of authority might show show some empathy for a mum on a budget trying to make a birthday special.
How wrong I was.
Apparently, she'd "get in trouble" if she let me buy them. The manager wouldn't budge either.
Now, I appreciate people have jobs to do and rules to follow, but we're talking about ten little fluffy balls for a children's birthday party. Not someone attempting to walk out with a 65-inch television for 60p.
I told them I thought they were being cruel and that they could have simply let me complete the purchase and go on my way. I was using a self-checkout, the transaction was ready to be paid for, and they actively chose to intervene. Had they simply carried on with their evening, I'd have paid my 60p and disappeared into the night with my apparently highly sought-after ball collection.
In the end, they gave me ONE ball for free.
So I left with three fluffy balls for 12p, a disappointed party-planning brain and a newfound appreciation for just how seriously Aldi takes its small ball inventory.
AIBU to think some people working for massive corporations take being a jobsworth to Olympic levels? Or should I just be grateful I wasn't escorted off the premises for attempted small ball trafficking?