To be upset when a clean wheelchair trolley is not available when I visit Waitrose with DS?

[Livingtothefull]

At my local Waitrose there is just one wheelchair trolley which I always hope is available when I visit with my DS - sometimes it isn't as another disabled customer may be using it; I have complained already as I think there should be more. It is stored away from the 'regular' trolleys, in an alcove next to the toilets (would you mind your trolleys - used to hold your shopping - being stored there? That is a genuine question).

Yesterday I went to pick up the trolley and found it had rubbish in it. It is by no means the first time this has happened, I regularly find discarded food wrappers, used hankies etc., many people seem to find it appropriate to use the wheelchair trolley as a rubbish bin.

I complained at Customer Services desk but felt fobbed off so complained again to the manager on the shop floor. She apologised and said that she would tell the staff to keep an eye on this. Based on past experience of complaining though, nothing much will change.

AIBU to think that this demonstrates the really rotten attitude that many people have towards the disabled?

AIBU to think that Waitrose service provision for their disabled customers is just not good enough?

I would just like our shopping experience to be much like everyone else's; you come to the supermarket and collect a nice clean trolley (preferably one from a gleaming row of trolleys).

Ha that should have been can't remember

I'm not singling you out, I wondered based on your statement that you knew you were not BU and you wouldn't back down but had asked in the OP if YWBU whether you had become more resolute in light of your responses.

I also haven't said that you are an unreasonable person, so I'm not quite sure where that has come from.

I may disagree with you about some points but your interpretation of events is different to what mine would be - doesn't make either of us right or wrong.

No, it was better the first time cow.

YABU about the rubbish and keeping the trolley near the toilets (I don't think near the toilets is dirtier than anywhere else and I think there is rubbish in all trollies). YANBU about the quantity of wheelchair trollies, there should be enough for everyone who needs them.

Is your DS an adult or a child? just wondering as I can't get my DS2's wheelchair to attach to the Tesco wheelchair trollies as it's too small (he's 6) and I was wondering if the waitrose ones were different.

says alot about waitrose customers if they can't put their little in the bin, though from some of the threads on here i expect they expect someone else to do that sort of thing for them

they need more than one wheelchair trolley it's really weird just to have one, and surely if they can take it back to it's storage area they could just empty it then and there. yanbu

Hi ellie, my DS is 13 so his chair is near adult size. I think that the chair needs to be wide enough as well as long enough to attach with a smaller wheelchair…if insufficient width the hook/spring mechanism won't stay put. As far as I know these are made to a standard size in all supermarkets but I may be wrong about this

I have accepted that I was probably oversensitive re the trolley being near the toilets - though I do think that because of where it is, as the only receptacle nearby it 'invites' certain people to use it as a rubbish bin. I agree that other trollies have rubbish in but IME there is much more and nastier rubbish in the wheelchair trolley.

I think the answer is that staff should be aware and be instructed to regularly check and clean out the trolley. If they can't do that it should be sited in a less out of the way place. There should be more trolleys (if there were several to accommodate different sizes of wchr that would be helpful too).

You sound like a serial complainer. Trolleys often have rubbish in them. Not sure where the trolley is stored is an issue either.
YANBU re: on there one trolley though.

I didn't mean to imply that I felt that you were accusing me of being unreasonable MrsStarlord, apologies if my post came across that way. I was merely saying that I was not unlike most posters in having strong views at the time of posting on AIBU. I think I am always open to being persuaded otherwise and would not consider myself an especially unreasonable person.

'…a serial complainer'….well yes that would be me. I really really think it is not to much to ask to have an available clean trolley when I go shopping with my DS and I tend to complain when I don't have it. I do this as nicely as possible btw and do not take out my frustrations on the staff. I do like the store and it is also my local supermarket so don't really want to move. I have also frequently given positive feedback when I have been well treated.

I do speak up when things happen which make my life and that of DS more difficult, which with a bit of effort and thought could be put right. In other contexts this is called 'being assertive'. I don't much care if people don't like me or see me as a complainer, as long as I get what is needed for my DS.

Living... Is there room, at your local Waitrose, for wheelchair-trolleys either to be stored inside the entrance? This would be far enough away from the other trolleys to prevent people taking them unthinkingly.

Failing that, would your Waitrose consider either siting a bin at the same location as where the wheelchair-trolleys are? Even if it doesn't achieve perfect results, it would save having to wonder around looking for a bin then.

Would you start a Care2Causes petition? I would sign it. I'm sure others would too.

Hallo Lying, yes I think there is room just inside the entrance. That is where the baby trolleys are stored…..I have already suggested previously to the store that the wheelchair trolley could go there too and that there should be more than one trolley, however nothing has changed.

The only occasion when complaining resulted in change was when the wheelchair trolley broke. The trolley has two hooks with a spring mechanism which attach it to the front of the wheelchair, and the spring had broken. It was broken on one occasion and still broken a couple of weeks later, the staff were not familiar with it so hadn't noticed. I had to demonstrate to the staff how to use it/why it didn't work. It had to be tied to DS wheelchair with string each visit until it was replaced.

Another definition of a serial complainer is 'complaining over and over again about a significant issue until something is done'; this is generally how change happens. This is not the only issue which concerns me, I could equally start a thread about many others (non-disabled drivers taking disabled parking spaces, luggage in pre booked wheelchair spaces on trains etc etc). I do campaign on these issues as there are already existing campaigns; I may also start on this one though am hoping the store will respond positively when I bring it to their attention (again).

I am really sorry that some of you think that I am making a fuss about very little but until you have walked (or pushed a heavy wheelchair) in my shoes you may have to take my word for it that these issues matter.

YANBU:
. Only 1 trolley you can use and it is in a disgusting state. An able-bodied person just chooses the next clean trolley
. Much more difficult for a disabled person / carer to empty rubbish

The trolley should be where staff can keep an eye on it and periodically clear it out.

Life's always MUCH tougher for wheelchair users, so stores & services generally need to do better than currently.

There's generally maybe 1 bit of rubbish in standard trollies. Op is talking about trolley with loads of rubbish in it as everyone has used it as a receptacle, and is NBU

We are talking about a store which is part of a leading supermarket chain, not a little corner shop. It has efficient highly sophisticated processes in place for every operation, I am asking for the process they have in place for catering to the needs of the disabled to be comparable to their others. DS was chatting to the staff member handling goods deliveries (as he does), who could tell him exactly what time the next delivery lorry was coming & what would be on it. So they can't tell me that providing a suitable wheelchair trolley is beyond their capabilities.

It's probably kept separately to stop people using it. When my dc were young our local supermarket only had 6 trolleys with two child seats. Every time I went there they never had any. I used to have to go to customer service and ask for one. They would then walk round the store looking for someone who had inadvertently taken one with only one child or no children. I would have far rather they had kept them separately.

YAB totally U. As for objecting to trolleys being stored next the toilets words fail me.

Surely a shop should have as many wheelchair trollies available as they have disabled car parking spaces?

Obviously not every disabled shopper uses a wheelchair, but it is possible (though unlikely) that one day every shopper parked in a disabled space could be a wheelchair user. Having 20 disabled spaces and one trolley is ridiculous. What's the point of being able to park but not being able to shop?

YABU and sound massively over sensitive and a bit of pita.
It's obviously kept separately from the other trolleys so so done with in a wheelchair doesn't have to try and dig through all the other trolleys to get the one they can use.
I think your only legitimate point of complaint is that they only have one, they need another but most wheelchair users at my local supermarket seem to put a basket on their lap. Maybe this is the case there too.

Exactly BigChoc, when you have a wheelchair everything is tougher, that is what some do not fully appreciate when they claim that all the trolleys have rubbish in them so therefore I shouldn't be making such a fuss.

That is not the point; catering for the disabled does not mean 'treating the disabled the same as everyone else' but making reasonable adjustments for them so they can go about their business like everyone else.

There is undoubtably more rubbish in the wheelchair trolley and it is frequently really unpleasant; it is the lack of thought which makes people use it as a bin, not thinking that it may be physically difficult for wheelchair users to clean it out. I don't know what the answer is to that; maybe a sign asking people to keep the trolleys clean?

If the disabled are not positively catered for, then there is a minority of people who will (and frequently DO) have free reign to make their lives very difficult indeed.

I am really sorry that some of you think that I am making a fuss about very little but until you have walked (or pushed a heavy wheelchair) in my shoes you may have to take my word for it that these issues matter.

Never assume anything. How do you know posters haven't been in that position?

CheeseBuster I may be a pita but I don't care. How do you think I got this way? Being nice does not protect me and my DS from being treated like shit.

I can't put the basket on DS lap, we have tried that and it has fallen off. DS can't hold it on as he has the use of only one hand. He can't steer his chair for this reason, and neither can I if I am carrying the basket. If I don't have the wheelchair trolley I can't go shopping. When it isn't there I insist on a member of staff coming around with me…which is more inconvenient to the store than adequate trolley provision would be.

Cheesebuster is it not boring going round being rude on every thread

Cantbelieve I have made no assumptions about anyone, but I am addressing those who have said I am being over sensitive, a complainer etc. We all have troubles/concerns, I am just writing about some of mine.

YANBU to want a clean wheelchair trolley available when you go shopping.

YANBU to be annoyed that a large shop has only one. That smacks of doing the bare legal minimum rather than actually giving a damn to me. Waitrose could surely get more in.

YANBU to see a problem with them being stored by the loos, especially if they are out of the way and/or out of sight of the staff. It shows a lack of care for this needed equipment which could be filled with rubbish or damage their one wheelchair trolley. It smacks of not giving a damn what happens to it to me, especially with the way they've responded to you.

YANBU to have a problem with wadded up toilet paper and other loads of rubbish in your trolley. I'm used to big trollies having bits of paper, receipts and leaflets and such, but would anyone want wadded up toilet paper in their trolley. Sure, they might not of wiped their butts, but there is a good chance it's been used as a hankey. Blow their noses on their way out of the loos, drop it in the nearest receptacle - the wheelchair trolley.

YANBU to feel this shows a great lack of care for disabled people and I feel it is sad how many are telling you to ignore or dismiss that this is related to it. They could obviously put in more thought - and trolleys - if they wanted to and are choosing not to and continuing to chose not to even after complaints that this is causing problems. Discrimination is not just one big event but dozens upon dozens of small events, day in and day out, that so many others unaffected tell us to ignore or that they are not a big deal. It is very wearing and tiring when really all it requires is people have put a bit more thought and care into it.