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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

157 replies

Livingtothefull · 21/12/2014 09:28

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).

OP posts:
Original poster
Livingtothefull · 21/12/2014 19:12

Well you can find it 'ridiculous' all you like Cutleryhands, but I am the one having to live with it.

I have to say that the bad attitude displayed by certain individuals is disappointing/disheartening….I get plenty of this attitude in real life. And no I am not referring to those who simply disagree with me, I have no problem with that.

OP posts:
LuisSuarezTeeth · 21/12/2014 19:14

cutlery how about you deal with it every time, in the OP's situation and then decide?

LePetitMarseillais · 21/12/2014 19:15

Really feel sorry for supermarket workers at the moment,the amount of supermarket bashing threads at what must be the busiest most stressful time of year abounds.

They're paid very little,do a long and tiring day and most I come into contact with are cheerful,polite and always happy to help.I did my big food shop today,it was hell,imagine if that was your day all day everyday.

A little bit of empathy wouldn't go amiss on some of these threads and maybe the new year when things are less frenetic would be a better time to complain.

LuisSuarezTeeth · 21/12/2014 19:16

And DEFINITELY more than one trolley available

fanjoforthemammaries7850 · 21/12/2014 19:16

Well that's a novel way to give the OP a guilt trip.

Those poor supermarket workers Hmm

Why are people so desperate to take OPs down a peg or two on here at moment.

They just show themselves up IMO

secretsantacalling · 21/12/2014 19:19

Is it worth noting and then tweeting / facebooking everytime you can't get a trolley? It would provide evidence that more than one is needed.

Original poster
Livingtothefull · 21/12/2014 19:20

OK apologies Marseillais I understand what you meant about the rubbish dumping. As I posted earlier the previous users may account for some of the rubbish but ime not all of it.

I think I made it clear that I was not blaming the staff on the shop floor and they do on the whole go out of the way to be helpful. I go out of my way not to give the workers a hard time, my complaints are to the management only. I do not consider it is fair to imply (as your last post appeared to do) that I am lacking in empathy.

OP posts:
Cutleryhands · 21/12/2014 19:21

As i said, you need more trolleys and the supermarket should ablige. Expecting the supermarket to clean it after every use and not store near a toilet is unrealistic and bordering on snobbery.
Pick your fights eh ?

LePetitMarseillais · 21/12/2014 19:21

She apologised and said she'd tell her knackered,stressed,staff who are mostly running round like headless chickens to keep an eye on it.It's 4 days before Christmas.What do you want-blood?

I never have a gleaming trolley,there is no bad attitude,many,many trollies are gull of crap due to the tardy general public,not supermarket workers.

Personally I'd write to head office for more trolleys and direct your anger there.New year might be best.

escarpment · 21/12/2014 19:22

Bloody hell, the OP really isn't asking for much. It must be really stressful to have to wonder all the way to the shop if the one suitable trolley will be available. And why should she hide away and shop online?

I have no idea why you're getting such a hard time, YANBU and I hope they listen to you.

Original poster
Livingtothefull · 21/12/2014 19:30

Oh so you think I am snobbish now. If I had ever been snobbish that has been well and truly knocked out of me having spent years looking after my very dependent DS, caring for him after several bouts of major surgery, cleaning him up several times a day (he is incontinent too), getting to know other families with DC with even more severe and complex disabilities than DS.

And being spoken to and treated like shit, and seeing my DS receive the same treatment, on countless occasions by countless people with bad attitude.

I will pick my fights whenever/wherever I want to pick them and think it appropriate to fight.

OP posts:
LuisSuarezTeeth · 21/12/2014 19:32

cutlery you are bang out of order Angry

Cutleryhands · 21/12/2014 19:36

I think i understand now. Sorry if i have upset you.

LuluJakey1 · 21/12/2014 19:36

Waitrose in Hexham, Northumberland, provides awful service for wheelchair trolleys. I stopped taking my mum there. They were stuffed away, at the far end of the tills in a corner. So I had to leave mymum at the door and go and look for one. To get them you had to manoevre them past seats, empty cardboard boxes and people packing trolleys. It was a complete palaver.

I do not know how many times I pointed it out at Customer Services (at least 6) and there was just no one interested. I emailed them and no one got back to me. I filled in a card andno one got bak to me. I spoke to a manager and explained how difficult it is anyway shopping with a wheelchair and how it would be nice if they made your life easier and not more difficult.

I was astonished to be told they had considered moving them nearer the door but the problem was that when they had seasonal promotions- Christmas, New Year, Valentine's, Easter, Summer, Halloween, Bonfire Night, they needed that space to put promotional products so moved them back to the awkward corner. I commented that I had never seen them any where else but the awkward corner and she said they usually needed the space for promotions.

She seemed completely unconcerned by what I was saying. She suggested I went to Customer Services if I wanted one and someone would help me- missing the point that I should not need to do that and it just wasted more of my time to stand there waiting until a member of staff was available.

Gave up on Waitrose at that point- not that I suppose that would bother them given how uninterested they were in my and my mum's custom.

So, no YADNBU.

Original poster
Livingtothefull · 21/12/2014 19:39

If it is such a problem to provide a clean trolley then they need more staff, that isn't my problem. I refuse to feel guilty if staff are put under pressure, I am very sorry about that and I - what's the word I am looking for? - 'empathise' as I have experienced pressure at work myself. The staff to take it up with their managers if too much is expected of them. Again, this is a management issue.

OP posts:
Original poster
Livingtothefull · 21/12/2014 19:43

OK Cutlery, thanks

OP posts:
LuisSuarezTeeth · 21/12/2014 19:44

cutlery I'm glad you do understand now. Thank you for saying so.

BigChocFrenzy · 21/12/2014 19:47

Yes, supermarket stress are low-paid and also more stressed at Xmas (although Waitrose treats its staff better than most)
However, their stress and problems do NOT compare to what wheelchair users and their carers suffer 24/7. There is no free time or holiday from a wheelchair: it's usually a life sentence with no reprieve.

Any extra help given to a wheelchair user still doesn't give them the quality of life the rest of us enjoy. So let's all try to support them and not be so grudging.

Original poster
Livingtothefull · 21/12/2014 19:55

That's sad Lulu, I am sorry that you have had such a poor experience with your DM at Waitrose. I know just what you mean about wasting your time having to wait around for somebody to find the trolley, I want to be able to just get the trolley and go shopping like everyone else. I really don't think I am asking too much.

I also always get nowhere with the Customer Services desk, always fobbed off by them….have complained in writing also but get very little response. I will have to see what comes of my latest complaint, I am still living in hope that they will finally 'get it' and things will improve but maybe this is too optimistic.

OP posts:
MrsCakesPrecognition · 21/12/2014 20:05

If the alcove is only used for the w.chair trolley, perhaps they could fit a shelf across the alcove which the trolley slides underneath. This might deter people from randomly chucking in extra rubbish on the assumption that the trolley is a bin.
IMO people won't realise that it is a w.chair trolley, they simply won't have noticed that it looks different and won't have engaged their brains. They probably assume it is a broken trolley that's been put aside...and therefore fair game for rubbish.

IHeartChristmasMoomies · 21/12/2014 20:08

YANBU to note there should be more trollies available. I had to ask several times at our local Tesco for twins trollies and they only got them once I didn't need them anymore.

BUT YABU to say that you should have a clean and tidy one. Unless all other trollies are sparkling clean (and maybe they are, I don't shop in waitrose) then you just have to suck it up. There is often discarded wrappers in all types of trolly IME.

Original poster
Livingtothefull · 21/12/2014 20:24

IHeart, the 'regular' trolleys are considerably cleaner than the wheelchair one. I don't think that an available trolley with no rubbish in it is too much to ask for.

MrsCakes, there is a very prominent wheelchair symbol on the trolley so I think it is very clear what it is for. A shelf as you suggest may work though think they should still provide more trolleys and they need to be easy to find/access.

OP posts:
LuluJakey1 · 21/12/2014 21:28

Living Until my mum was so frail and unable to walk, I had no idea how hard it is to look after someone who is disabled. Everything is more difficult and there is additional physical and mental pressure from every little thing. It is exhausting for them and you. You worry about the person, it feels like they are invisible at times to other people the way society often just ignores their needs. Everything is a battle to get them just basic decent care and help.
My mum died earlier this year but I will never forget how hard that period of 3 years was - for both of us, and it has made me much more sympathetic to carers and disabled people.
The floor staff at Waitrose were always very nice but the supervisors and managment just did not care enough about anything other than their promotions and profit.
Their wheelchair trolleys are different to other stores and harder to manoevre as well which made it even more difficult.
Hope they take some notice of you but chances are they have profits at the forefront particularly now.

Original poster
Livingtothefull · 21/12/2014 21:55

Lulu I am so sorry for your loss.

Yes the experience of caring for a severely disabled loved one takes its toll and it probably can't be fully understood unless it is experienced at first hand. There is the constant battling to get the things that are needed; even when these are fairly straightforward and basic things which should be neither difficult nor costly to provide.

It requires goodwill and the willingness to support the disabled, embrace them as part of the community, and do everything that is reasonable to make everyday activities as accessible to them as to everyone else. Part of this generally means providing the things which the disabled and their carers say they need, unless there is some really compelling reason why they can't be provided.

All to often I find that this basic goodwill is not forthcoming and so my DS needs are disregarded, I am told I am demanding/unreasonable/a complainer when I ask for things to be done. It just wears me down and I am constantly afraid for my DS future when I am no longer around, there will be so many callous people in it.

In fairness/balance I have to also state that we have received a tremendous amount of kindness and support from many others.

I am still hoping for a good response to the concerns I have raised, have not had all the optimism beaten out of me quite yet. I hope Waitrose respond more positively than they did to your concerns but will have to wait & see…..may follow up after New Year as some have suggested.

OP posts:
Lomega · 21/12/2014 21:58

I frequently find other people's sweetie papers and old shopping lists in the bottom of trollies/baskets, I just put them in the nearest bin...

I think it's wrong they only have one disabled trolly though, that's shocking...I used to work in a supermarket many moons ago, and we had at least 3/4 in my memory.