AIBU to react upon overhearing this remark voiced by a member of staff in Poundland towards another member of staff?

[SuperFlyHigh]

AIBU to feel that this overheard remark was out of order?

Was at Poundland the other day overheard quite loud a supervisor or manager saying to someone who seemed new (both Poundland staff),

"Yeah well make sure you get them to come down the queue as they often stand there like braindead zombies" it was obvious she was talking about customers not staff... The person saying this then walked away I was a bit shocked and said to the woman she had said this to "that's not the way your customers should be spoken about don't you think?" As i said this the woman who had said the original remark came back but I didn't want to get into an argument but just left the store.

Really put me off if that's how the staff refer to their customers within hearing distance!

Fore are you saying it took courage for me to go to Poundland or to admit here that I went to Poundland?!

Next time I'll find the manager and complain in person and make a scene

Finding the manager would have been a far better way of dealing with it in the first place.

It's perfectly possible to make a point assertively without making a scene.

You were picked up on making the comment to the new looking member of staff. It just smacks of picking the easy target and is incredibly unfair. The staff member probably wouldn't have fed it back to her if she was new and possibly feeling like she shouldn't rock the boat.
It's hugely unprofessional to say something like that on the shop floor but you should have summoned up the courage to speak to the supervisor whether she looked like a woman, a man or a little green alien. Next time have the courage of your convictions and take it up with the person who has behaved badly.

Zombies in The Walkin Dead seem to move quite purposefully.

IME in a situation like that, catching the perpetrator's eye and giving them a knowing smile works wonders. And it's funny.

In my experience in retail. half the customers behave like zombies, the other half like the braying mob with pitchforks. Woe betide you getting between them and their products....
The managers only mistake was to make the remark on the shop floor.

I doubt the manager would be bothered it's pond fuckin land and if you'd visited ours, you'd understand the zombie comment.

I have come across a few of these zombies before... They get on my nerves if I'm honest. But the staff in Poundland are quite slow too and they never have all the tills open. Whether it's because they're short-staffed or not but they need to follow Aldi's way.

I have witnessed either a supervisor or a manager belittle a sales assistant last year, and the store was heaving with queues going down the aisles. I think it was over her till being under the amount it started with so something had gone wrong. Rather than pulling her to one side on her break, the supervisor/manager decided to have a go at her in front of all the customers. Us (the customers) were all like ''.

I find the staff at these cheap shops e.g. Poundland/Poundworld/B&M/Home Bargains to be quite rude imho. (If people on MN do happen to work in these places, this isn't an attack on you personally.)

Some people get their knickers in a twist about FA. YABU.

I get what you mean op

The way that Poundland and similar are successful is that they shift vast amounts of stock each day with not much profit margin. Therefore, Poundland is always full of customers and is a very busy shop.
Dealing with this number of customers for hours on a daily basis must be pretty gruelling for staff. The staff turnover is huge as it's a god awful job. I understand if staff sometimes let their frustration show. They're not risking a glittering career.

You can't compare that to your experience of coming face to face with a couple of clients in a legal firm.

OP, I think if they were on your salary they may be nicer to customers.
If they worked for a company that valued customer service, they'd be trained.
Here, you come from job centre inexperienced and start immediately.
No training, you just pick it up, with help from a colleague if you make a mistake on the till.
Obviously you are so lucky to have had the opportunities that many of these staff haven't.
Do you really need it spelling out to you.

Having worked with the public for over 20 years I can understand the comment. I've had worse said about me when I'm putting right something that was done wrong in a government department. I've already admitted to them there was a mistake made, told them what I am doing to put it right (even though the error was nothing to do with me) and still had people slagging me off as I was helping them.

So those people had to wait for their money to come through as a posted cheque. IF they hadn't sat insulting me, my hair, my weight, my perceived sexuality, whether I was married and anything else they could (yeah I reckon she takes it up the arse) , they would have had their money the same day. If they were persistently obnoxious I asked for the cheque to be dispatched from the main location taking up to 7 working days and not locally, which would have been there next day.

When someone is trying to put things right, don't piss on them. And those comments were frequent.

WRT to OP, Its not necessarily right to say it when there's a customer in earshot but then, these things happen. It's human beings dealing with human beings.

I'm often one of those brain dead zombies, if I'm in a queue I sometimes completely zone out, probably 2 years of sleep deprivation. It must be very annoying if you're busy and you have customers like me, plus I've worked in retail and have said far worse, not in ear shot of the customers though.

Right ok next time I'll speak to manager or risk getting into a fight the fierce looking supervisor I know the bitch heard me as she looked my way after the comment was made and I could tell exactly her thoughts "fucking office worker coming in Poundland etc" but I have just a right to shop there as anyone else.

Also of one my mum's closest friends retired, her DH owned an advertising agency and they in one of the the biggest houses in the leafier parts of East Croydon well she's a cordon bleu trained chef and did charity work (coffee mornings, showing posh retired women how to do petit fours, posh cut out sandwiches etc with pumpernickel etc... And she always got her accessories etc from Poundland, she loves the place! And it's a 10 minute walk from her house. So anyone can go the, the Americans by the way aren't as snobbish as we are about their equivalent dollar stores, anyone rich or poor goes there, it's just to save money.

Really this is not offensive

Thanks Alice just taken the pink wafer biccie you offered nicely goes well with my Waitrose chamomile tea.

Meh. Wouldn't bother me.

fanjo I admit maybe not in the smaller scheme of things it isn't offensive, suppose she'd said "fucking bitches who stand in the queue" well that'd be offensive now wouldn't it, and basically she didn't say something obviously offensive but something snide and about customers.

Wouldn't get this in Waitrose!

Yanbu the correct term is walker not zombie, how 70s

You do realise that airlines refer to passengers as SLF - self-loading freight

I could tell exactly her thoughts

Really? Goodness, you must truly be an asset at your international law firm if you can read people's minds.

pretty sure PL staff don't care where their customers work

cd "Self Loading Freight"

. I quite like that! It's kind of cute.

Actually OP I find some of the things you say offensive. I don't like to hear women referred to as bitches. And why say she looks like a man?

As for office workers going into Poundland? Christ, who gives a shit.

Aren't all zombies brain dead?