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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Told off in Sainsburys

204 replies

MassalaQueen · 21/01/2017 13:40

I was shopping in Sainsburys this morning with my 3 year old ds. At the entrance there was an unmanned taster stall with some crisps in tiny bowls and some Robinsons squash in cups. My ds asked if he could have some juice and I helped myself to a cup. The stall holder came along and said you dont just help yourself to the samples. I was embarrassed and apologised. She then continued to reprimand me saying this isn't a cafe you know and tutting. Was her reaction over the top? Surely the point of the sample stalls are to promote the products rather than tell customers off for sampling. AIBU if I report her to customer service?

OP posts:
diddl · 21/01/2017 14:42

"You don't just help yourself"

Well, Op, you wouldn't have had to if someone had been there!

Billben · 21/01/2017 14:43

Yes, she was rude but never in a million years would I have just helped myself to something on an unattended stall.

ArcheryAnnie · 21/01/2017 14:45

Why not, Billben? That's what the stall is for in most places.

C8H10N4O2 · 21/01/2017 14:47

Its very bad customer service and poor manners - if she was supposed to be manning the samples that is where she should be. Its not that unusual for samples to be left for customers to help themselves - I would have assumed the same.

alltouchedout Yes exactly - that and failing to read the OPs post properly before rushing to judgement.

Bettercallsaul1 · 21/01/2017 14:52

Agree entirely with GimmeeMoore. Very rude and inappropriate behaviour but not worth taking any further.

I don't blame you at all for not coming up with a suitable riposte at the time - rude behaviour which is completely unexpected gives you a shock and often causes temporary paralysis of brain and voice! (I can always think of something later, though!)

Bettercallsaul1 · 21/01/2017 14:57

If the samples were already poured out, and ready for customers to try, why on earth shouldn't a customer help herself to one if the stall was unattended? The orange juice was provided by the store as a commercial promotion for that product - it was not a personal gift from the member of staff!

Coloursthatweremyjoy · 21/01/2017 14:58

I would probably have laughed at her. I mean it's a sample stand, for sampling...you sampled and if it was juice it was sampled by the person likely to consume it.

I once got scowled at in Sainsburys for sampling something and not liking it.

One of the many reasons (that I won't bore you with) that I shop in Morrissons even though it's further away.

Beeziekn33ze · 21/01/2017 14:58

Very rude, not too late to ring the number on your receipt and tell Sainsbury's what happened. Before Christmas I liked the staff on the M&S taster stalls. They were friendly, welcoming, never pushy and, as the items they were promoting were mostly delicious, I bought quite a few.
The blonde biscuit lady at the Longbridge store was especially pleasant. So we're those Belgian biscuits! I'd better sign up for Sugar Free February and No Chox March or whatever they're called! Much more daunting than a Dry January for me!

RubbishMantra · 21/01/2017 15:02

Billben, my local supermarkets don't man the samples. I'd be waiting until Armageddon if I just stood there in an orderly queue. That's how I discovered Pastinos. Mmmm, Pastinos.

GimmeeMoore · 21/01/2017 15:02

No don't complain.there is no immediate need for action on a minor slight
No one died,no harm done.a slightly brusque social interaction.thats all

speakingmymind · 21/01/2017 15:03

I personally wouldn't help myself to samples from an unmanned stall.

LindyHemming · 21/01/2017 15:06

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

lovelearning · 21/01/2017 15:11

you dont just help yourself to the samples
this isn't a cafe you know
tutting

Is this some new marketing technique? Grin

RubbishMantra · 21/01/2017 15:17

"Did you overfill the cup op?"

Or... Maybe OP thought the the cup half empty, and the stall holder deemed it half full?

AwaywiththePixies27 · 21/01/2017 15:18

I do think stallholder was a little overzealous. I was once in tescos when they were offering free fruit samples. It was being manned and the DCs took one said thankyou. Then I went to take one. (I'd already done the shopping etc). The man just said "sorry madam. The free samples are only for children". I apologised. Looked sheepish and put mine back Blush The next time I went in to do my shopping, there were signs saying free fruit for the DCs etc. Point being, even if you were in the wrong, Sainsbury's lady didn't need to scold you like a child for it.

AwaywiththePixies27 · 21/01/2017 15:20

Don't understand the ageist comment. The most bossy boots lady I've ever come across is a young woman who watched me scan and pack all my shopping. Because she obviously thought someone who'd just spent £70 on shopping was going to nick a £1 bloody Yankee sample candle! Grin

Sugarpiehoneyeye · 21/01/2017 15:29

Jobsworth, let it go OP, what a silly woman.

ThoraGruntwhistle · 21/01/2017 15:30

How can she have 'overfilled' anything when she clearly said there were cups of squash and she gave one to her DS? She hasn't helped herself from a bottle.
I would've complained, for what it's worth. Piss poor customer service to berate a customer for taking a free sample instead of being handed one. What the hell is the problem with picking it up yourself? Not exactly rocket science.

ShowMePotatoSalad · 21/01/2017 15:36

YANBU. What a mardy arse. I wouldn't have been able to hold my tongue.

I'd have said something like "I know it's not a cafe, it's a taster stall. And we're tasting the juice. If you'd been stood here then i wouldn't have had to pick it up myself anyway". I'd have put the cup back down again and walked off.

TeethDrama · 21/01/2017 15:41

Well, firstly obviously she shouldn't have been rude but then I personally would not take stuff from a sampler table without invitation as I think it's rude too.

MmmMalbec · 21/01/2017 15:42

I did this kind of job in Asda and you can get in trouble if people take samples without you being there, but that's why if you leave the stall you are supposed to always put the samples under the counter. So you're not being unreasonable at all, she's in the wrong!

Beeziekn33ze · 21/01/2017 15:43

Gimmee and Bettercall - but Sainsbury's would want to know that they were paying an agency for someone who was giving customers a bad experience. Wouldn't they?

GimmeeMoore · 21/01/2017 15:43

If food is laid out to sample,and no restrictions are posted e.g. Wait to be served...then help yourself

TeethDrama · 21/01/2017 15:44

Bettercall it's always fairly obvious that it's not a general refreshments table for thirsty or hungry shoppers, but a samples table. Come on, we all know the difference and if you are using it just because its there instead of the spirit it was intended (i.e. genuinely interested in buying) then it's a bit greedy/unnecessary. I have said No Thanks to all sorts of nice-looking foods because I know I won't be buying a full packet if I'm on a diet or whatever, so it would just be unnecessary of me.

BitOutOfPractice · 21/01/2017 15:58

Teeth that is the most ridiculously po faced description of a product sampling in a supermarket. These things are predicated on the assumption that 90% (large percentage anyway) of samplers have no intention of buying. Lighten up. She took some crisps and squash that she assumed was free to take. She didn't nick the Crown Jewels or shoplift