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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Was the shopkeeper unreasonable

56 replies

ManyCrisps · 01/07/2018 16:48

Yesterday I had to return a rather large package to amazon and in order to do this I had to go to a corner shop so they could take it when I went in the shopkeeper was scanning a many packets of individual crisps which took about 5 minutes then the moment I told her I had an amazon return she immediately told me how it was too large for them to take and that I need to get it picked up. So was she unreasonable for not tell me it was too large when I came inside the shop whilst she was scanning the many crisps and are amazon unreasonable for letting shops like this fulfill returns when they can only take small packages.

OP posts:
Shumpalumpa · 01/07/2018 17:20

I would have just asked her if I can return my package while she was scanning.

She was BU not to stop scanning and serve a customer, but YABU for just standing there for 5 minutes. You need to push yourself forward more.

nervousnails · 01/07/2018 17:21

You may have been there for any other reason. Your carrying a big box is not her problem. YABVVVVU

Shumpalumpa · 01/07/2018 17:21

Xpost.

YABU, she was busy with a customer.

Cheekyandfreaky · 01/07/2018 17:21

@LongSummerDays they are Walkers crisps- in most supermarkets I think- sooooo good, I would buy a hundred bags of them whilst someone waited behind me with a large package and my only thought would be: did I buy enough?

SimonBridges · 01/07/2018 17:21

You were second in the queue.
You lost a full 5 minutes of your time.

What is the problem.

RainySeptember · 01/07/2018 17:22

Op, are you implying that she saw you waiting to return your parcel, fully understood why you were there, but maliciously and unnecessarily made you wait for five minutes just for a giggle? Seems a bit paranoid to me.

donquixotedelamancha · 01/07/2018 17:22

She was scanning the crisps for a customer

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queue

Was the customer really buying hundreds of single packets OP?

LongSummerDays · 01/07/2018 17:22

@Cheekyandfreaky thank you! I'll look out for them when I go shopping next.

😋

RainySeptember · 01/07/2018 17:24

There are loads of reasons why you might have been holding a parcel in her shop, but the reason she didn't talk to you until it was your turn was probably that she didn't particularly notice you.

I know you're thinking 'but I was standing there with a massive parcel of course she noticed me' but having worked in a shop I can confirm that you are sometimes fully focused on what you're doing, and sometimes not focused on anyone at all because your mind is wandering to something else entirely.

AnchorDownDeepBreath · 01/07/2018 17:25

Staff are trained to focus on the customer they are serving whilst they are serving. It would have been very rude - and sounded very rude - for her to tell you, unprompted, that your parcel was too big. There was no guarantee that you were returning the parcel and you weren't at the front of the queue. She needed to serve the first customer and then tell you.

If you're angry at anyone; it's Amazon, if they really didn't provide the restrictions for returns via small stores.

SoupDragon · 01/07/2018 17:26

I was obviously there to return my package not just popping in with my package.

No, you were obviously there with a package. What you were doing with it was not clear. The shop owner isn’t psychic.

rosesgarden · 01/07/2018 17:26

Well if it was me working in a shop that dealt with Amazon and someone came in with a large package, then i would naturally assume it was a return, and would mention it to the person to save them waiting. However some people are awkward. I come across people like this nearly every day.

CammieKennaway · 01/07/2018 17:29

No I'm sorry but the shopkeeper wasn't being unreasonable at all.
I work for a large retailer and we do the DPD collect/drop off and DPD are very strict about what the returns label says, what ID is used and what size the packages are due to the sheer amount of stuff the couriers have to fit into one van (plus there's the storage in the shop whilst it's waiting for collection - we often get over 6 drop-offs per day that we have to store alongside the packages awaiting to be collected, which for some bizarre reason, some people don't bother and they're left clogging up our DPD cabinet).

Also forgive me for saying it, but you sound really condescending about the job she was carrying out - yes scanning loads of crisps is menial but it's vital to the job and she may well have been stocktaking and unable to lose count otherwise she'd have to scrap it and do it all again. I'm forever being interrupted rudely by people who think I'm "doing nothing" when actually I'm doing something really important and despite me always making a point of smiling and acknowledging customers and explaining I'll only be a minute, some think us shopworkers are below them and get really passive aggressive and some actually get really arsey (not saying you're like this, but trying to point out the other side).

NorthernSpirit · 01/07/2018 17:31

You sound totally entitled. I’ve had the same situation - it’s no big deal. The shop keeper is providing a service but your item is outside of that. No big deal.

Glitterkitten24 · 01/07/2018 17:32

The crisps are a red herring.
The shopkeeper was serving another customer. It would have been rude of her to start talking to the next person when she was serving someone.

Wouldn’t occur to me to be cross about his to be honest.

RunMummyRun68 · 01/07/2018 17:36

Yabu

Take responsibility for your own business

She was with a customer

SimonBridges · 01/07/2018 17:37

Can you see it from the other side though?

What if you were the person having your shopping scanned through when the shopkeeper stops to tell someone who has just walked in that they can’t take their package?

Nanna50 · 01/07/2018 17:56

Nanna50 She was scanning the crisps for a customer but I was clearly there to return the package so she could easily continue scanning and say my package was too large.

Not if she didn't know that you may want something else. So you wanted her to interrupt the customer in front to ask if you were only there to return a parcel? Why can't you just wait your turn?

Iamtryingtobenicehere · 01/07/2018 18:00

Yabvu.

You’re expecting the shop worker to acknowledge you whilst she was already dealing with a ‘paying’ customer.

She works in retail, she’s not a mind reader, for all she knew you wanted to buy something. Stop acting so bloody entitled just because you had to wait your turn.

CoughLaughFart · 01/07/2018 18:08

So you had to wait your turn while she dealt with the customer who was ahead of you? It’s hardly up there with queuing for bread in the last days of the Soviet Union.

LonginesPrime · 01/07/2018 18:17

as I’ve said before I was a very large package so I had to use both hands to carry so I was obviously there to return my package not just popping in with my package.

I often go into a shop with something big I've bought elsewhere or large parcels I've collected elsewhere - my time is limited and I'm not going to do trips if I can fit it into one, so I'll put the package down to pay, put things in a bag, loop it over my wrist and pick up the box again.

The shopkeeper was busy doing her job with a queue of customers to serve and probably didn't have time to anticipate your needs while she was serving someone else. You, on the other hand, had plenty of time to analyse the situation while you were waiting, and I know how annoying it is lugging parcels around it the heat, but I don't think it's the shopkeeper's fault that she served the queue in order.

RestingBitchFaced · 01/07/2018 18:20

YABU! You were in a queue so wait your turn

SumerisIcumenin · 01/07/2018 18:21

This is England and the rules of queuing are set in stone.
You could just have put the parcel down and waited.

Mammalamb · 01/07/2018 18:24

YABU

Ediemccreedy · 02/07/2018 17:59

Seriously, why are you asking this? Get over it.