Customer service goes out the window when you're clearly an idiot!

[RiskyRetail]

This is more of a rant than AIBU, feel free to join me...

So I work in a supermarket convenience store. I was on the early shift yesterday and surprise surprise, people are still ignoring social distancing and essential travel... Just a few examples of people being idiots include...

• Old people coming in to buy a newspaper
• People coming to buy lottery tickets

Neither are food or medicine. What do people not understand about essential travel?

• People coming to the till with a single item... Go to the self checkout FFS 😡
• People not understanding the 2m distance. You don't need to be peeking over my shoulder whilst I'm dealing with the self scan.
• People realising there's a queue to get into the shop and then grunting forget it. If you can 'forget it', it is clearly not essential so why the fuck are you out and about?

I was very snappy with a few customers yesterday but I'm beyond caring. I'm not going to stand with a smile while your idiotic behaviour puts me and people I care about at risk!

The nhs (rightly so) have PPE not enough granted ,they know what they are dealing with. However food key workers have a pair of gloves and if their lucky hand gel ... and can't see the invisible enemy .... to those of you who have said thanks, I thank you too and I am sorry if there are no loo rolls pasta or Prosecco !! But there will be ... soon !!!

your post implied you went out for chocolate and just happened to stumble across other items that now deems that shop as an "essentials" shop

That's how I read it, too.

A sort of "I wanted a luxury item, so I risked my and other people lives, bit don't judge me because I bought useful stuff as well by sheer chance"

I agree with the social distancing op I work in a supermarket and people are still coming so close up to me i tell them to move away from me. As for customer service during this time that's more of a smile to them then anything else

How long before the 'fat people shouldn't have as much food, cos they have more reserves laid down' start?

God help me if that happens - I have enough blubber to insulate a narwhal.

I feel like posters are purposely missing the point here. Honestly how are we supposed to tackle COVID-19 with people like you amongst us?

Yes, it makes sense to refuse to sell someone a newspaper after they have made the journey to the shop. Why? Because it will deter them from making unnecessary/non-essential journeys again in the future. You do realise that the guidance is to STAY AT HOME and only go to the shops for essential purchases? We are in lockdown. A newspaper isn’t essential. You won’t starve, it’s not medicine.

Each supermarket said that they have more than enough food to feed the nation. If a food item is sold out, buy a different food item? Not a bloody newspaper. If people refuse to seek news via digital means, then tough. They’re not entitled to a newspaper because they’re stuck in the past.

Walking to a shop is irrelevant, just because you walked instead of driving doesn’t mean you are now justified in only buying a newspaper. “Combining walks” is such a stupid argument - it’s not about what’s convenient for you, it’s about what’s safest for society, including retail staff. People visiting shops less decreases the risk to retail staff. We’re all supposed to be limiting the amount we visit the shops, unless you want us to be perpetually stuck in lockdown, with significantly more deaths?

As a fat person I would warn other chubsters from going out btw. Apparently obese people are serious risk group.

Lol at the narwhal 😂

If people refuse to seek news via digital means, then tough. They’re not entitled to a newspaper because they’re stuck in the past

Then stop printing the bloody things! Or put them outside shops to protect the staff from unnecessary contacts. Except no shop would do that because they might lose a bit of money and that’s obviously more important than protecting their staff.

But there is no need to stop printing. People still pick up newspapers as part of their larger shop. What's not ok is just picking up newspapers

I think most us are all used to having the food we want not the food we have to settle for as it’s whats in the cupboard.

I think we all need to be less fussy and accept that we need to make do with what we have. I don’t mean starve but now is a good time to use up the random packets at the back of the cupboard and at the bottom of the freezer

Essential shopping does not mean ah well i’m here now so i’l just fanny around, take my time, buy all the shite of the day, let my children piss about, let them eat stuff then hand the cashier the soggy packet to scan that has their saliva all over it... dont make idle chit chat about the virus whilst hanging over my till!
I have worked in retail for nearly forty year, so please listen, do your essential shopping quickly and get to fuck out our shops!!!!

let my children piss about, let them eat stuff then hand the cashier the soggy packet to scan that has their saliva all over it... dont make idle chit chat about the virus whilst hanging over my till!
🤢🤮🤢🤮🤢🤮

I'm sure most people are trying to do their bit, there's always going to be dickheads.
A bit less vitriol from some would be nice, as previously stated not everyone who is going out more than once a week is doing it through choice.
3 days and 20 different shops for my sister to get one packet of toilet roll because of stockpilers and greedy thoughtless feckers.

I think we all need to be less fussy

DD is fairly picky. I was preparing the tea last night and asked her how hungry she was.

"Not hungry enough to eat that."

She ate it.

It seems clear to me that @PlomBear went out for essentials, and bought chocolate at the same time - but mentioned the chocolate first, because non-essential purchases were the focus of the OP’s OP.

I know everyone is stressed, but I think she is getting an unwarranted kicking here.

It's not fucking difficult, stay at home unless you absolutely need to go shopping. Stop putting your health at risk and stop putting ours at risk while you're at it. I never thought working in a supermarket would be something that put my life at risk like this. (And I am fucking terrified, so all you blase fuckers can do one.) No I'm not going to judge those who buy something frivolous while doing their main shop. I am going to judge those just buying something silly.

@BodiesMakeForGoodFertiliser and @TheSandman seem to get it. Thank you! ❤

@alsohuman we’re supposed to be minimising human contact as much as possible.

Going for a walk and staying well away from others for exercise is not as risky to the walker as going in a shop which also puts retail workers at unnecessary risk.

Retail workers also have families which may well include vulnerable people they won’t want to pass the virus onto.

I’ve a good few retail workers in my circle and almost all of them also have a vulnerable person at home or whom they provide essential care for.

If you aren’t needing essentials don’t go in a shop!

No I really don’t think newspapers are essential, tv news is better regulated anyway and the vast majority of people can access news online and I’m willing to bet that even people who can’t/won’t go online for news have people in their circle who can keep them up to date with the most important information.

I’m afraid I’m one of those who has limited patience with older people who won’t use online resources. I’ve older parents in their 70’s, aunts and uncles in 60’s and 70’s and ex in laws well into their 80’s actually I think one is into 90’s now and they all use online resources. It’s how the world works now. Age is not a barrier to using this. Indeed for older people with sight and hearing issues using online resources with appropriate software where needed can actually be easier to use than hard copy. My mums hearing is dreadful she uses various options to gain information that gets around that, my ex fil is almost blind and likewise uses various tools online to get around that.

I am completely perplexed by those saying that newspapers are essential for older people who aren't able to access news online.

What about turning on the telly and watching the news??? And for the lady who needs a newspaper due to deafness. Could they put the subtitles on?

I'm afraid it sounds like trying to justify behaviour we have all been told we SHOULD NOT DO. I am feeling particularly annoyed by those who are protesting that their walk to the shop for non essentials or "a few bits" is their daily exercise. It's just flying in the face of the entire purpose of these measures. Trying to find ways round them to justify doing something they shouldn't because it puts others at risk.

And thank you to all of you shopworkers for continuing to put yours and your families health at risk to keep us fed.

Newspapers may be pretty important to an older person who doesn't use the internet, is self-isolating can't have any visitors. At present it's obviously not ok to go out just for a newspaper, but as part of a food shop I don't see the problem.

Whether you have patience with them or not, people who didn't know how to use the Internet 2 weeks ago aren't going to get a connection and learn how to use it during lockdown. If they don't get a paper, they won't learn about restrictions, so they'll be down the shop for a scratch card every day, as usual.

Cutting off a news supply to a large group of people, a high proportion of whom will be in the 'vulnerable' group and with no other access to news, would be poor planning. Unless we should just be saying 'You can't use the Internet? Sod you, then.'

she had an elderly person come in to pay £1 into an account

They could have had any reason for doing that. They might need to order something online that costs £20 but only have £19 in their account; or they may have £9 in their account and thus be unable to access it from a cash point. A lot of elderly folk have very reluctantly felt forced to start getting their cash from a cash machine, but are still very uncomfortable about using the card to pay directly in a shop.

I've been using cash to pay for things rather than a card, which we're all told is the only responsible way to pay. Why? Because there's no money at all in my account until pay day and I'm relying on coins that I have around the house. I still do what I can and put the money on to the counter instead of into the assistant's hand.

But this is MN, of course, where the best way to take your mind off being terrified at not having any money for your electricity top-up card or food for your children is to book a luxury spar weekend with afternoon tea in a fancy hotel (or at least it was before they all closed). Your budget is only ever the amount of money you'd arbitrarily considered maybe allocating to a particular category of purchase and never simply all of the money that you actually have.

According to the prevailing logic, somebody with just enough money spare for their daily newspaper (maybe somebody elderly and vulnerable without internet access and extremely frightened by and not otherwise aware of all that's going on) will be pilloried for wanting everybody else to die; but if that same person had plenty more money spare to be able to pick up a few tins or packets for their store cupboard or a luxury food purchase that they didn't really need as well as their newspaper is a good, decent, upright citizen.

An outside honesty box is a good idea - or bags of papers attached to lamp posts with a money box next to them, like you often see in Europe; but sadly, there would be a minority who would poison the well for the rest by helping themselves or even just setting fire to them for a moronic 'laugh' - like the unspeakable 'characters' who torched the Iceland vans in Somerset.

Ok, so I have enough food not to need a big supermarket shopping for at least one more week. But yesterday I ran out of milk and soured cream. Went to the corner shop on the way back home from my daily run (1 more person apart from me in the shop), got milk but they didn't have soured cream. So today, again on the way home from my run, I stopped by a different corner shop (also nearly empty) which did have soured cream. Got bread as well. So was I in the wrong? Should I have driven to a supemarket instead, with lots of people, in order to make sure that I shop "infrequently"? Come on.

X-posted with a couple of others there.

high proportion of whom will be in the 'vulnerable' group

Then they should stay at home and you know, not risk death? Which is obviously more important than having access to a newspaper.

Newspapers are not essential. In 2020 there are several other methods to access news. If you chose to ignore these other methods then tough, your own fault. For the current 3 weeks we are in lockdown you will have to go without.