Aggressive supermarket colleague

[JillBob]

Just to preface this, I appreciate we’re in very odd times and we all need to pull together, be responsible and follow the rules.
That being said, I’d like to gauge peoples opinions on this situation:

Today I innocently entered the bakery aisle of a well known supermarket to collect some bread and was unaware I had entered it in the wrong direction (it was not until I left the store that I found there had been a change to the way you can walk around the aisles - everyone up until that point was walking down aisles in any direction they wished).

One of the bakery colleagues then shouted at me quite loudly about the fact I had entered the aisle in the incorrect direction. I then turned around to go in the correct direction and she was stood berating me very loudly and aggressively to whoever would listen causing many people to stare at me as I just went to get bread.

This really was a genuine mistake and I feel like she could have handled this better. Not going to lie that I was very upset leaving the store.

I’m just wondering if I should expect this now, this is normal behaviour to expect going out for a shop and I’m being over sensitive or was this unacceptable?

I felt like reporting her but didnt want her to get in trouble as she may have had worries at home ( Im Too soft I think)! However They have now lost my custom ,as I feel too anxious to go back there ATM(Not an anxious person normally) .Maybe some extra staff training may be in order!

This is why you should report, OP. As dottiedodah shows, managers need to be aware of abusive cashiers/workers like this, because it will cost the store in the long run. Maybe if managers were made aware, they could have a staff meeting with all employees and a mini training session ie how to handle abuse, how to recognise a customer who made an innocent mistake vs a CF customer, how to not offload previous abuse onto the next customer, etc.

It is not 'dobbing in'. It is making managers aware that there may be staff who may be close to a meltdown and aren't given the support/training to cope.

OP sorry about your experience. This supermarket sounds very much like mine from your description including signing etc.

Wait, fined for, 'only buying wine..'

I am, thank God, off at the moment (the occupational health nurse classed me as potentially vulnerable and said it would be best for me to take time away when it's nearing the peak etc) but customers were being SO rude and abusive to us daily that eventually the store manager told us that under these extreme circumstances if someone kicked off at us we were allowed to say what was on our minds and any complaints for the next month or two were going straight in the bin. We are a small store and a tight-knit team but even still we were surprised she said that because customer service is usually her main priority; it was just that bad. A few people have already been barred for being so abusive.

I agree she shouldn't have been rude to you OP as you did just make a mistake however whatever upset or offence you felt leaving the store she no doubt had had 20 or 30 times already in her shift. I was never rude to anyone without provocation (and really only once or twice rude back when someone was being horrid to me) before I went off but I sobbed in the toilets daily (and I wasn't the only one) and my anxiety was so high that I DID feel on the verge of constantly screaming at everyone regardless. I'm not sure reporting her at the moment would achieve much; either the store has adopted a similar policy of ignoring complaints like mine, she'll get in trouble which would make her bad mood even worse, or they'll recognise she needs support but lack the time and resources to do anything about it.

Yes @ilovemydogandMrObama police have issued fines in Edinburgh for purchases of one bottle of wine only. Not if its in with other shopping. But a trip just to buy wine, 30 fine.

She's probably stressed to her eyeballs, scared, exhausted, maybe wants to be home with her family and prehaps also worried about taking the virus home with her. Your mistake could have been the straw that broke the camel's back. Yes, she could have handled it way better and maybe she should have apologised but I wouldn't go and report her.

I don't understand how you can be fined for only buying wine if off licences are allowed remain open.

Yes but again, how about if the rantings from the Bakery Assistant had been the straw the broke the Camel's back. This isn't something that has only been inflicted on Retail Assistants.

Had been the straw that broke the Camel's back for the customer that should read.

IME supermarket staff vary with how strict they are. My husband visited the local Sainsbury's and the Retail Assistants were chucking around a ball for a joke. The Marks food hall staff where I sometimes go didn't give me enough time to step back for her to ok my wine at the self service check out. A really young till person was asking me for Netflix recommendations. I don't mind and it was nice to have a conversation but my point is they haven't been particularly strict about standards.

Edinburgh shopper was more likely to have been fined for refusal to comply, according to reports I’ve seen, @moobar, unless you have different reports?

How can you be fined for buying a single bottle of wine in a supermarket and yet can buy one in a off licence.

To be honest I wish that the staff in my local Tesco would tell more people off for ignoring the arrows. It drives me mad. If my 7 year old son can understand the system and comply, I really don't understand why so many adults can't.

That being said she shouldn't have spoken to you in the way she did.

Yes it could have been failure to comply. The reports I read said the police were issuing depending on the attitude of the shopper. The person my brother referred to that day had been difficult all week so perhaps that was the issue. My understanding was the police had spoken to them about non essential journeys etc, they had not been cooperative with that.

He is struggling with people like that though. One trip to buy one bottle, fair enough.

Multiple trips a day for various individual items is what's causing the issues.

A lot of the staff in my local asda don't seem to care about any of this. They don't social distance from each other let alond the public, and they take no notice whatsoever about the black arrows on the floor.