Asked to move back ..aibu to be annoyed?

[simdd]

I went to Morrison's today.
I'm stood in the queue for the deli counter.
She shouts for my turn so I go over
(Obviously I cant see what I want,so before I order I look at the items )
I'm stood back (not right next to the counter)
She shouts .."can you step back "
(Bare in mind she's behind the deli counter and the counter is quite wide outwards)
So I say "I am back,I'm trying to see what I want to get "
Step back further and block the aisle now ..
Then she throws my meat on the counter.
I go to pick it up and she pipes up again
"I did ask you to step back"
So I reply .."how the hell am I meant to pick it up from on top of the counter without moving forward"
Aibu to think people are getting a bit stupid here and not using common sense.

*God it's absolutely ridiculous.

I got told off in tescos for queue jumping at the tills. The supervisor made such a scene, I was obviously mortified, apologised and moved my stuff immediately. I said I didn't see there was a queue because it was so far away with a sarcastic well it's been the same system for weeks now.

I was too busy staring at the fucking arrows all over the floor after hearing another customer get a bollocking!!*

I had this yesterday. There is no need to be rude to us.It is nerveracking enough. It was only my second time out after 12 weeks and the rules had changed in the shop from the previous. I have complained and they said they will askstaff to be more polite.

Well unless she shouted at every single customer that day, other people were managing to choose and pick up their food without upsetting her. You must have done something different to everyone else.

I'd say it was a fair cop and my instinct would be to simply step back a little as requested. She's the one serving customers all day. If I could make her feel less anxious by stepping back, I would do it and it wouldn't occur to me to moan about the request either.

The arrows thing though, in my big tesco the central bit is two way so you don't have to go down every aisle, you just traverse in the central aisle and you can use it to go back for things too. If an aisle is empty I do go down the wrong way. If the POINT of all this is to minimise contact then it makes no sense to go down an aisle with people in it when I don't need to. However, as a pp said, really it's all nonsense anyway.. We now know so much more and walking past someone or standing in arms length for a few seconds is really not dangerous unless they choose that exact moment to cough or sneeze openly plus for most people the virus simply isn't that bad. It's not the plague! Perspective, common sense and critical thinking have all been abandoned 😕

@Blobby10 you do know the government is trying to help us not control us right

"We now know so much more and walking past someone or standing in arms length for a few seconds is really not dangerous unless they choose that exact moment to cough or sneeze openly plus for most people the virus simply isn't that bad. It's not the plague!"

I get that you are not worried but surely you can see how someone more vulnerable, or living with someone vulnerable, might be nervous that you might cough or sneeze at the wrong moment as you come towards them, or that the virus might not be so benign for them?

Yes of course, but the level of hysteria and general aggression is hugely out of proportion and we're seeing that become more and more overt.

You have to remember, that the assistant will have probably dealt with 101 people before you on that shift, who don't stick to the rules. It's possible she was just at the end of her tether and unfortunately you got the brunt of it. I hate this excuse. I have worked in customer service, pubs, shops, waitrose and morrisons. I've never snapped at a customer. I the pharmacy I got asked to pay. I had my contactless payment readyand couldn't reach so I took one step forward. She raised her voice at me and shouted "GET WE'RE IN A PANDEMIC!" I jumped as I'm a very nervous person after years of abuse. I felt my voice shaking and cracking trying to explain I just couldn't manage to reach so didn't know what she wanted me to do.

She said there was no reason to get upset and she should be the upset one as I "clearly have no idea what it's like putting yourself at risk every day for low pay". I explained I do, I'm a carer and would never be rude, nasty or raise my voice let alone shout at a resident! So excuses don't wash with me!

I was in my local Morrison’s today and there were no arrows on the floor at all. It was very refreshing to walk Up and down aisles anyway you wanted. Everybody was very polite and gave each other space and it was all good.

I think - the employees are dealing with hundreds of customers each day, some of whom are rude, some of whom think the rules are ridiculous and don't follow them, some of whom just make a mistake and accidentally don't follow them.

If they are sometimes a little short, or don't have time to ascertain whether you are a dick who thinks the rules can 'get to fuck' (like some pp) or have made an honest mistake, who cares?

They turned up to work and did extra shifts when everyone else was safely at home, when we didn't know much about the virus at all, when people were fighting over loo roll.

Who honestly cares if an employee asks you to stand behind the line or follow an arrow? Who is really so sensitive that this upsets them?

They're doing a difficult job in difficult circumstances. They haven't chosen to be there, they won't be walking out in half an hour with some shopping. They're worried, stressed, getting shit from managers if they don't enforce the rules.

The people I know who work in retail are not enjoying the power trip, as some seem to think, they just want to keep everyone safe, keep their job and go home.

I hate food shopping at the moment. Got shouted at for stepping forward to the card machine when asked to pay. Told that I needed to stay behind the line at all times. So I stood there with my card outstretched and just waited. You'd need to be Inspector bloody Gadget to reach from where I was told to stand. I asked her if shorter customers like me were expected to throw their bank cards to the checkout operators, which fortunately coincided with a store manager wandering past, at which point I was asked ever so sweetly if I could step forward.

I've worked in retail before and it can be relentlessly shit. But rudeness and stroppiness is not just confined to customers.

If someone shouts, just smile vaguely and ignore it, assuming they must be talking to someone else because they don't need to shout to speak to you.

@Ellmau

If someone shouts, just smile vaguely and ignore it, assuming they must be talking to someone else because they don't need to shout to speak to you.

That's exactly what I have done several times!

Cut shop workers some slack. You are probably the hundredth person that day who tried to break the rules slightly. Let all the slight rule breaks go, and some people will be pushing even further. You might not be doing it deliberately, but others will be.

Don't take it so personally. People have different risk levels they are comfortable with.

I've always thought the middle-class Waitrose cult was a bit ridiculous, and bought all our stuff in Tesco. However, having experienced crazy and rude behaviour in both Tesco and Sainsbury I'm now a convert! Maybe I'm just lucky but our local Waitrose has polite and rational staff, AND they always have tills open (I won't use DIY checkouts).

(Frankly it seems like the same food at a substantially higher price - we're lucky that we don't need to worry.)

Waitrose pay better than most other supermarkets. If you really have a problem with people working for crap wages with rude customers and little support from management then don't go shopping. It's not the staff's fault you can't follow simple instructions.

The last time I missed the aisle with the things I wanted, I reversed back down it the three steps until I got to the relevant items. It would have been so silly to go all the way back around. I did feel silly walking backwards pulling my trolley, it almost feels like we have been reduced to naughty school children.

Surely if we all just follow the rules then staff won't need to shout at you to stay back? If you are meant to stay behind the line then do so, if you don't like the rules of that supermarket don't use it. But if you wish to use that shop or whatever it is, follow the rules in place to make everyone safer.

It's not rocket science - I can't stand it when people encroach on my 2m space. Just because you're sick of the rules and don't want to socially distance why should I take the risks?

Also the supermarket staff don't make the rules, they are just the poor underpaid people left to enforce them. There is really no need for all this aggression towards them and name calling - it really just makes all the people on this thread look entitled - as if the rules shouldn't have to apply to them. The situation is what it is.

And no, I don't work in retail at all so this isn't personal - I just can't understand why there is so much hate towards the people most at risk of transmission given the number of people they come into contact with daily

Surely if we all just follow the rules then staff won't need to shout at you to stay back? If you are meant to stay behind the line then do so

But if you have to stay two metres away from the counter, how are you supposed to reach your food? I don't think many people have 2m long arms!

Here they move back once they are ready for you to step forward and then direct you to step forward. Same with paying.

They're not shouting at every customer or you would see it in the line while you're waiting - so therefor it's clearly something you are doing differently that is causing the server to need to correct you.

Had the same at Asda pharmacy. Had to collect prescription and told to stand back. I asked how I was going to get my medication from the counter and more importantly how on earth was I going to pay with contactless because I would have to move beyond the line. She told me we would cross that bridge when we came to it!

She then said we would have to do some sort of dance. She put my medication on the counter and told me to move forward at which point she ran to the door. I dont even get how I managed to pay.

I wasn't offended. She just looked ridiculous. If you are going to tell your customers off who are politely complying, then at least have the intelligence to be able to answer reasonable questions as to how to comply with another set of unwritten rules.

But if you have to stay two metres away from the counter, how are you supposed to reach your food? I don't think many people have 2m long arms!

You come forwards to get your food/pay when instructed to do so. At that point the cashier will move back if possible. If that's not possible then your only in front of them for a few seconds rather than standing there waiting to pay!

I’ve never had this issue with payment either. I just keep back from the counter at all times until they instruct me to pay. So I don’t automatically stand at the distance I would have done pre-COVID, if that’s what you’re doing then that’s where you’re going wrong.

My friend had this, also at Morrisons deli counter (same place?) . She told the lady to throw it, lady refused with verbal, so friend gave her the choice to throw in her direction or she would have to step closer to take it.

I don't know what the hell has happened to people. They seem to have no ability to think critically and assess risk. Blindly following 'the rules' whether they make any sense or not.
I have every sympathy with low paid retail workers. I am grateful to the ones who stayed at work so that people like me who don't have a car can get their food, and I tell them I appreciate it.
I think there are arseholes on both sides of the tills who are loving that there are arbitrary rules that everyone 'has' to follow. People who are wetting themselves with glee that they get to snitch, shout, order other people to 'Get back! Pandemic! Froth Froth!'
I've been shrieked at in one shop by another customer because I dared walk past her (leaving plenty of space) She accused me of 'barging' past her and was squawking '2 meters apart!' over and over like a trained parrot. I told her to fuck off.
I think if we are left to it we all observe sensible distances, make a point of not coughing, sneezing, getting in other people's faces,, it's just common sense! Unfortunately this has brought out the fuckwits and arseholes who just love waiting to see someone 'getting it wrong' and leaping away dramatically like you're Typhoid Mary if you have to occupy the same bit of pavement for half a second [Sceptical]

No, I disagree that anyone at all is loving it or setting themselves with glee.

What you do have is people who are trying really hard to follow and enforce the rules for the benefit of everyone - or everyone who is worried, anxious, elderly, vulnerable - and dicks who can't understand why other people are worried just because they themselves aren't.

"She accused me of 'barging' past her and was squawking '2 meters apart!' over and over like a trained parrot. I told her to fuck off."

Well she's right isn't she? It is 2m apart. You have no idea whether it's the first time she's left the house, or her partner is shielding, or she herself is vulnerable.

You could have said 'so sorry, I thought I'd left plenty of room for you' but chose 'fuck off' instead, just to make the shitty world that little bit worse. Well done, very brave.