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AIBU?

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Asked to move back ..aibu to be annoyed?

260 replies

simdd · 11/06/2020 12:42

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.

OP posts:
FluffyKittensinabasket · 15/06/2020 13:17

That should have been dead end aisle*

zaffa · 15/06/2020 13:19

But @actually did you complain to the store management? I completely agree that your examples of one rule for one and another for others, of not treating all customers the same and therefor taking it out on the next customer if one is rude or of ignoring customers isn't ok. In that situation, you complain to the management and if nothing changes you take your custom elsewhere.

If shops are being unrealistic with their expectations and rules and going far beyond guidelines, then they will change their ways if custom falls. If certain staff are rude to all customers; then all customers will eventually shop elsewhere.

But the examples here are very much about being asked to stand behind lines, about not wanting to follow the store arrow layout because you don't need all the aisles, about pushing past people in your way because you don't want to wait behind them and about not wanting to wait to be called forward to pay. Those examples are not the fault of the store staff; they are the fault of the virus.

Your examples are of behaviour that needs to be escalated because it's unsafe - anyone breaking SD rules risks the health of everyone they come into contact with. There's nothing wrong with complaining about it through the right channel - there's a lot wrong with mocking and name calling though - even if they did it first, or everyone else is doing it (which is happening an awful lot on this thread)

Also totally agree re the NHS staff, yet I still read comments from people complaining that the A&E receptionist had a mask on and asked them to stand back, or that midwives want to wear face masks when birthing and partners aren't allowed on post and ante natal wards and how unfair that is - so I guess they're getting a fair bit of backlash too.

zaffa · 15/06/2020 13:20

@actually but perhaps it's the rules of the shop you want to use?

zaffa · 15/06/2020 13:21

@fluffy what did the store management say when you pointed this out? Have they made any changes? Have you decided not to shop there anymore as a result?

MeanwhileTime · 15/06/2020 13:24

I'm another one who hates shopping now and used to love it. Some of these stories made me think of this Grin

FluffyKittensinabasket · 15/06/2020 13:26

zaffa - I haven’t been there in ages. I emailed customer service who said that was unacceptable behaviour from staff and said they would look into it...

ActuallyItsEugene · 15/06/2020 13:33

@zaffa I attempted to. Trying to get to the manager was like trying to get a one woman audience with the queen.

I gave up and went elsewhere.
I sent an email to the complaints department and received an automated reply, nothing further.

I can't speak for others. I'm talking of my personal experience and why I'm so hacked off with the way supermarket staff have been acting.
If someone's told nicely to move, then firmly again when completely ignored; I understand.
That wasn't my experience.

The NHS trying to protect patients and getting abuse is something I cannot abide, however we cannot compare the two.
Supermarket staff are not in the same position as NHS staff.

It may be the rules they want to use, but they're not law.
When the evidence is out there that you need to be in sustained contact with someone for 15mins to be at risk and you've staff (who're behind Perspex, wearing gloves and visors..) snapping at you to stand back whilst they pass you something or whilst you pay, it's understandable that people are hacked off at being spoken to like naughty children.

zaffa · 15/06/2020 13:35

@flufdy that's great. If enough people do that then stores will take action against staff who are genuinely rude and unpleasant, and reconsider rules that diverge from guidelines and create chaos.

GoodUserName · 15/06/2020 13:36

I went into Morrison's and there's 2 barriers at the door one for trolleys and one for baskets, apparently you're supposed to guess this new procedure in advance but as someone was in front of me I just followed them in on autopilot and some jumped up worker shouts err this is the way in for baskets only trolleys go in that way, so I politely said ooh sorry and turned around to go the right way and she then tuts and hisses there is a sign in a tones that implied I was thick while rolling her eyes at the customer behind me, I just pushed the trolley to her and left I'm not being spoken to like that. Dh made a complaint about her attitude and advised she did a course in customer service, it's disgusting the way they speak to customers.

Viviennemary · 15/06/2020 13:39

I won't be going shopping till things return more or less to normal. I don't need any more stress.

OldEvilOwl · 16/06/2020 16:26

I work behind a counter with food just doing takeaway at the moment, and so many customers are rude it's unbelievable. It's usually the older men too I have found. They just barge in, don't look at the signs and think they can wander up and down the shop to look at everything when they have been told to stand in a certain place. The old women are lovely, and the younger ones step back immediately if they haven't realised with an apology if told to step back. I don't know why the older men seem to think the rules don't apply to them for some reason!

EnlightenedOwl · 16/06/2020 23:46

@Viviennemary

I won't be going shopping till things return more or less to normal. I don't need any more stress.
Me too
Viviennemary · 17/06/2020 11:57

Also I like to sit down and have a coffee on my shopping trip. Can't even do that now. It's ridiculous and absolutely not good for the economy.

SpiritEssence · 17/06/2020 12:19

Here we go supermarket staff bashing thread. Have you lot forgot these staff had put up with so much abuse but still putting there health and families so you can get food. Yes I work in a supermarket and expect customers to stand where they are suppose to. It's not hard . If they dont they will get told to. If you dont like it shop online

SpiritEssence · 17/06/2020 12:22

Oh and please read the signs and listen to the announcements they have going all the time. Really annoying for staff to keep telling customers what to do

LadyofTheManners · 17/06/2020 14:23

@SpiritEssence

Here we go supermarket staff bashing thread. Have you lot forgot these staff had put up with so much abuse but still putting there health and families so you can get food. Yes I work in a supermarket and expect customers to stand where they are suppose to. It's not hard . If they dont they will get told to. If you dont like it shop online
Wow Don't know where you work but speaking about customer's like that when I was a manager and you'd have been sacked on the spot.

Have you ever considered that some people are utterly sick of shops chopping and changing on an almost daily basis?
Have you ever considered the customer could easily have a hidden learning disability?

You come across as exactly the type of aggressive shreeking and self important loon we've all discussed here. The attitudes of staff to most of the people in the posts here has been caused by a lack of foresight and planning by the stores involved, NOT customers willfully ignoring rules.

KatherineJaneway · 17/06/2020 15:00

Oh and please read the signs and listen to the announcements they have going all the time. Really annoying for staff to keep telling customers what to do

What announcements? There are none in my local Tesco. Also the way they've laid it out there are two 'down' aisles side by side. Unless you can fly you have no choice but yo go the wrong way.

SpiritEssence · 17/06/2020 15:14

So it's ok for a customer to be abusive to a member of staff and I've known members of staff get spat at. At the end of the day retail staff deserve more protection and now there is a law going through parliament making it against the law to be abusive to retail staff and giving the cops and police more powers to deal with this.

SpiritEssence · 17/06/2020 15:21

14:23LadyofTheManners

Have you seen members of staff in tears and e scared about what's going on but still having to come into work and put a smile on. The abuse I have seen is dam right disgusting and food retail staff have had enough. I couldn't care a less what you think and who says I'm rude to a customer by telling them to move back. I'm protecting myself which I'm entitled to do. I dont want some one over me when all they have to say is excuse me.

We are putting our health at risk by being at work so people can buy food

SpiritEssence · 17/06/2020 15:24

And customers are ignoring the guidelines
I see it all the time. It's common sense to use by Everyone in that store. Yes u can not always be 2 meters apart which applies to staff and customers as there is not always the room. But no need to be in anyones personal space. Even customers I've heard have ago at other customers for being in there space. No need for it

SomewhereInbetween1 · 17/06/2020 15:34

That woman, and all the other workers at supermarkets are just doing their jobs as they have been instructed to do. They come into contact with God knows how many strangers every day so if they tell me to move back because it helps keep them safe or feel more comfortable with serving so many people, I will, and you should too. Regardless of what you think about the rules or if they're getting ridiculous, you need to follow them. If you don't want to deal with them just shop from home.

LadyofTheManners · 17/06/2020 17:00

@SpiritEssence

So it's ok for a customer to be abusive to a member of staff and I've known members of staff get spat at. At the end of the day retail staff deserve more protection and now there is a law going through parliament making it against the law to be abusive to retail staff and giving the cops and police more powers to deal with this.
At what point has anyone said that someone being spat at is fine? Or shouted at?
SideEyeing · 17/06/2020 18:22

I admit I haven't RTFT but (as of where I'm up to on Page 3) I feel a little for supermarket staff. I'm a teacher (I know) and I guess I can't help projecting what it feels like to be on the receiving end of a long thread complaining about your profession. I understand most here are complaining about individuals or the general shopping experience rather than "retail workers" as a whole but some of these posts glorifying calling shopworkers tossers and telling them to "fuck off" seem a bit much.

LadyofTheManners · 17/06/2020 18:32

But if someone acts like a tosser, I wouldn't give a shit if they were a teacher, a shop worker, a bus driver or anything else. It's not the career choice that makes them a tosser. It's their individual behaviour. Hence why chief tosser in our house is Boris Johnson.

CHIRIBAYA · 17/06/2020 18:39

Shopping is hell at the moment; I'm only going anywhere that is absolutely necessary. I think there are a lot of people enjoying their new found sense of power.

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