Me or Sainsburys staff member?

[HouseofSkullduggery]

My local Sainsburys is in a shopping centre with chargeable parking. You usually have to spend £10 or more to get free parking unless you are also using the pharmacy or Argos which is also inside.
So this morning I had to return some items to Argos that I bought yesterday. I did that no problem and never asked them to validate the ticket as I had a few other things to get from Sainsburys and thought it's quicker to go to the self service tills and do it myself.
I bought items which were just over £7. Paid and started to walk to the machine to validate my ticket. The staff member immediately saw me approaching and stood blocking the machine. She actually had to walk backwards to make sure I didn't go round her.
She then said have you spent £10? Where's your receipt? In a really snotty tone. I explained I'd just been to Argos too but needed other things hence why I was there. But no that wasn't good enough. She said no I would have to pay to park because I hadn't spent the £10.
She was really off and I felt like a naughty child! I just said again I'd been to Argos, I was in a rush and as it made no difference to her please could I use the machine on this occasion. But no she wouldn't back down.
I left and just felt quite bewildered at her attitude. Nobody normally mans the machine. I go in there all the time. Never had any issue. Even going through the normal tills staff have been happy to validate the ticket as long as youve bought something. I feel she was rude and a jobsworth. Aibu?

You did not spend £10 in either Sainsburys or Argos. So assistant was in the right.

She is obviously a jobsworth, misery guts, joy-sucking prat. Unfortunately there are a few of them around.

Policies are set by people who never appear to go into a shop themselves, that much is clear. For example, requirements to nag customers about buying things they don't need and don't want (Superdrug). Or chasing customers around a store (Lush, Benefit).

I stopped going in Currys years ago because they hassle you to buy insurance with anything you buy. You have to say no to it around ten times per purchase. I do wonder if policy wonk who told staff to sell insurance at all costs realises it just puts people off shopping there. Or does everyone just buy the insurance to stop the nagging? Never seemed a good reason to me. When I asked them why the only response was 'well I've bought it myself'. Well good for you. I don't want it.

@Staffy1

She is obviously a jobsworth, misery guts, joy-sucking prat. Unfortunately there are a few of them around.

Or... she is just doing what she is told in order to keep her job?

OP couldn't follow the rules and got huffy when someone called her on it. That's all there is to it.

Sainsburys workers seem to think they’ve saved the world during the pandemic 😂 the arrogance of them is unreal, not any other supermarket has been like this, only Sainsburys workers. So odd
What a load of crap

She is obviously a jobsworth, misery guts, joy-sucking prat. Unfortunately there are a few of them around
The OP was trying to steal, why are you insulting the person who stopped her?
This thread is nuts, I don't get why so many people are ok with theft

@Staffy1

She is obviously a jobsworth, misery guts, joy-sucking prat. Unfortunately there are a few of them around.

Why? Because the OP was knowingly breaking the rules, and it was literally her job to prevent that? Do you look down on everybody that does their job, or only those on low-pay?

You didn't quite meet the spending requirements but my goodness I wouldn't expect to be challenged like that by a staff member. OP had clearly used the shop and wasn't pulling a fast one just to get free parking.

This is a very good way for Sainsburys to alienate customers who may choose to go elsewhere in the future. I'd be reluctant to return to that store in the future after having been treated like that.

I guess it depends on other supermarket competition in the same locality. Where I live I have over 10 different supermarkets to choose from within a 5 mile radius. If customers were treated like this in one shop they'd quickly and easily switch to a more flexible, customer friendly store.

But you were wrong? The minimum spend is £10. You spent less and then wanted to use it because you'd been elsewhere, but didn't get the ticket validated in the place you could have. She was right, maybe petty, and you want to to complain? Dear Sainsbury- I didn't spend £10 and was stopped from using the validating machine even though I told her a story as to why I should have. She was wrong not to allow me to validate the ticket that was less than your minimum spend...... maybe (probably) she was petty- but you were wrong

@OrganisedChaos22

SHE USED ARGOS.! Therefor doesn't have to pay. Whether she'd gone in to spend in argos or return. She still used the shop!

I wouldn't have backed down.

Well you’d have looked like a dick when it was pointed out to you that you hadn’t validated your ticket in Argos, thinking you could do it in Sainsburys without spending above the minimum spend.

@Staffy1

She is obviously a jobsworth, misery guts, joy-sucking prat. Unfortunately there are a few of them around.

No, she’s a staff member doing the job she’s paid to do. However, you are a dick!

@KrisAkabusi, no the OP was not knowingly breaking the rules, she thought as she had already been to Argos she didn’t have to pay, at least that’s what I understood from the post. And it’s the “snotty tone” mentioned that really annoys me, the immediate assumption that everyone is trying to cheat them. I had this type of experience in M&S when I took what I thought was a free bag. There were only two bags on show and the self check out indicated that the larger bag was 10p and the smaller one was free. As soon as I left the counter someone ran up to me and told me I had to pay for the bag in a really nasty, accusatory tone. I said it was the smaller bag which was indicated as free and she shouted no I had to pay, so I asked which were free and was told “sandwich bags” in a nasty tone again with an eye roll. Firstly she could have told me before I packed everything at the end and was trying to walk out with a child that needs to be held onto at all times and a shopping bag which I then had to unload with one hand as it was easier than trying to fish around for change with one hand when I was no longer able to pin him in between me and the counter. There is no need for the nasty, accusatory tone and no need to enforce it with no exceptions and always assume the customer is trying to cheat them. And no, I don’t just say that about low paying jobs, why would you assume that of someone you know nothing about?

@up yours
This thread just keeps on giving

@Staffy1

She is obviously a jobsworth, misery guts, joy-sucking prat. Unfortunately there are a few of them around.

And there are a lot of people who seem to think that the rules don’t apply to them.

And everyone saying (shouting) that she's been to Argos- she didn't validate in Argos as you're supposed to- so how was the staff member at Sainsbury supposed to know?!?! Validate in Argos and there would have been no issue.

@dementedpixie

So you didnt have proof from Argos and didn't make the minimum spend so how does she know you qualify for free parking

This

Staffy1

@KrisAkabusi, no the OP was not knowingly breaking the rules, she thought as she had already been to Argos she didn’t have to pay, at least that’s what I understood from the post.

From the OP:
"So this morning I had to return some items to Argos that I bought yesterday. I did that no problem and never asked them to validate the ticket as I had a few other things to get from Sainsburys and thought it's quicker to go to the self service tills and do it myself."

She knew that she hadn't validated her ticket, and she knew that she hadnt spent the £10 minimum in Sainsbury's, so she knew she was breaking the rules.

What an absolute shit set up up for parking though.
I couldn't be arsed and would just go elsewhere.

But YABU

You didn't quite meet the spending requirements but my goodness I wouldn't expect to be challenged like that by a staff member. OP had clearly used the shop and wasn't pulling a fast one just to get free parking.

So the staff member should have let OP get away with cheating the system?

What? Of course you’re in the wrong! Surprised you’re even asking!

I suspect you’ve done this before several times, and never been caught. And now you were challenged, you were embarrassed so are trying to blame her for your own actions.

[quote Staffy1]@Soontobe60, up yours, you are obviously an unpleasant jobsworth as well. If you think talking to someone with a snotty tone is just doing your job.[/quote]
She didn’t talk to her with a ‘snotty tone.’ OP just disliked being challenged on the fact that she wasn’t entitled to free parking and was irritated the employee wouldn’t bend the rules ‘just this once.’

That doesn’t make her a jobsworth, that’s just her doing her job. OP didn’t like it, which is a shame, but that’s life. If it’s £10 for parking, you need to spend £10 to get the parking.

How much was the parking?

*What an absolute shit set up up for parking though.
I couldn't be arsed and would just go elsewhere. *

This! I know it's not the point of the thread but what a faff. I've never heard of anything like this - all the major supermarkets near me including Sainsburys have free parking for 3 hours.