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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Me or Sainsburys staff member?

278 replies

HouseofSkullduggery · 21/02/2022 14:31

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?

OP posts:
cherish123 · 21/02/2022 17:49

Yep. Jobsworth.

BertramLacey · 21/02/2022 17:53

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 really. You'll be the umpteenth customer that day who has tried this on. You don't actually have a right to leave your car wherever you want to for free. Car parking isn't free - there will always be a cost somewhere, whether it's directly in the form of a ticket or in some other way.

And people really are rude, pushy and arrogant when someone is doing their job of trying to enforce a rule. And why do some people think it's fine to be that flexible? At that point is it okay to say you can go ahead? £7? £5? A packet of penny chews and a promise to be good next time? Just take the time to get your ticket validated and then you can avoid all this.

WitchWithoutChips · 21/02/2022 17:57

@ChaosMoon

She must have a very small and empty life. How sad for her.
It’s incredibly nasty that this is what you jump to.

OP was in the wrong and she’s stung because she had a telling-off. No doubt she was not the first that day to try it on and I wouldn’t be surprised if the staff member had been specifically tasked with policing the use of the machine due to people taking the piss.

BoredZelda · 21/02/2022 17:57

Its petty. I would complain to the Argos manager and let them deal with it.

What did Argos do wrong? She didn’t validate her parking there. I’m not sure why she wouldn’t just show her return receipt from Argos.

BoredZelda · 21/02/2022 17:58

Yep. Jobsworth.

A person doing their job is not a jobsworth.

Sure if she’d spend 9.99 you might argue she’d be let off, but she missed the qualifying amount by some margin.

BorderlineHappy · 21/02/2022 17:59

She should complain for poor customer services, it seems as if instead of redirecting the OP to what she should do the Sainsbury’s staff member preferred to act like an arse.

Op knows the rules,she admits this.
So why should the retail worker explain what the op already knew.

Seriously working in retail should be mandatory.
It would open your eyes @Lurkerlot

Kanaloa · 21/02/2022 18:00

@Bunty55

Its petty. I would complain to the Argos manager and let them deal with it.

It does make you wonder what makes some people tick though..

You would complain to the Argos manager that an employee of another store refused to allow you free access to a service you were not entitled to? Why? What do you think Argos can do about that except tell you to get your parking validated when you’re in Argos?
BoredZelda · 21/02/2022 18:00

I get that she didn't know I was telling the truth but it was the way she backed up to the machine then arrogantly blocked it that I found wrong.

What else should she have done?

Surely it would have been better to take the customer's word and say next time you will either need to spend £10 at this till or get Argos to validate it but don't worry this time you can do it here.

You mean she should have let you off despite you not being entitled to free parking?

SliceOfCakeCupOfTea · 21/02/2022 18:02

£3 here, £2 there X by however many customers who try this day in and day out would probably fund another store being built.

It's amazing how many customers think they should be let off just this once

DiddyHeck · 21/02/2022 18:04

@ChaosMoon

She must have a very small and empty life. How sad for her.
Or you know, she's a strong woman doing the job she's paid for Hmm
Pfbing · 21/02/2022 18:07

I've met the ticket police in the wakefield one!! I had thought I'd spent over £10. Something was slightly cheaper when I got to the till knocking me down to £9.80. I went to hand my ticket over absentmindedly because I had just tapped my card and didn't really register I had dropped below the £10 and the staff member was excessively rude to me about it. I mean I wasn't particularly bothered as I'd saved a few quid on the shop, I was more bothered the way I had been spoken to as if I was dirt trying to scam her personally out of some free parking

mogsrus · 21/02/2022 18:09

Jobs worth it aint, people who say that do not do that job. Like I said,the meter person could be faced with a test bend the rule & then find out later just who you bent the rules with,the outcome is not known,

Porcupineintherough · 21/02/2022 18:10

Another way to look at it is why are Sainsbury's Sainsbury's suddenly enforcing the parking? I doubt its because they need the different be £7 and £10, more likely customers are having difficulties finding parking and the businesses have decided they need to clamp down on non customers parking. OP got caught up in that because she fidnt validate her ticket in Argos.

Bookworm20 · 21/02/2022 18:12

@HouseofSkullduggery

I forgot to validate the ticket in Argos as I was rushing. Admittedly this is not the staff's fault and I get that she didn't know I was telling the truth but it was the way she backed up to the machine then arrogantly blocked it that I found wrong. Surely it would have been better to take the customer's word and say next time you will either need to spend £10 at this till or get Argos to validate it but don't worry this time you can do it here.
That would require common sense though op. It’s severely lacking these days unfortunately.
GreenFingersWouldBeHandy · 21/02/2022 18:16

I forgot to validate the ticket in Argos as I was rushing

Well it's your own fault then and you're taking it out on her because you're pissed off with yourself. Have a word with yourself and suck it up.

Hertsgirl10 · 21/02/2022 18:19

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.

Kanaloa · 21/02/2022 18:19

That would require common sense though op. It’s severely lacking these days unfortunately.

It isn’t ‘common sense’ to let customers do whatever they like. OP knew she hadn’t spent enough in the shop for parking. She knew she hadn’t validated her ticket in Argos. Common sense should therefore have told her she was not entitled to the free parking. The employee isn’t the one who didn’t use common sense, because if I was in her position my ‘common sense’ would be telling me ‘ooh pay for your parking next time’ was a waste of breath since the op is clearly just a chancer.

It doesn’t work in any other situation. If you were £3 short of your total in Asda they wouldn’t say ‘aww never mind, just make sure you bring enough money next time, you can just take it for free just this once.’

MargaretThursday · 21/02/2022 18:24

You're wrong as you hadn't spent £10-and you'll have been the umpteenth person today saying "oh but I went to Argos and forgot..."

We run a car park for our building at work. It used to be free if you used the café, but £1 for any length of time as long as you're in the building.
The number of people who said they were "using the café" and then left the car to go shopping (ie not in our building) for the day with either not using the café at all or having a quick glass of tap water was amazing. Even when you reminded them as they bought the ticket that it was only valid while they were in the building.
Actually the more aggressive they were about "I know perfectly well I have to be in the building" the more likely they were to walk straight into town.

And no, don't take the customer's word for it. Plenty are totally prepared to lie to get what they want. And once they've got away with it once it will be "but I've done it before and you let me" next time.

It may feel jobsworth to say no, but the reality is that the car park is small, and not everyone who legitimately was using the building would get a space. So someone who lied to take a space denied someone who was entitled to a space.

carbuncleonapigsposterior · 21/02/2022 18:24

YANBU same at my Sainsburys, we have Waitrose across the road they allow 30 minutes free parking which is all you need sometimes to pick up a few items. If you are doing a bigger shop and going to be longer than that then they knock the parking costs off.

PlumpAndDeliciousFatcat · 21/02/2022 18:25

@HouseofSkullduggery

I forgot to validate the ticket in Argos as I was rushing. Admittedly this is not the staff's fault and I get that she didn't know I was telling the truth but it was the way she backed up to the machine then arrogantly blocked it that I found wrong. Surely it would have been better to take the customer's word and say next time you will either need to spend £10 at this till or get Argos to validate it but don't worry this time you can do it here.
Oh give over OP. You expected her to bend the rules for you because you’re a naice Mumsnetter who is used to being given the benefit of the doubt. Next time get your ticket validated in Argos.
SophieJo · 21/02/2022 18:27

You

Dibbydoos · 21/02/2022 18:37

@ChaosMoon

She must have a very small and empty life. How sad for her.
OMG talk about judgemental. When you have a job like that, you're told what is OK and what isn't. She was following the rules she'd been set. Nothing to do with her as a person!

OP you're being unreasonable because you made the mistake, argos should have sorted your ticket. Live and learn x

LittleWins · 21/02/2022 18:39

What a jobsworth!

Thewindwhispers · 21/02/2022 18:41

Yabu. Either get your ticket validated by Argos or spend £10. It doesn’t matter that you go in there all the time etc etc how are staff supposed to monitor ho gets a spacr and who doesn’t, except with ticket validation?

Bit rude to call her a jobsworth for doing her actual job.

You got off lightly, in my local supermarket carpark you get fined £50 for that.

KittyKattyFosterMummy · 21/02/2022 18:42

@Hertsgirl10

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.
Well, there's a sweeping generalisation if ever I saw one. You've encountered every worker in every Sainsbury's in the country to make that assumption, have you? The staff I have encountered in the one I go into have been nothing but lovely.