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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Original poster

To call this an assault?

374 replies

trustyrustie · 27/06/2023 21:21

I was shopping in one of those supermarkets, that isn’t actually a supermarket but sells all the stuff that you know that you don’t know you need until you walk in today. When I finished, I approached the till area. There were a few tills with one woman on one till. the other tills were empty. I joined the queue for the till and there were three or four people ahead of me.

I had a trolley with two items in it, and I was holding the trolley with both hands. At some point the cashier left her position at the till to walk towards the customer services desk and look at two ladies working there. I didn’t realise she had done this until she yelled over aggressively to them “I’m sending some customers down to you because I’ve got plenty of them here” or words to that effect.

Without me expecting it she then aggressively physically pushed my trolley while I still had hold of it with both hands so that it spun 45° to the right in the direction of the customer services desk. My arms were pulled and my body was spun around as it went. She then turned around and went back to her till.

I think this was an assault.

I was shocked and upset… A few people that I know agree with me, and a few don’t

AIBU?

OP posts:
Caramelsmadfuzzytail · 27/06/2023 23:44

Why not get in touch with someone who would give you advice from a known source, like cab or non emergency police, surely that would be better than getting your arsenal handed to you here.

Original poster
trustyrustie · 27/06/2023 23:44

@vodkaredbullgirl no that’s where I made the same mistake. North to south is 180

OP posts:
ToxicBiennial · 27/06/2023 23:44

vodkaredbullgirl · 27/06/2023 23:42

But if it was 90 degree wouldn't it be North to South, not North to East.

Show quote history

No that would be a 180.

vodkaredbullgirl · 27/06/2023 23:44

Brightbear · 27/06/2023 23:43

I don’t think B&M sell compasses? Hence the confusion.

Show quote history

I was never good at angles lol

Caramelsmadfuzzytail · 27/06/2023 23:44

*arse

Bubblesoffun · 27/06/2023 23:45

Were the two items in your trolley steak and chips? Were they perfectly paired?

Original poster
trustyrustie · 27/06/2023 23:45

@Caramelsmadfuzzytail it matters not to me about one’s arsenal being handed I take little if not no offence as I am dealing purely in facts

OP posts:
ToxicBiennial · 27/06/2023 23:46

I just new someone was going to mention steak cut chips.

Original poster
trustyrustie · 27/06/2023 23:46

@Bubblesoffun it was a footstool and a vase

OP posts:
Cynderella · 27/06/2023 23:47

I think there is a consensus here that it was not assault.

ToxicBiennial · 27/06/2023 23:48

Yes it was more a funny turn than an assault.

LuckOfTheDrawer · 27/06/2023 23:48

ColourMeBlue · 27/06/2023 22:01

Bloody heck,a bit of sympathy and understanding wouldn't go amiss here.im so socially awkward it's unbelievable,and an incident like that would have pushed me over the edge.The OP asked was it assault.im missing the part where she said "could you please all ridicule my day and make it even worse than what it is"

I'm with @ColourMeBlue - I'd be really shocked if this happened to me too.

OP, I think threads can go in an odd direction sometimes depending on some of the first posts.

I'd make a formal complaint to the store, and I'd ask to see their footage as well.

Brightbear · 27/06/2023 23:49

ToxicBiennial · 27/06/2023 23:48

Yes it was more a funny turn than an assault.

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

Original poster
trustyrustie · 27/06/2023 23:50

@ToxicBiennial very witty, indeed

OP posts:
Daffodil92 · 27/06/2023 23:52

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

WingingItSince1973 · 27/06/2023 23:52

TheDinosaurDuchess · 27/06/2023 22:22

I need some points of clarification before making a legal judgment.

OP did she spin you right round? Like a record baby, right round, right round?

Stop it 😂😂😂

ashitghost · 27/06/2023 23:55

How many hands were on the trolley at the time she spun you around?

vodkaredbullgirl · 27/06/2023 23:55

This thread has got me in a spin, my brain hurts.

Original poster
trustyrustie · 27/06/2023 23:55

Mumtothreegirlies · 27/06/2023 23:38

It was very aggressive of her and perhaps could be considered assault. I wouldn’t personally call the police but I would be putting in a formal complaint. I’ve worked in retail and no matter how tired, underpaid and overworked I was I never once took it out on the customers, so I get really mad when shop assistants do things like this.

Yes I agree! Whatever stresses strains internal unrest is present is nothing to do with me I was innocently shopping doing no harm. If a customer had done this maybe I wouldnt be so conflicted but it was an employee!!

OP posts:
ladydimitrescu · 27/06/2023 23:55

Are you now suffering from minor women's whiplash?

Quiverer · 27/06/2023 23:56

Legal definition of assault: any act by which a person intentionally or recklessly causes another to suffer or apprehend immediate unlawful violence.

On that basis this obviously was an assault. You were caused to suffer violence by virtue of having the trolley suddenly wrenched round - you could have pulled a muscle or ligament, you could have been pulled off balance and fallen, and you didn't know what she was going to do with the thing so had good reason to be worried she was going to push it into you. For all she knew, you might have been particularly vulnerable, e.g. due to brittle bone disease or Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, and could have been quite badly hurt.

It's not worth reporting it to the police, because I don't think they'd risk prosecuting it, but it's definitely worth reporting it to this person's employers.

Needcoffeeimmediatley · 27/06/2023 23:56

Was it the blue footstool that also turns into a table?

Quiverer · 27/06/2023 23:58

Cynderella · 27/06/2023 23:47

I think there is a consensus here that it was not assault.

The fact that Mumsnet's massed non-lawyers have jumped on a bandwagon does not make their views in any way accurate or conclusive.

Daffodil92 · 27/06/2023 23:59

Quiverer · 27/06/2023 23:56

Legal definition of assault: any act by which a person intentionally or recklessly causes another to suffer or apprehend immediate unlawful violence.

On that basis this obviously was an assault. You were caused to suffer violence by virtue of having the trolley suddenly wrenched round - you could have pulled a muscle or ligament, you could have been pulled off balance and fallen, and you didn't know what she was going to do with the thing so had good reason to be worried she was going to push it into you. For all she knew, you might have been particularly vulnerable, e.g. due to brittle bone disease or Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, and could have been quite badly hurt.

It's not worth reporting it to the police, because I don't think they'd risk prosecuting it, but it's definitely worth reporting it to this person's employers.

But she didn’t suffer violence? She didn’t have a pulled muscle or injury?
Honestly, mumsnet is fucking bonkers sometimes.

Ghosttofu99 · 27/06/2023 23:59

sewerrat · 27/06/2023 21:31

she sounds a nutter but its not assault. if you were so away with the fairies she probably assumed you were more so resting your hands on the trolley so did it to wake you up a bit. move on

Strange day on Mumsnet again! I’ve worked a lot of s**t customer services job’s over the years, enough to know the customer is almost never right and that it can be sole destroying, but I would never pull something out of a customer’s hand and expect to not at least get disciplined.

Even if op was away with the fairies, we are all entitled to stop and think in life without this crazy sort of behaviour. This modern notion that everything has to happen as fast as possible isn’t practical for everyone. What is op was in her 80s or had a hidden disability?

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