I witnessed a retail employee being absolutely vile to an elderly man today

[Greenfinc]

This afternoon in a small branch of Lidl at the self service checkouts. Nobody was on the actual tills so no option to use them instead.

An elderly man needed some help scanning his shopping and was explaining to the employee overseeing the checkouts that he was partially sighted and was struggling to find the bar codes.

The employee was absolutely horrible to him saying being partially sighted doesn't mean he can't see and that there's a difference between being partially sighted and blind. Her attitude was vile.

She begrudgingly scanned his remaining items, as though he'd asked her to pay for them herself, and as he was collecting his change from the machine she sarcastically said "oh you managed to see that well enough did you"

I asked him if he needed any help and if he was ok and he explained that he'd had two surgeries on his eyes and couldn't see very well, and that he was only able to get about to the shop on his own as he knew and was used to it but struggled with the bar codes.

I told him I'd heard everything that woman had said to him and that I'm going to contact the head office about her and report exactly what I'd heard. He said he didn't want to make a fuss and that she was clearly just looking for an argument.

WIBU to report her to her employer regardless? I feel really sad about it and don't think somebody like that should be in a customer facing role working with members of the public. Horrible bully.

Not at all, it's the expected norm in our store and tbh it's just common, human decency. We have a lot of young adults and teens working for the same store and often see them helping people carry their shopping etc. Its good to see.

Thank you, OP, for reporting what you witnessed. And for bringing it to people's attention here on MN.

My heart goes out to the elderly gentleman involved. It sickens me that anyone could behave so badly towards and elderly and disabled customer.

I think many would be shocked at the treatment disabled people often receive. It's awful being made to feel you're a nuisance or in the way.

Well done OP. You’ve handled it very well.

I would definitely report her.
The gentleman sounds like a lovely person and it is heartbreaking that h3 was treated in this way.
Thank goodness he had you there OP to offer support and a kind word.!

Absolutely report her. That poor man!

I heard 2 colleagues laughing about an old woman who had wet herself in the aisle before and I was absolutely disgusted and reported them both to the manager. If you don't call them out they'll keep doing it

I’m so pleased you spoke with him, imagine going home after that. Report the bitch.

As mortifying as it can be, to have a disability or more than one in my case, you already feel lost and low in self esteem as it is. For this woman to do this, is complete and utter harassment. Her behaviour is the epitome of kicking someone while they're down. This isn't uncommon either, I've given up on trying to explain how hard it is to deal with things, because a lot of people simply do not have empathy for others. This is really the result of individualistic societies and the loss of community in a lot of cases. I'm very happy this man had you approach him to let him know he didn't deserve that and I'm sure you've made his day. Please report this woman and the time it occurred. X

I'd have called her out.
Helped him.
Then asked for her manager.
Poor man.

Well done. Was coming on to post this vile incident needs flagging up at much higher level. Generic emails don't cut it here. Please let us know what Lidyls response is.

I had a peculiar and unpleasant encounter with a staff member in my local Lidl.

He was on the till and wanted to chat but there was a queue, I wasn't well and just wanted to pay and leave.

Because I wouldn't converse with him about how my day was going, he started to go slower and slower and getting sarcastic.

I was polite at first but eventually I said that I just want to pay and leave. He then stopped scanning and said that until I told him how my day was going, he wouldn't scan any more of my stuff.

I'm not attractive. I came across as vulnerable I think as I was ill and also trying to recover from surgery.

I began to walk away and other people in the queue had a go at him and they called me back. I wish I had just walked out but I went back and paid and as I took my card from the machine, the cashier went to slap my hand away.

Hands down, the whole thing was one of the weirdest occurrences I have ever had and I haven't been back there since.

Just wanted to say thank you. Thank you for speaking to the man kindly. Thank you for not overriding his wish of 'not wanting to make a fuss' in store. He might have felt embarrassed, or a further loss of dignity. But thank you for continuing to pursue this complaint. You are a bloody good human

I.would definitely report her thats not on. I always find the lidl staff n my local lidl the nicest staff in the whole of my town
So id definitely report her .

Get her fired. Don't even stop to find out her back story.

Why did you just stand there and allow her to upset him??ffs!!

@ErniesGhostlyGoldTops god that’s horrific.

OP, glad you reported this particular employee. They are a shit company, you might get a response to avoid the bad publicity, but this ain’t an organisation that cares about people. That poor man needs to go shopping elsewhere

I worked for Lidl and I left after 3 months, worst place I ever worked. The branch I worked in had a high staff turnover as they basically worked staff into the ground. In my experience the few staff that stayed because they wouldn’t get a job anywhere else.

My manager was a bully, I did once stand up to her though, as I refused to serve a customer who had previously been aggressive and used racist language to me. The manager still expected me to serve him! I stood my ground that time.
You had to beg for a break, and if the tills were slow you had to run in the back warehouse stack a pallet and shelf fill, not allowed to sit done at tills( so customers can’t sneak things through in trollies, )and when shop closed we had to do all the cleaning. I once went 10 days without a day off.

Should have done it at the time.

Well done for reporting and what a coincidence there was no name on her badge 🤔

The next person she talks like that to could be someone on the edge with mh issues and her attitude could push them the wrong way.

Poor man, so glad you were so kind.

That’s good thinking OP

YANBU. Please report!! That poor man.

Can't find the twitter post, but hopefully something will be done

I am so sick and tired of bad customer service. It’s everywhere. What happened to the ‘can do’ attitude rather than the rude creatures that just say no without trying and think we’re there to just annoy them. 😡

Report her. Give date, time, and physicaI description. This is not a matter of "causing a fuss," but a matter of the company Iosing good customers to this woman.

How do you know she has children?

Whilst I agree this was a terrible event perhaps one needs to be careful of over escalating.

If they come down heavily on this employee, even sacking, that likely will cause trouble in the store. We don't know whether she is a one off unlike her colleagues or popular.
I notice in some stores you have group of people similarly motivated, ether from age or ethnic background. Which actually, is probably good from an operational aspect.
It would unfortunate if you both were identified and shunned by the staff. It could be the only place this unfortunate guy can go