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.

Please report her - that is awful.

I would still go in store and speak to them as well so that you know that it reaches the right person.

Trust me. In some spaces (SM especially) it's now quite common and accepted for me to be offended on your behalf and for me to report this offence and for it to be looked into. Even if it doesn't even register on your radar. Some opinions/behaviour absolutely attract such attention.

Report her, she sounds like a disgusting person.

Wtf OP you shared this woman’s picture??!

FGs take it down

Glad it's not just me! You really should take it down @Greenfinc.

I think if it's detailed enough then I as a manage would definitely investigate. CCTV will show body language and expressions too. Plus the security guard will have a view.

Absolutely report her , but not to manager , you need to go above store manager so you know it will be addressed , manager may be a sap who lets her off.
What a vile woman.

I've a feeling your Tweet may get a different response

What is wrong with you, OP? You can’t share her photo, and there’s a child in it too fgs.

You need to take it down.

Give over, it's pretty standard for an adult to step in when someone's acting like a bully. It's not exactly brave to tell someone to shut up and do their job.

Yes OP agree you should take the photo down

Good that you’ve reported them and got a reply. I would also say to speak in person to the store manager about what you saw. The employee needs to be sacked.

Report her to the HR and the police. That’s a disability hate incident and should be logged as such. The man likely didn’t want to make a fuss out of fear. As he’s partially sighted it’s not like he can just go to a different shop. This is the shop he knows by memory. The employee should be the one to go- be sacked for gross misconduct.

Thank you for reporting this OP - my father is partially sighted and really struggles with his lack of independence and his need to occasionally rely on the goodwill of shop staff and other customers to help him 'see' things. If something like this had happened to him it would have completely wrecked his already fragile confidence in living as independently as he can.

The reply you've received from Lidl is a cut and paste standard response and extremely disappointing in light of what happened. If it was me I would go back and be clear that is a totally unacceptable response but I could completely understand why you may not given that you've already gone over and above what you needed to do.

Thank you for making sure he was ok and for what it's worth I won't be shopping in Lidl any more.

Does that response indicate this something they are going to do?

The fact the OP has shared this woman’s photo and includes a child in the photo

tells me all I need to know about the OP

The Lidl response is an automatic AI response. I’d be asking for name of regional manager to discuss further with them.

Also, don’t forget to log the incident with the police by calling 101.
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/law-and-courts/discrimination/hate-crime/how-to-report-a-hate-incident-or-hate-crime/#!

Definitely report her. Go back and get her name from her badge if you haven’t already. What a vile vile woman. How dare she be so unkind. I would make it very clear she was basing her insults on his disability.

That response is standard. It is something they’ll look into but they don’t need to update OP on that.

Absolutely report her

i would have challenged at at the time as well

That's a fair comment. I didn't consider the long term ramifications for her to be completely honest, i just wanted to make sure they identify the correct employee. I'll remove the picture from twitter.

What do you mean by this? It's the sane as anywhere else. Stupid comment.

Well done. My issues are wheelchair and restricted movement, not sight, but I take a fair amount of unpleasantness from staff and customers about not being able to fall into line and do everything exactly the same way as everyone else.
Ie: disability means I cant efficiently use the left hand self service tills, only the right, and I can't use a trolley, so pack (perfectly fast) into lap bag I've unpacked onto the belt from at Lidle & Aldi, or assumptions that a wheelchair might hold up others and therefore should let everyone else go first, as if my time has no value any more.
I'm often too done in and crushed by the accumulation of humiliation and standing my ground quietly, to deal with further fuss of complaining or have the time to constantly try and challenge it.
People do often commiserate over what they've witnessed, but if they pointed out to retailers that it affected their experience, not just mine, as the more important customer to the retailer, they might make a difference.

I didn't see the post about photo sharing. Yes take that down OP. Don't get caught up in righteousness.