Have you ever dumped an entire trolley of food at a till and walked out?

[sunnydaytoday0]

I was in a Lidl store today and a very long queue built up.. and it became apparent that another till was not going to be opened despite the queue getting longer and many of whom had a big trolley load of food. There are no self service tills.

I then saw a man walk to the front and dump his entire shopping on the conveyor belt of an adjacent till and stormed out.

I'm sure if there was more staff this would've been avoided so it wasn't the fault of the person on the till. I know there is pressure on supermarkets to cut costs, but is this now getting to a tipping point in terms of impacting on customer service? Or is it the case that if you go to a so called 'discounter' type shop then you just have to accept that the service levels will be bit lower which allows them to offer lower prices?

Have you ever dumped your shopping at a till and walked out? I thought if the guy wanted to walk out he could, he didn't actually need to go the effort of unloading it all on a belt in a dramatic fashion in front over the worker and then storm out.

Can`t really see it as "soul destroying" though, not any more than the general job must be anyway? Surely you are still on your shift, still getting paid, so you are going to wander round for half an hour putting items back on a shelf, maybe stretch it to 45 mins if there are no supervisors about? Must be better than dealing with the public on tills, or standing like an eejit at a self-scan "greeting" people or helping them do things that a toddler should be able to do?

I once abandoned a massive trolley full of expensive Christmas food shopping at the deli counter in either Big Tesco or Sainsbury’s, because an incredibly rude assistant would not have it that while yes, Parma ham comes with delicious white fat at the outer edge in particular, the rind and any yellowing outer fat layer is always trimmed prior to slicing. She was so obnoxious about it rather than simply unaware, that I turned around and walked out. It’s not cheap and I wasn’t going to pay for what she wanted to give me and then set about it with bacon scissors! She clearly hadn’t a clue but rather than checking with someone else on the counter who might, she opted to dig her heels in and treat me like shit on her shoe.

Once, in Tesco when the fire alarm went off. The staff slowly strolled out the door, mostly pulling cigarette packets out of their pockets. I could tell that even if it was a false alarm (it was) they wouldn’t be coming back in a hurry 😆

I did once in Tesco. Nipped in early for a few bits, bread, milk etc. Was on way back from school run but also had work (from home). 1 till open, pre self checkout. Was about 6 people in front of me, commented to another member of staff stood on the computer thing at end of tills that perhaps they should open another till as busy. Her reply was 'they all queue in Aldi, so they can all queue here'. Deposited basket at her feet and said Adli significantly cheaper which is why people willing to queue. Hate Tesco so much.

I have worked in a supermarket during COVID as my job disappeared overnight at the start of lockdown and i did have to return abandoned stuff to the shelves. I didn't mind doing it. I was generally marooned on home baking, so it made a pleasant change to wander the aisles with a trolley full. Made no difference to me if I was putting abandoned stuff on the shelf or new stuff. I was still getting paid.

Dumped few baskets at Lidl. Not because I'm cross, I just didn't have time to wait for 3 huge trolleys shopping to be scanned through before I needed to be somewhere else. I wish Lidl near me had a self service 10 items or less till

Only once and it felt justified.

DH and I shopped in the same M&S food hall for 4-5 years and regularly purchased the dine in deal with wine (back when it was £10). We would get 2 or 3 of them and stock the wine rack at the same time.

One day after school I had walked along and it began tipping down as I entered the shop. I had all three DC with me aged 1-10 and a basket balance on the buggy with three dine in deals, some pastries for breakfast the following morning, a carton of milk, a bunch of flowers and posh box of chocolates. I queued for 5min, my shopping went through until the wine and I was asked for ID. I had none, literally my bank card (for my adult account) and house keys. I politely pointed out they knew I was in my 30’s, by no means do I look underage and my 10yr old was not birthed when I was under the age of 9!
They refused and offered me sparkling apple juice instead and I said we wouldn’t use that and they said they would happily sell me the rest for more than the deal without the wine. I said no thanks and began to walk away with the DC. The cashier announced very loudly it wasn’t her job to put ‘your stuff back’. I have never stepped foot in the shop since.

I left a basket of bits I needed once when, after a very long week at work, the cashier wouldn't serve me my wine even though I had ID (I was 30!) but my wife, 33 at the time didn't. She actually told me she thought my wife was my daughter. Cashier was at the most 20 and nearly felt the full force of my wrath, but instead I calmly left everything on the conveyor belt and didn't go back to Morrisons for years.

If the supermarket was REALLY taking the mickey and the queues were at a standstill, I might

The poster above expected to queue AGAIN through no fault of her own for example,

but realistically, I've already wasted a lot of time filling the trolley, so I wouldn't fancy wasting even more time and come back another time.

Yep. Tesco, self scan. Had waited 20 mins to pay (no idea why the queues were so nuts, but they were). Got flagged for a full rescan, and it was the fifth shop in a row where I'd been flagged (I've always scanned everything, so it must have been a glitch). I had less than 7 mins left to make it to school pick up, so I told the cashier not to bother, if they were so sure I was a thief, I'd shop elsewhere. She half heartedly tried to reassure me but I was already walking away. Unfair on her, sure. Unfair on me too.

To those who have done it- did it not bother you that a lot of your cold/ frozen stuff probably had to go in the bin? I could understand dumping a tin of beans, but not frozen food. I worked in Asda as a teenager, people would regularly leave basketfuls of meat to go warm. Proper cheeky fuckery.

Used to work in a supermarket and sympathise with people waiting in long queues. However was always baffled by people leaving their trolly in a huff when they had taken the time to do their shopping.
wasn’t worried about putting it back. Frozen and fresh would get put back if spotted straight away. If it had just been left it would have been written off.

I left a full basket in Lidl because we had a dentist appt. Went back after the dentist (probably at least 30 minutes as the dentist always runs late) and it was exactly where I left it, contents intact, so I grabbed it, continued shopping and paid!

@DoooooWhoop

I’m willing to bet there’s more to this i.e. the voucher wasn’t valid for the product or something, in what world is it ok to throw things across at someone like grow tf up, it’s so unacceptable

Many times. And I've told people on the till who were being offensive to 'Keep it.'

Exactly. The people who did this after an issue with staff, where the staff member knew they were doing it & why, that's one thing.

But people just abandoning a trolley full of food without alerting anyone - utter ignorance

Not on the conveyor belt but when the queues was long and staff were hanging around but not opening another till I have left my shopping and walked out. Nothing frozen but some fresh food.

If a supermarket cant be bothered to take my money they can put the stuff back!

🙄

"treat me like shit on her shoe."

They cant do that though, you have to call them out and ask for the manager to come down or ask how to lodge a complaint, remind then that they represent a large well known company and cant act like they do in their local boozer.

When I worked in Sainsbury's a woman tipped over a whole trolley at my checkout and then started having a go at my manager. She was drunk and there was definitely some history there between them! I loved it made my shift that day to be honest 😂

I once left an entire week's food shop on a Tesco belt after having a disagreement with the staff member serving me. She was arguing over something silly, and in spite of her being totally wrong, made a smart remark.

I didn't want to get into a full blown row, so told her I didn't appreciate the way she was speaking to me, and left. Her face was a picture, but I did feel sorry for the people in the queue behind me.

I've never done it, had it done to me. A long time ago when I was a teenager, I worked in Woolworths. At one late night shopping event just before Christmas, the shop was absolutely rammed, and someone threw their basket on the counter towards me and stormed out, I think in protest at the crowds!

Yes and would do it again.

Excellent, great entertainment for the staff sounds like, LOL.

I’m sorry. This sounds like a horrible thing for kids to experience (and more than once) 😔