The pettiest, jobsworth bollocks you’ve encountered? Probably won’t top this.

[ermwhatypu]

I was in Morrison’s today. The woman at the till was handing out vouchers on a strip as an offer with 3 pounds off. There were three on each strip that you had to tear off. I had a screaming baby with me and was trying to find my phone to pay. As she handed me the strip one of the 3 pound vouchers fell off the strip onto the till… right in front of the woman. I said I will use that one please, as I wrestle dd back into the trolley. She looks directly at me and says I must hand her the voucher for it to be valid. She handed me the voucher back and I gave it back to her. She then scanned it.

Why are people like this!

THAT really IS weird!! However, as the world has really gone insane just lately, I can't say I'm surprised.

If someone watched on the cameras and saw her give you £3 off without you handing a voucher she could get in trouble or fired, most staff would say nahhhh theyl see what happened, but some staff worry more than others. So for the sake of getting you to hand it to her and ensure her job is safe and she’s followed the procedure as instructed, it’s worth it for her. She’s not a petty jobsworth, she gave you £3 off.

How do you know it's not a rule they all have to follow? If it is the rule, would you want somebody to risk getting into trouble at work just because it's easier for you?

Having worked in senior HR for a big supermarket chain years ago, staff have to so careful with this kind of thing. When I was there we had quite a few sacked for colleague discount misuse and voucher misuse. Most of these were backed up with camera footage (the cameras point downwards above the cashier). I can't really blame her for being overly cautious to be honest, as silly as it seemed to you.

I echo everyone else who says it's supermarket policies. They're mad, I used to cringe having to do things like that from time to time. I could use logic but I want to keep my job also.

Agreed. I used to work in a dept store and someone was dismissed for giving staff discount to a colleague who was entitled, but didn’t have their discount card with them that day. No written warning or anything, just dismissed.

It probably was literally was more than her job's worth though. She'd be dismissed for giving you a discount you weren't entitled to.

@uhOhOP i suppose I would probably acknowledge how ridiculous it was rather than staring vacantly at me instead.

Oh come on. It's clearly a rule she's been told to follow. To do with fraud or missuse of vouchers or something. Get over it.

'Jobsworth' is short for 'it's more than my job's worth' - i.e. "I might get sacked for doing this". For this reason, it's not an expression I endorse - no one wants to lose their job for not following a rule - it might be a petty rule but the frontline person had no say in making it.

While you were busy and distracted wrestling your screaming baby? Why does that make her a petty jobsworth? It’s not like she makes the rules.

Right so now she's not allowed to be quiet and stare she has to make the exact conversation and face you require.

She could have lost her job if cctv hadn't recorded you passing a voucher but your shopping was reduced. Instore vouchers are watched very carefully to ensure there is no misuse or fraud.

She likes her job more than you.

She was probably waiting for you to hand her the voucher instead of staring vacantly at her instead...

It clearly has to be a voucher you've given her rather than one she's just decided to scan.

It's not her fault you had a screaming toddler it doesn't make you exempt.

Very early in the thread to invoke Godwin's law.

I'm assuming you've never worked in retail?

They’re not mad. My DH works in loss prevention and staff stealing is a huge issue. One big source of theft, which is very difficult to detect, is cashiers giving discounts/reducing items to family and friends. DH had someone weigh an entire shop as bananas!

What a complete and utter jobsworth! 🤣 You’ve got to feel sorry for people like that. Ohhhh the power of operating a till has gone to her head!

Ofgs.

Hearsay only... a colleague once came to meet me frothing because he'd been to asda in his break and walked up the travelator to the top floor. He was apparently met by a security guard who told him the sign said to remain stationary on the travelator. He shrugged it off like, well, I'm here now and the guard ordered him to walk back down the stairs and come up again correctly. He was like 😳

Please expand

Why is it her job to criticise her employer to you?

If you wanted her to do that then I doubt you were struggling that much with the baby and you just didn’t want to pick up the voucher. Just like those people who put the money on the counter instead of giving it to the staff member because it’s beneath them.

What’s with all the drama about wrestling screaming babies? I bet it took you all of 2 seconds to pass the voucher and caused you no inconvenience at all.

You have never done hourly paid shop work, have you, OP?

If you had, you would be aware that shop workers are told by their managers that they must adhere to specific processes when handling cash or vouchers. If they don’t follow those processes they could risk leaving themselves open to disciplinary action.

She wasn’t being a ‘jobsworth’. She was doing what she had been told to do & trying not get into trouble.