To be irritated by Asda card woman?

[ExitSandyman]

At our local Asda there is a woman who hangs around the cards - she’s ALWAYS there. She doesn’t seem to do much other than tidy up the shelves and bother customers. She wears a badge that’s says volunteer.

Anyway whenever you go down the cards aisle she will come over and ask if you need any help. No matter what your answer is, she will ask who you’re buying for and start pulling out cards that you might like.

I personally like to shop in peace. If I’m buying a card, I know the person I’m buying for and I know what kind of thing they’ll like.?having this woman pushing various cards into me is a distraction and an annoyance. Has anyone ever heard of these volunteers at Asda? Is it some kind of scheme? She’s been there well over a year. My heart sinks everytime I need a card and I see her stood there as she just won’t leave people alone.

and yeah I know people will say shop for cards elsewhere but I shouldn’t have to!

And thats their right of course, but let's not pretend that's what this thread is mostly about.

I was referencing the op and the I am far too busy crew.

What do you suggest the answer is for those with additional needs?

For staff and volunteers to be trained to leave people alone if they say no thank you?

Well what would you suggest is the answer?

The posters referencing the 'too busy' crew have neglected to think of the other customers who might not 'be kind'. The sort who might swear at or otherwise abuse what they perceive is an employee of the store 'getting in their way'. I've seen instances of this, levied at other people in shops, and I don't believe that a volunteer badge would make that type of person realise or hold back even if they did.

The OP has explained the circumstances and been disbelieved and 'what if'd' throughout the thread. The OP being avoidant of what she views might be thought of as confrontation, isn't the worst position that a volunteer could find themselves in.

Whatever the circumstances, leaving a person with SEN in an employment role without support, shouldn't be happening.

That's so cheap. There should be no such thing as "volunteers" except in a charity shop environment.
A multi-million pound company should be paying them.

I hope they're not doing 8 hours shifts there!

Well, if they are unable to recognise social cues in an environment whereby they are surrounded by the public then having someone around to support them would be one way. Not someone hovering over their shoulder but stationed in the same vicinity so they can step in if there are problems. Adequate training as well needs to be ensure, including shadowing shifts so they can see how established employees respond to situations. Training for staff and volunteers about recognising additional needs and what adaptions might be made.

If you mean the customers - this would also help them because the people they're interacting with will have the knowledge required.

So asda is getting people with SEN to work for them for free? Couldn't they pay them? Even if it was only a temporary contract

How would that work with benefits etc?

I have no idea to be honest but I would assume they are part time and I'm sure there's lots of people working in asda that are also claiming benefits

You can claim PIP even if you are working.

So all these people will only be claiming PIP? Are you sure about that?

Probably not but I just thought I would share just in case anyone is interested or didn’t know 😊

@Bloopp if you've no idea how it would work, I'd hazard a guess you've not considered if it's a good idea or not? Which is why Asda have them as volunteers, because it's likely an issue.

Gosh! You must be terribly busy not to be able to say ‘no, I’m fine thanks!’

The OP has already said that saying ‘no I’m fine thanks’ does not work.

I don't think half the posters here read beyond paragraph 1 tbh

I think that in their rush to condemn the OP (which is what they really want to do), they've been unable to absorb the meaning of any words which don't fit in with their extremely narrow views.

It should be worrying but it's actually the norm now.

I was considering it, hence I asked a question instead of stating any facts.....

In any case, our local cinema employs a guy with downs syndrome who I assume they are paying as he is in uniform etc.

Disagreeing with the OP in AIBU is not ‘condemning’ her.

I’m an introverted ADHD diagnosed people avoider who hates that women are expected to be kind to all and sundry but even I draw the line at complaining about being approached by a woman trying to help who may have SEN.

I might have missed it but where did the OP say she wanted to put in a complaint? Or are you referring to just general complaining on this thread?

It’s fine to disagree but a good percentage of people disagreeing with the OP have clearly not read the OP. If they had they would realise that just telling this woman that they don’t need help does not work.

Good grief, had you had your breakfast before posting this?
Where in my post did I express annoyance? I think you’ll struggle to find any inference of that in fact.

They clearly haven’t. The responses to my earlier post, which quoted me suggest this too. One goes on about my annoyance and that I need to take a long hard look at myself. There is nothing in what I posted earlier suggesting annoyance from me at all. Why would I be annoyed? This hasn’t happened to me personally; I was just commenting on the thread!

I beg to differ. The OP’s post is quite clear in fact that the lady concerned does not respond to a cue of, “no, thanks.” Well I’m sorry but that could easily be addressed through ASDA doing some better training or supervision with the lady concerned.
It’s the same in any retail job. If the customer says, “no thank you, just browsing” or declines an offer of help, you leave them to it.

Have you ever asked people their thoughts about shopping at Curry’s/PC World who were notorious for jumping on you as soon as you entered? I know numerous people who stopped shopping in both as a result.

At the end of the day ASDA is a business. By all means afford customer-facing opportunities to disabled people but at the same time as you would with any other employee not picking up on cues from customers, you address that through training and better supervision!

Bearing in mind earlier in the thread you had comments along the lines of someone being pressed for time but they’ve gone to the supermarket to grab a few bits on a lunch break. There are some employers that will count a minute late back from things like lunch breaks against you. A lot of people only get 30 minutes for lunch too.

I worked for employers that linked timekeeping with attendance generally and so latenesses counted towards the triggers for formal meetings e.g. 3 occasions of lateness or sickness in 6/12 months and formal meeting commenced. Many employers have timeware so employees have to clock in and out for breaks etc and with that often comes formal action taken for people being late.

Incidentally I’ve seen the above happen in retail, manufacturing and believe it or not a university. It’s not unique to any one sector.

Not quite the full picture re Equality Act. Even if you establish some informal coaching or training for this lady as a number of us have said amounted to an act of direct or indirect discrimination - and I’ll go the full hog and include discrimination arising from a disability - the employer can argue objective justification i.e. it was a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim. Legitimate aims off the top of my head - mitigating the impact on other customers and there have been some good points here about how this sort of experience could detrimentally affect a customer with communication problems of their own, mental health conditions etc. I’d also suggest preventing loss of custom over this sort of thing could very well be another. Yes, ASDA is a big concern but at the same time they operate in a very competitive market.

Likewise. Consider - and credit to those who came forward and disclosed that they would find a similar experience very difficult for them because of their own personal circumstances - that there are bigger picture concerns than just this lady and the OP. All this should take is ASDA engaging in some better supervision of the volunteer and or training to pick up on cues from customers who don’t want or need help.

This is not difficult. ASDA has the resources to do it too. The lady can still volunteer but it sounds as though there is a legitimate training need here.