Should customers show more respect for customers or staff that need first aid?

[Auburngal]

Today a customer had an epileptic seizure in a busy area. We coned off the area. Customers were tutting and muttering unpleasant things because they had to go round the long way.

In the past, customers have stepped over the customer or staff member who has fainted, fallen etc. Very disrespectful. How would they react if people were doing this around their loved ones!

People can’t control when they are going to feel ill or it happens suddenly like myself a year ago after a reaction to a flu vaccine that I had 3 days before.

Unfortunately this does not surprise me at all, it would seem that customer service must over ride everything, general health & safety, common sense, manners, the law, other people's health or safety People have become obsessed with it.

It's got ridiculous, and I don't even think it's so much to do with getting free stuff for a complaint as validation and ego stroking.
"Look! I've been the victim of poor customer service, it's tragic, disgusting, appalling and any other over emotional word I can think of" 🙄.

The reactions towards anything slightly going wrong in a customer service environment are becoming more and more disproportionate to what is actually happening. Having to wait a few minutes to be served, having to leave a shop because someone has taken ill, something not being available - it's not exactly a life changing tragedy that's going to affect you for the rest of your life, it's a mild annoyance.

I mean radically, had I been in your shop I'd have offered to help the lady, or you. People have become so individualistic and self absorbed they will actually put their 'experience' buying a pint of milk above someone else's life.

My only similar experience was trying to get my husband at the time up stairs at our local station. After he had been severely triggered by a tuna allergy. After dinner out in London. He was stumbling, absolutely unable to bear his own weight, was clearly suffering the start of a massive migraine. I was smaller than him by a lot and was trying to help him up the stairs. Not a single individual came to my assistance because clearly everyone, nearly all professionals, on their way home from work or after evenings out, clearly thought he was drunk. He wasn't. He was having a huge allergic reaction. I was able to get him to our car and drive him home. He was very unwell. But the judgement - fake - still resonates with me today.

You would think...

I was doing CPR on someone and people kept stepping over my legs and carrying on browsing. The guy was dead on the floor and they were still shopping
I had to yell at someone because they were getting in the way of me swapping over chest compressions

That must've been absolutely awful for him

I can see why calling the police seemed like a good idea to anyone witnessing it.

Not because he was doing anything 'wrong', but for his own personal safety.

I think that's what the PP (who another poster jumped on) was trying to say.

I find the sense of entitlement is rife these days. Sadly it's usually the bad mannered people who stand out, even though plenty of well-mannered people exist.

I used to work in A&E. A patient had a cardiac arrest in a bay, only surrounded by curtains. We always tried to move nearby beds/family, but their is no sound proofing for such events and it was only curtains!
After a long battle with shocks, adrenaline, CPR, which could clearly be heard nearby, the gent sadly died, RIP x

I went to the patient/relatives next door afterwards to say how sorry I was that they might have heard some upsetting things from next door etc.
The first thing the relative said was:
'You do realise, I've been sat here an hour and not 1 person has offered ME a cup of tea yet!'

Those customers should have been banned!

Problem is it’s a me me me culture.

About 10-12 years ago we had to close the store due to flooding - worse than we had in previous days.

Staff were still in as delivery needed to be put out. Flooding was around entrance and in front of kiosk. Heard customers banging on the windows “I just want some milk” “I just want a paper”. We are not the ONLY shop in the area that sells milk and newspapers. I can think of about 10 in a 5 min walk.

Fair enough thought that might be the case

I think it's always worth considering there maybe a reason someone isn't acting as you may expect /hope. A lot of people have their own shit going on or just don't think. Of course a lot of people are just knobheads

A customer had a seizure (supermarket) we phoned an ambulance and put screens at the ends of the aisle. Customers were trying to sneak round the screens and moaning that they “just need this” The poor lady needed privacy, in the end we put a member of staff at each end of the aisle until the ambulance arrived.

@llamali what are you talking about? What do you actually know about police training? Were you there to see how the situation was dealt with? Police deal with all sorts of incidents so are probably better at assessing a situation than anyone else. Talk about slagging off the emergency services at any given opportunity.

Unbelievable!
All your comments are really worrying.

I must confess I no longer pay much attention to people lying on floors, particularly in the mornings, as there are so many homeless people doing so around here these days (and some can easily turn verbally aggressive). But, as you say, it could be someone who has passed out, so I will be more vigilant.

The problem is that someone appearing in distress in some way is so often a scam tactic nowadays, especially at railway stations. I would be reluctant to intervene for that reason, not because I'd care whether it was illness or too much to drink.

I think the problem is that no one learns from incidents like those described or that they have bad manners because no one has the balls any more to point it out. Or they are scared they will get stabbed or filmed and called a “Karen” on social media. How I hate that name used in that way! Society needs far more Karens if you ask me.

In London this doesn't surprise me ..
How awful for you .

I stopped to administer first aid to a young lad knocked off his bike by a car. He was lying in the road and me and a couple of other women were directing traffic round him. The swearing and abuse from drivers was shocking. Some people are disgusting.

My elderly mum has had two
episodes both in Morrisons and Asda, the staff and customers in both went over and beyond to help. I was in tears with their kindness.

I think it's another reason why everyone should learn first aid. One, you never know when you might be in a situation where it could save someone's life. Two, you're more likely to recognise a first aid scenario and treat the situation with the respect it deserves, by providing space and privacy if others are already administering help.

I work in retail and we are always having incidents as it's a big store .

The other day a child had her trousers stuck in the escalator and I shouted at everyone to not get on it so we could stop it ( otherwise they would face plant ) and the looks as tuts I got .. it's a child ffs 🤦‍♀️

Years ago when I worked in Tesco express an elderly person had a heart attack so we cleared the shop and shut to give them some respect. People were knocking the window and getting very aggressive because we wasn't open. Lucky enough the person pulled through but it was scary for our staff who were mostly young students and the lack of compassion and understanding from the public will never ever cease to amaze me.

@HotPotato123 Oh believe me, they didn’t receive a warm welcome when they came back into the shop after paramedics had taken the lady to hospital!! Words were definitely exchanged.

The worst part actually (aside from the poor customer obviously!) was that the two staff members I was in with that day refused to see the other customers out and put the shutter down on the shop to prevent anyone else coming in 😳🙄 They actually stood and argued with me over it as they “weren’t to shut the shop during the day for any circumstances” and wanted no part in it if I was closing the shop during trading hours. Turns out they had been disciplined previously by the business owners when they were left alone for half a day as they had closed the shop to go on a joint cigarette break. And they couldn’t see what was different about this situation 🙄

Talk about yourself, that’s not what I would think. Maybe you need to get new mates if all your friends fall over pissed in public places all the time.

Of course it was reasonable to call the police in these circumstances. Can't you see that?

I would absolutely call the police if I felt there was a danger, even if someone was wearing 20 sunflower lanyards

Wtf . If he has had a huge allergic reaction you don't move him anywhere! There is clear advice on that given to anyone with allergies. Exercise/movement exacerbates the reaction.

I think I would assume that if this was a medical issue then a taxi, as a minimum, would have been called.

I can well believe it. Some people are just self absorbed, entitled arseholes.

I’m a nurse practitioner in a GP surgery. Some years ago we had a patient collapse in cardiac arrest in our waiting room. As we worked on him receptionists cleared the room and moved patients into the corridor, back outside etc.

One woman barged through, literally stepped over me as I was doing CPR and called to the receptionist “but I’ve got an appointment with that nurse, how long will she be?”