to have complained about the disabled worker in Tesco?

[twigtree]

There's a long-standing staff member at my local Tesco Express who has difficulty walking and is usually on the till. While I appreciate he has mobility issues, his customer service has been consistently bad for years. He regularly sighs and seems annoyed by basic requests like a receipt or pointing out a wrong price. He also shouts if I don't hear him the first time.

I generally use the self-service to avoid him, but the other day I had an issue where the till kept erroring (someone else's bag was briefly on the scales). He was the one assisting, and despite my explaining the situation, he just stood there and shouted at me to remove the item, even after I had. I had to tell him firmly not to speak to me like that.

I've now complained to head office about this pattern of rude behaviour. AIBU?

Plus the shop will lose customers. I very rarely use the Asda that's practically on my doorstep because some of their staff are awful.

Yes fair enough mine too. Particularly women that like to scratch their claws on other women almost like a hobby.

he is rude and not doing his job properly, of course you should have complained.

YABU because you are focusing on his disability rather than his customer service skills. In my local Tesco, there is a man who seems to have some sort of intellectual disability who does a range of jobs. Currently he’s learning how to assist on the self service tills. It takes him a little longer, sometimes has to ask another assistant for help and can get flummoxed. So what? Should he not be given the opportunity because he takes a minute or two longer? Because he can sometimes appear irate with the till or himself? That he gets a bit tongue tied?
Just because he doesn’t fit into societal norms of what a shop assistant should be like doesn’t mean he should be scapegoated.

This guy is shouting at customers. Not the same.

I’m sorry, but I just don’t believe this now. If he’s constantly shouting at customers then his employers are not doing their job properly.

The OP said he shouted at her when she didn’t hear him the first time - maybe he thinks shes deaf!

The OP also says that she has seen him shouting at other women … Maybe he thinks they are all deaf?

@deboh. There are lots of jobs where you don't have to serve customers.

It’s a tough one - I’d have said I wouldn’t have complained but you’ve said you’ve let many things go over the years so, I can see why you’ve complained now. It does sound like this man has a hard life - easy to think he shouldn’t be in a customer facing role…

it’s one of the things I really like about my local Tesco, that they are a supportive employer but we don’t have anyone who behaves so poorly.

Well it might help him. Maybe he isn't comfortable with certain roles, maybe he needs more training, maybe he's being pushed to do more hours than he is comfortable with. If the management are any good they can assess what is going on and address it which might help him and his customers.

Do deaf people like being shouted at? I thought the RNID advice was don't shout.

You are not being unreasonable at all. You are talking about a pattern of uncustomer friendly behaviour - there really is no excuse for that. Well done for not just putting up with it any longer.

YANBU. Having any kind of health condition or disability doesn’t give you leeway to treat people badly in a workplace environment. I’ve worked in retail, I’ve also worked with people with chronic pain conditions etc and none of them treated people like this.

Well, it is relevant for obvious reasons

OP status clearly she doesn't know if it impacts on her having reasonable grounds to complain

I have no idea why it is currently essential to find commonplace observations unthinkable. It renders much normal conversation impossible and renders most communications interminably anodyne

If it weren't for this weird attitude OP wouldn't have had to second guess herself, she could just have complained about a rude member of staff and let his employer deal with it

I've done it once. I was looking after two refugee children who didn't speak English while their mum dashed round the shop. We were near the door of the shop and a shop worker shouted at the children as they were talking too loudly according to him. I asked him what was wrong and he was really rude. I asked his name and he covered his name badge with his hand, bit daft as I'd already seen it.

I complained about his attitude as he frightened two traumatised children and I couldn't care less if people approve or not. I've worked in a shop and had difficult customers but I was working and behaved appropriately.

What do you think that achieves? (not that I would complain to head office either).

I would never complain about something as trivial as this. Let it go OP, just mutter tosser under your breath or something.

I think you have an unrealistic expectation here OP.

Firstly head office is unlikely to do anything with your complaint. They have no evidence anything untoward occurred. CCTV would just show him speaking to you but not what was said or what the tone was. Therefore he is unlikely to be reprimanded or in trouble. Given he has a disability it’s really unlikely Tesco would sack him over this as he has stronger employment protections to challenge them over.

Therefore, you are thinking too many steps ahead that are unrealistic; you would be given a gift card at best but your complaint ultimately won’t be meaningful in any other manner. So why are you worrying about him struggling or being disabled etc? Waste of energy. You’ll likely see him in store again when you visit.

His mobility level is neither here nor there. His customer service and manner are poor, so by all means point that out.
Unless you're complaining that he is getting favourable treatment above others by not having to stack shelves or do heavy lifting? It makes no difference if he has a physical disability or not.

He has been rude for years though. It is not just this one occasion. Because he needs the job, I should let him keep shouting at me?

If it was a one off, I would agree with you. It is not quite so trivial when he has been shouting at me and other customers for years.

Op already reported him 🤷‍♀️

I sympathise with the OP of not being sure how to handle the situation.
Generally speaking you wouldn’t accept this repeated apparent level of disrespect from an able bodied person and so you shouldn’t from someone who is disabled.
You also shouldn’t assume that just because someone is physically disabled that they have some forms of learning difficulty that would account for their behaviour.
However, we all know disabled people are not treated fairly and so most considerate people try to factor this in and end up in a pickle when it comes to such situations.

My DC had a new child start at their school that has clear visible physical difference. Keen to ensure they were not left out, DC tried to include them in playtime as much as possible. However, the other child wouldn’t play fairly, disrupted the rules of the game etc - nothing related directly to a physical difficulty (they can play sport to a very good level). DC didn’t want to play with them anymore but also didn’t want that child (or others) to think it was because of his physical difference.

Shouting what? You said he shouts when you don't hear him the first time, so I assume he's just repeating himself but louder?