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?

OP I sympathise with you and sense your frustration. By questioning whether it’s reasonable to just accept being treated badly by someone because they are disabled you are having to defend yourself because you know in your gut that it’s not right yet the bleeding hearts on here will tell you to suck it up and just accept being shouted at.

I wouldn’t imagine you are a bad person and are probably just like me. I believe that the world can be cruel and unjust and inflict hardship on people and whilst those people deserve kindness, they can’t be treated exactly the same as everyone else in terms of equal opportunity simply because they don’t have the necessary skills. You cannot make that so by just saying that they should, there are real world limitations and jobs that are more suitable to those with disabilities than others. There will be a space for such people which suit their disabilities more. I don’t think just because he is disabled or even struggling mentally with his disability that a customer facing position is the right place for him. Not at the expense of everyone else!

I think you were right to report him. You avoid using the tills to avoid his behaviour and that's not right.

I work in hospitality serving customers all day and it's hard work and customers can be absolute wankers.
That doesn't mean that I can be rude, look miserable or shout at customers who need help.

There's always some posters on this kind of thread who are like Oh don't be mean to the minimum wage workers the poor things!
Its actually quite patronising.

OP are you sure he doesn't have any other learning disabilitiesas well?

Even so, it sounds some customer service training is definitely needed.

YANBU. A customer-facing job is not for him, if he can't handle the stress without being rude to people on a regular basis.

Not that I know. He does his job well apart from his manner. It has a petrol station too so there are quite a lot of complicated transactions.

That's surely an issue for his employer to monitor, not you.

He shouts in other situations too. He shouted at me to take the bag off the scale when it wasn't there. I heard him the first time and told him there was nothing on the scale. He then shouted at me another two times telling me again and again to take the bag off the scale.

He shouldn’t be doing that job then.

I was answering someone's question.

I am not his employer. I know that 🙄

Indeed. Yet another post making it clear people don’t think disabled people should be working, but also, let’s not give them any benefits either.

His mobility issues are irrelevant. His attitude is a huge problem in customer service.
YANBU to complain about that

Not speaking of the disability because much has been already said, but
but because of the class thing - had he been an NHS consultant of the same age, ragingly rude to colleagues and students he taught, you would have applauded him for rudeness, admired it even - as evidenced by the wild popularity of Dr House show, when most viewers were in raptures over the rude swine of a character that he was. No names named, but there are X posts, where current surgeons (not even old) delight in regaling people with stories of how astonishingly rude their professors were and try to outdo each other as the recipient of most rudeness from that professor.

I had to tell him firmly not to speak to me like that.

How did he respond?

Well you've reported him now so hopefully he will be more polite and patient in future. I presume that was your intention.

That was my intention. I can speak up for myself but others have just gone quiet so he has continued to shout at them.

He actually went quiet and stopped.

Neither would I have applauded or admired an NHS consultant who was ragingly rude.

Then they are mugs. He needs to be told to off fuck.

The women get intimidated by him. I noticed he is not like that with men.

Ah, that figures.

So he’s been shouting at you and other members of the public for years. I presume you and the others have complained to management before Head Office?

Just another point against the idea that the only thing against disabled (physically and/or mentally) disabled individuals is lack opportunity and prejudice. People still have to placed in jobs that are suited to their skills, personality and abilities and often the disability itself provides limitations to those requirements. It cannot be wished away by anyone.

I have a mentally challenged BiL who just couldn’t work in a customer service orientated environment for this exact reason, he respects men but is intolerant of women (I suspect it’s actually a bit of cultural misogyny that cannot be reasoned with because of his mental limitations) but regardless of this, it is what it is! No opportunity in the world is going to change this for him, it’s just part of his mental disability.

Oh stop it. Do you always see the possible worst in people. Says more about you tbh

You have no idea if this is happening.

I don't know what others have done.

I didn't complain to management as I felt his behaviour towards me would get even worse if I made a complaint to his manager.