Customer demands to charge her phone at supermarket

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She came into the supermarket wanted to pay for her shopping on Apple Pay but her phone is dead. I saw her talking on the phone in the store.

Supermarkets and other places that people pay for products and services - restaurants, retailers, leisure places etc are NOT responsible for people’s mobile batteries and them not carrying their physical cards on them.

She needs to invest in a powerblock. Stupid woman!

I once ran out of petrol I had a small child with me. I managed to walk to Asda and get through to breakdown but my phone died. I had no idea what to do but another customer asked if I was ok. Next thing she brought the store manager who was so kind. Charged my phone, let me wait in the cafe and then when breakdown were 20 minutes away she ran us back to my car. I am so glad I was not judged by someone like you.

I think the suggestion from the "What's the fuss" side of the debate is that the store should have provided one. Possibly in a quiet room with tea and coffee making facilities whilst it charged.

I wander South London all hours, never with a mobile phone but usually with a dog..

I've not long came back from mainland Greece ( Thessaloniki ). Was very surprised to see at entrance to a few supermarkets, there were charging stations for phones with different types of charging cables. Customers were leaving their phones to charge whilst going around supermarket to do their shopping and then collecting phone before heading to checkout to pay for shopping. Phones were not in sealed cases and just lying on top of table attached to charging cable.

The being rude would sap all my sympathy. But if I were working in a store and a customer couldn’t pay because their phone had died, I’d certainly offer them 10 minutes on a charger if we had one easily available without disrupting others.

The idea that it’s a safety issue to not have a phone on your way home is bonkers. But it’s certainly more inconvenient now to not have a working phone on you than it was 30 years ago because there are virtually no pay phones around anymore.

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I hope she had her own charger? Otherwise hard no.

I work in a supermarket and in situations like that we would charge their phones enough for them to be able to pay. The amount of electricity it would use is minimal and we’re not all miserable like you! Life happens and things you can do to make it easier should be done. It’s no skin off your nose and doesn’t even effect you

Who told you that

Meh. I worked on customer service years ago. If this had happened I would have given them a sneaky charge. What does it matter really?
But then I used to always make sure the customer took advantage of Buy One Get One Free offers etc. I am not one to work for a big company who are raking in massive profits and think that I am important 😅

Oh, she had a charging cable and plug on her did she?

She wouldn't necessarily have needed to. Some supermarkets keep chargers available, or staff may be prepared to lend.

Yes a Power Bank is a good idea.

As she has an Apple phone I'm sure she could afford one. Around £20 for a basic good brand.

Any decent Supermarket will help you in an emergency. But l don't blame them for not letting people charge mobile phones.

They would be inundated by chancers and God knows who else.

This woman seems to think to the World revolves around her. Really on the increase these days.

Best Wishes from

A poor G7 Moto Owner

It is six and a half years old and still going

📱☎️📞

Also still have a land line as well.
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Agree with so many other replies on this. This is what is wrong with society - we can’t possibly fathom this person was just an entitled arse and now there is ‘safety implications’. Come on, how did the human race survive before phones! Yes plenty of apps can drain our phones but we don’t need them, if you’re going to be reliant on your phone, maybe bear this in mind beforehand. But no…it’s now the supermarket and staffs fault.

Really? I work in one, and we don’t have them, nor have I seen a staff member with one of their own.

I was behind someone in M&S who couldn’t pay. They bagged up her shopping and put it aside for her to return later and pay

simple solution

the customer could pop home and charge. Or find a charging point

Very well said! Thank goodness sensible people like you work there!

You sound personally affronted OP. Things happen, people make mistakes, give her ten minutes of electricity. Whatever is wrong with you? Always a joy to make someone's life more difficult when it would cost nothing to make it easier.

She was probably flustered and stressed. Sometimes people come across as rude when really they’re just in a panic.

I think they should have helped her.

This! And they could pop off back to their car and do it in there (like I’ve known customers in our store have done). I’m pretty sure most will have driven there.

I would be wary of lending anyone a charger in case of being blamed for wrecking their phone with it. There’s always one. And, as they say, no good deed goes unpunished.

The rudeness would bother me a lot more than someone asking to charge their phone, but always make sure to have some cash on me just in case - I think it's crazy not to.

I remember having to do this. My car charger had broken and I hadnt realised the phone had stopped charging. I had my card on me but needed to transfer money over, and I came in to buy a charger before the phone died. Unfortunately I was too late and had to ask someone working in a shop within Asda hypermarket. That bit of kindness in a stressful situation made a difference.

Yes you have a pin for using your cards on your phone or it has to use FaceID to use it. My husband used my phone to pay for fuel, I unlocked the wallet on my phone but there was an issue with a customer so it took ages to for him to get near the front. Thankfully he knows my code so he was able to unlock the wallet again. But otherwise I’d have to do it in order to pay