Feeling a bit shaky after an encounter in Sainsbury's

[HelenSkeleton]

I just went to a Sainsbury's Local and picked up a bar of chocolate advertised at £2.40. It scanned at £3.00 and there was another shelf with the same bar at the higher price so I went to the counter, explained that I was confused about the price and the woman behind the counter went to check.

While she was doing that a woman who looked like a manager came up to me and very rudely told me there was "no need to get like that". I wasn't like anything. I was not rude, unkind, nasty or anything. I was perfectly calm. I told her I wasn't "getting like anything" and was merely confused. I was also confused by her attitude. She was very argumentative told me that "we make mistakes" which I acknowledged but she continued arguing with me saying"I've just told you we make mistakes". I hadn't even complained, simply asked for the correct price. I told her she was protesting too much at this point.

She was really confrontational at which point I said "you know what, let's just leave it" and I left the shop. I'm actually shaking and I don't know why. Her reaction was out of all proportion. I feel quite sick.

It shows she's inexperienced. I'm not stalking her. I wanted to find out her full name in order to complain. Though the first name is unusual enough to identify her.

Honestly op my reaction to her would have been “I’m sorry but what are you talking about?”. If she then continued to be argumentative I would have said “I don’t like your attitude so can you tell me who I need to make a complaint to please”. That would have probably put her in her place.

In fact I’d probably send in a complaint to Sainsbury’s head office. Like a pp has said, she seems to have been looking for a fight when there wasn’t one.

Of course not. That's not a helpful comment.

Well I can't imagine shaking and feeling sick about an encounter like this, but yes, you should complain.

This, In my store we would have apologised and sold it for the price on the shelf. If hadn't been paid yet would have reduce the price or refunded after

She was unreasonable.

Make sure you don’t become unreasonable too!

I always think it’s good to sleep on it, if you’re considering a complaint. Fine, if you still feel you want to tomorrow, do so. BUT don’t let this get out of perspective ….researching the woman etc and dwelling on it far more than necessary. If you do that, it starts to sound like you have the problem.

So, yes I can see it wasn’t nice. But stuff happens. Keep it in perspective. If you still feel a complaints needed tomorrow, make one. But you don’t need to know the full name and her background. It’s irrrlevant. If you need to complain then do….and leave it to the shop to deal with and move on. You’re starting to sound as if you’re becoming rather too invested in what happened and the individual.

Go back to the store and ask her what her name is. And let her know why you need it.

Ok everyone. Thanks for all your input.

Just to clarify:

I'm not stalking her.
I'm not dwelling on it. I'm going to the theatre shortly.
I posted here because shaking over this was an unusual feeling for me.
I looked her up so I had background for a complaint. I wanted to see how long she's been doing this job. Not very long as it happens.
I won't be communicating with her, calling her a po faced bitch or anything else, thank you.
I have no further interest in her other than to complain about the over the top interaction.

Thanks.

I don’t like this suggestion either. It sounds like it has the intent to cause stress and anxiety to that staff member….and give pleasure to Op.

Sometimes a complaint is needed. People have different thresholds for making the decision. But these things should be dealt with factually and not maliciously. The store will have a policy for how to deal with such a complaint and you have to leave it with them….and move on.

No pleasure for me at all @WombatChocolate . I'm off to the theatre now. Sans chocolate, as it happens.

I don't need to go back and ask her name. It was on her name badge.

You might not like it but it’s probably something I would do myself. Even if I didn’t ask her specifically what her name is, I’d ask someone otherwise how is the complaints department going to know who you’re complaining about

OK, you’re just being weird now. Someone was mildly rude to you in a shop and you’re looking them up on social media and perusing their CV? That’s nuts.

Your reaction is really peculiar and is making me wonder now whether you were, in fact, as polite as you think you were to the shop assistant.

Very difficult to call it without being there.
We haven't heard either of your tones in which you spoke either.
It's up to you whether you complain or not.

I've noticed shops are not on the ball the pricing and often things are wrong.

Just as balance, I recently upgraded my phone and hadn’t fully installed all my apps. I was in Tesco and bought quite a bit which should have been cheaper with Clubcard, then the app needed me to log in, the WiFi was poor so it wouldn’t load, and I got quite flustered because people were queuing behind me. I told the sales assistant not to worry and I’d sort it for next time. She couldn’t have been nicer, and gave me a receipt and said I could go back to get the price difference refunded once I got everything up and running. (I didn’t actually do this, but I was so appreciative of her being lovely!)

And this is why we wear random name badges at my store. At first I was thinking you were right but this stalker behaviour makes me wonder if there’s more to it than you have let on.

I've already said I didn't use any tone. I was calm and pleasant to the girl behind the counter who went to check then this woman simply waded in with a confrontational attitude that was not necessary.

There isn't. I should have known better than post on aibu, I guess.

Huh? She has her name. She had a name badge on.

And for those pretending to be outraged, it is not stalking to Google someone’s first name and the company they work for. Anything you’ve put out there will pop up with very little effort in a search engine.

Now if OP used her full name from her social media to find her address and show up at her house, THAT would be stalking.

Nope it’s not at all.

I remember accidentally not scanning a £1.60 box of eggs despite having done self scan for several years at my local Sainsbury’s and the woman who noticed it made me feel like absolute shite. I was so mortified and wondered how I could have missed it and was nervously apologising and she kept going on about how I’d not scanned it and all my shopping had to now be rescanned. She was absolute miserable with me and made me feel like a criminal who’d done it on purpose. Her customer service in that moment was non existent and it feels like some of the people who work there have sad lives themselves and just make all interactions with the customers equally miserable. And I was shaking at the end as I walked off!

Ooh, I had a horrible woman at Sainsburys too - are we all going to the same one, or is it part of the brand?! Can't remember ever having rudeness anywhere else.

Fucking hell Mumsnet has got so dramatic recently. Do people on here not have partners they can unload this mundane shit onto? When did a tiny barely even an incident become a big drama that leaves you shaking?

And googling her is really fucking creepy.

Adrenaline causes the body to shake. You have absolutely no control over it and as with most things some people are affected more than others. An unusual/confrontational situation can cause adrenaline to spike as our natural "fight or flight" reaction kicks in. It's not overly dramatic, some people blush some people shake some people don't react at all.

Blimey, I’m glad I don’t ever see you. How dare you tell someone that you don’t know that they are massively overreacting. Talk about being insensitive and dismissive. Horrible person aren’t you!

I'd complain OP. I had something similar last year. I popped to Tesco, bought something, handed over a £20 note and the sales assistant thought I'd given her £10 so short changed me. I told her she had made a mistake and she was adamant she hadn't. I knew I hadn't made the mistake because I'd just taken £20 from the ATM and it was the only cash I had. She was so rude to me, refused to give me the correct change, insisted on checking the cctv, couldn't see anything on there and then carried on arguing me telling me her till would be cashed up wrong - I told her to do whatever checks she needed, take my number of she wanted because I knew I was right and I wasn't going to back down. Eventually she gave me the £10 and said she would have to give me the benefit of the doubt but was just so rude and off. Also had a Morrisons worker say "oh fffs" at the end of the day because I asked for a carrier bag for my shopping. Then the H&M sales assistant that shouted at me for tapping my card on contactless too early - customer service is so poor in the UK