To think this M&S employee was bloody rude?

[MandEssy]

Went to collect some clothing items from a foodhall.
Guy comes out and says my name, passes me a pile of green bags.

I get to my car and open them to check everything is correct as I don't want to drive back if not.
Its a Christmas outfit for myself, but one of the bags has kids PJs in.
I look at the label and it has someone elses name.
So I go back inside the shop and approach the same guy who handed it to me.

Me - Hiya, You gave me someone elses parcel, this isn't mine (hands him bag)
Him - Oh wow.

I stood waiting for a second and he didn't say anything else so I said, OK, see you then.

Him - Wait, what wasn't your stuff?
Me - Oh I had 3 bags and they are all mine but this was handed to me aswell
Him - Its open
Me - Yes I didn't realise It wasn't mine until I opened it and saw kids pyjamas.
Him - Did you take anything?
Me - What?
Him - Hmm, well. Did you take anything from inside it?
Me - No! Why would I take something?
Him - Well its open.
Me - Because I thought it was my parcel. If I had stolen something from inside there why would I be returning it to the store?
Him - Its just a question.
Me - That was the only item in there and I don't appreciate being accused of taking something when I am taking the time to return an item given to me by you, in error!

I then walked away. He never apologised for giving the wrong parcel or thanked me for returning it, he just looked at me like I was a thief!

I'd have called the store manager and made a formal.complaint.
This wasn't M&S Borehamwood by any chance?

I don’t think he was accusing you of stealing. There might have been something in the bag that you had also ordered. I really wouldn’t give that interaction another thought.

Or just shrugged it off and gone about your day. What do people even mean by 'formal complaint' how is different from any other complaint?

Its hard to gauge just by reading the written dialogue but hebwas talking and looking at me like he thought I had stolen something. He was really contemptuous and accusatory in his manner.

I was just shocked as I expected a quick exchange and a thankyou, afterall it was his mistake!

I don't even get why you waited around. What were you expecting him to say?

I agree with him - it is just a question and maybe one that he is obliged to ask when open packages are returned to him, regardless of the reason.

He wasn't rude; although I do find some people are allergic to saying please and thank you these days.

My recent experience is that M&S only seem to employ rude people now. I actually think he was rude.
He gave you the parcel when you collected yours, not unreasonable to open them without scrutinising the label. Just covering his own ass by implying you are somehow to blame when in fact the blame lies entirely with him not checking he'd given you the correct stuff.

I always find M&S staff rude. Not the young student temp job ones, but the ones who are permanent. They’re inexplicably snooty and think they’re doing you a favour by even serving you.

I was once accused of putting stuff in my bag that I'd not scanned through .
She made a big thing of checking every item and reluctantly conceded she was wrong .
No apology though .

is this really an issue?
Really?

Is this really occupying so much headspace that you feel the need to start a thread about it? I’d love to live in that world!

You've interpreted his 'did you take anything ' as 'did you steal anything'. He may have simply meant 'did you take anything out?'
He's probably lacking in customer skills and you're stressing about something that to me would be unimportant. But complain if you can be bothered.

He doesn't sound rude to me. It's a fair enough question. You knew what you ordered, and how many packages you were expecting so why would you open an extra one with someone else's name on it?!

Aware my post to a degree does this but I’m interested in OPS post ☺️

Maybe he was a Christmas temp that’s not been properly trained? We were in a city centre M and S at the weekend and three staff openly said they didn’t know where things were in the store when we asked for help finding something in the food hall. Retail work isn’t easy at Christmas so fair play to them for their honesty!

He was rude, but it's Christmas and I bet he's overworked and fed-up.

It is truly astonishing how verbally annd socially inept some people are. I woukd make a complaint about him if you have time. Maybe they can train him how to behave with civility.

It is if someone is being accused of theft because the employee didnt do their job properly. I would phone the manager but standards in the retail sector have dropped so much that they probably wouldnt care.
The staff in my local M&S always used to be polite and well turned out. Now they look like a bunch of scruffs, same in many other retail establishments tbh

Oooh I do love a good m and s customer service bashing thread.
Did he recommend wines to pair?

I'd have also been annoyed, he turned his mistake into something you'd done wrong, this is a bit gaslighty....am I allowed to say typical bloody male.
Yes, I'm sure staff are frazzled this time of year...but aren't we all!?

He was rude. Well done for standing up for yourself. If you have the time, I would write an email complaining. Not good enough, M&S.

Not saying please and thank you IS rude!
I’m very sure Marks and Spencer would both train and expect all its employees to say both please and (especially) thank you.
I’d be a bit put out too and would wonder if his rather offhand attitude should be communicated to the store management.
(And TBH this person does not sound like the brightest in the bunch, of course the OP had to open the bag before she would be able to see that the contents weren’t in fact hers. )

Indeed

I always find the M & S staff really lovely and polite.

Were the bags labelled?

If so, you could have read the labels and established that way that one bag was given to you in error, rather than opening them all.

I would not complain about him, no. M&S staff put up with a lot when it comes to customer returns (and just customers in general).