Caused a scene in home bargains today. Was I out of line?

[dramaticornot]

This happened earlier today, and now I'm questioning if I overacted.

I went into home bargains with my mum. When we got to the til, a woman around my age (30’s) served us. My mum asked for a bag, and the woman just said “we don’t have any". Very blunt. I could see big bags on the next til, but she clearly couldn’t be bothered to even check. After my mum paid, she didn’t offer a receipt or even say please or thank you. My mum was unsure if the payment went through as the woman didn’t give her a receipt or say thanks, so she asked if it was okay, and the woman just gave her a wierd look and said, "yeah." It’s hard to describe, but she looked at her like she was a piece of shit basically.

My mum isn’t the type to confront anyone, but I could see she felt uncomfortable, so I said, "there’s no need to be rude." The woman just looked at me and carried on. No apology or anything. There were two staff members by the exit, so as I walked by, I said, "tell your staff to get some manners." They asked which one, and I just pointed to the woman and walked away.

Loads of people looking at us, and my mum was just trying to hush me along. She did thank me afterwards for sticking up for her though. It doesn’t sound that bad when I write it down, but she really had an attitude. I know that we all have off days, but if you hate your job that much, maybe it’s time to find a new one…

AIBU

Well done you for speaking up.

I made a bit more of a fuss than you when a cashier was rude to my dad. She spoke to him like he was stupid. He’s a bit deaf and hadn’t heard what she mumbled at him. I looked her straight in the eye and told her he was deaf, not daft.

Eh?

Unrelated but when anyone mentions fat balls I always think of the MN classics thread where the poster’s DH had eaten one. (We set up a bird feeder once but our local birds couldn’t give a shit.)

I shouldn’t laugh, but the “I can smell it” comment really got me 😂

She sounds dreadful though. Good on you standing up to her! You can’t even enjoy a peaceful shopping trip these days without dealing with nob heads!

Same issue at my local store - I wonder if we live in the same area or if Home Bargains just train all their staff to be thoroughly anti-customer. At least they acknowledged you at all, evenin a negative way. I've been literally completely blanked at the till several times. Avoid it now.

Really not causing a scene OP. Next time either ask to speak to a manager or call/email to speak to one later on to make sure the feedback gets passed on. The people at the front of the store could have been anyone, they’d ask who you meant regardless

That's not a scene at all! You politely pointed out that she needs better manners, and then you left.

Years ago, a bunch of teenage girls once almost sent my mother (RIP) flying as they ran down a high street. Then they laughed when she said "ouch". Now, my reaction was what you'd call a scene! Chased them down while yelling, identified the main perpetrator and forced her to apologise to mum. I was apoplectic with rage. Everyone came out of their shops to watch. No one did that to my mother and got away with it.

Your ill tempered response is amusing given you've lectured me on manners.

Why on earth should the cashier say "please" when asking for payment or "thanks" when the tap on the card payment goes through? Maybe they do, but I don't expect them to and certainly wouldn't make a fuss if they didn't.

Ehhhh????? 🤪

Never mind. It's not to everyone's taste 😁

Definitely not a “scene”.

In my local Home Bargains I’ve witnessed a full on fist fight.

But good on you. A lot of people would have just left without saying anything- we should all feedback when customer service is shit.

What a weird way of doing things- why ever do they do it that way? So you can't see how much you have to pay on a screen- they just tell you? What about deaf people, or people who don't speak English?

I'd be stuffed if they did that in France- I rarely understand the cashiers going "Quatre vingt dix neuf euro soixante dix sept" at top speed, I have to read the price off the screen and pretend I understood them.

If only there had been someone to film me kicking off at the man blatantly lying that there was no footpath at the end of his drive when I was brandishing an OS map with said footpath marked very clearly which culminated in him swearing at me a lot and me shrieking "I AM WALKING DOWN THIS PUBLIC FOOTPATH WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT AND YOU SIR ARE COMMITTING AN OFFENCE!!!" I could have uploaded it to YouTube as a masterclass in Causing A Scene.

(To allay doubt, it was most definitely a public footpath- I double checked it on the council's very useful high- res interactive map while I was grassing him up to the relevant department).

I think you 100% did the right thing in giving feedback to the other members of staff! My sister worked for HB for 10 years & management most certainly wouldn't be amused by staff acting like she did! For what its worth 99% off the staff I deal with in HB are lovely & friendly always ask if you want a bag & always offer a reciept

Did you tut loudly -killer move
did you give an earth shattering sigh and roll your eyes before nudging your right tit up and saying ‘c’mon mother let’s just get to the car sharpish that will show them

I do love a British non-scene so help me I do x

Home bargains is fabulous! I love it. Used to go every lunchtime when I worked in town.i read their website and their business model and was impressed.

@dramaticornot
i hate poor customer service too. I’m glad you said something to the other staff member/ hopefully managers.

The only thing that makes me angry in Home bargains is the cheap Hellmans mayonnaise. Terrible. The staff are lovely. I think you encountered someone having a horrible day OP and that can happen to literally any of us.

I caused a scene in b&m once. My poor old mum was at the other side of the aisle and some bloke, 40s, shouted at her “fucking crack a smile” and my spidey senses tingled (shop was unusually quiet and my mum is very meek, that emboldens these fuckers) and I ran from the aisle, to see her almost about to cry and this big prick was in her face. I just went into fight not flight and started yelling “crack a smile? I’ll crack you, you gobby bastard” and he started to shout “miserable little bitch” at my mum whilst walking out the shop so I chased him out, calling him a plethora of angry insults whilst also threatening him with violence if he ever spoke to my mum like that again. He was spitting in my direction but running away quickly. The lord alone knows what I’d have done had he responded to my offer of a punch up outside b&m as he was clearly going to win. In that moment I was so fulled with rage i was convinced that I’d have knocked him clean out. My mum went and told the security guard what was happening and he ran out, but the scumbag who had shouted at my mother was already running off just yelling abuse at me. The security guard was lovely to my mum which I appreciated. Think he thought I was bonkers but my mum is so nice, she was literally reading the back of a cleaning product and her sight is a bit crap, she’ll have been focusing on that, not giving people dirty looks or anything, to be yelled at to “crack a fucking smile” really upset her. I haven’t thought about that for ages but now I have I hope every table that man has sat at has been wonky and he stubs his toes every single day since. Arsehole.

There were two staff members by the exit, so as I walked by, I said, "tell your staff to get some manners."

I voted YABU because this was very rude of you.

You gave an order to a member of staff who wasn’t even involved?

There are far politer ways to complain about her rudeness.

Why don’t you write to their customer relations department it will help you let off steam and maybe they can improve their customer service instead of whining about it on here try being pro-active it’s an antidote for petty resentment!

I was expecting worse, when I read the title of the thread.

I will gently say that you don’t know what is going on in other people’s lives. I work as a makeup artist and one time a client said to me “You just couldn’t be bothered being here, could you?”.

She was half joking, but the day before I’d taken my relative to the hospital and we received news they were terminally ill. I had been up all that night crying, I wasn’t rude, just not a chatty as normal because my heart was broken.

First world non event.

You did what anyone must do

I wouldn't worry about it. My mum got asked not to return to a local Asda for telling off a member of staff who was exceptionally rude to her. My mum is the most calm and kind person. I just stood in shock . I was in my 30s and was impressed as didnt realise she had it in her .

I've had this exact thing in home bargains near me. I never go to that one now. Staff are much nicer at a different store. It's bazar when unemployment is so high that a manager would keep someone who's surly in a customer facing role.

I recently returned from Sydney and customer service there is unbelievable. Wish I'd made more of an effort to relocate there when I was younger....