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AIBU

Jobsworths.

(140 Posts)
kircubbin2000 Thu 11-Mar-21 11:30:39

I have been to Sainsbury for the first time in nearly a year as son has been doing my shopping. I was up early and just felt like getting out so I had finished by 8.30.
As I was leaving , the security woman shouted at me that I was leaving by the wrong door, the entrance one, which I have always used before covid.She told me angrily to go back and out the far door.
As the shop was empty and I was almost outside I left and told her I'd know the next time. Would you have gone back into the shop and used the other exit?

Baggs Thu 11-Mar-21 14:50:31

So long as the security person wasn't called a jobsworth to her face, I don't think it matters that kc let it out on GN.

suziewoozie Thu 11-Mar-21 14:55:35

I think imo it shows an attitude that I find unkind and unnecessary.

spottybook Thu 11-Mar-21 14:57:11

A lot of jobsworths have crept out of the woodwork since Covid.

suziewoozie Thu 11-Mar-21 15:01:11

spottybook

A lot of jobsworths have crept out of the woodwork since Covid.

Well clearly I’ve missed them all.

Dwmxwg Thu 11-Mar-21 15:06:56

Don’t beat yourself up about it. The first time I did the supermarket shop in the first lockdown I didn’t realise until I was almost done that there were arrows stuck on the floor telling you which direction to shop in. I was too busy looking at my list and trying to get done as quickly as possible.
The employee in question was just doing their job and they wouldn’t know it was you first outing in a year.

Oopsadaisy1 Thu 11-Mar-21 15:29:27

These ‘jobsworths’ are doing a crap job, probably for crap pay and for very little respect from customers. They have been shouted at too and roundly abused, these are people with families and responsibilities, if they let you through they risk being sacked from their job.
All To Keep YOU Safe and anyone else you might have passed, if he/she had let you go through then the next person would have wanted to as well.

So YYABU, the rules are there to protect you too.

275men Fri 12-Mar-21 10:34:20

Give yourself a break. You’ll know the rules for next time. Don’t worry about it at all xx

BusterTank Fri 12-Mar-21 10:37:36

I probably would of and said I'm really sorry but it's the first time I have been out and I didn't realize .

dianne2265 Fri 12-Mar-21 10:42:23

I think you should have apologised as you were in the wrong.. I work in retail and it is people like you that make our job, which has been so difficult throughout the pandemic, even worse. You may not have been out shopping but we have been on the front line every day of our working lives, not knowing if the people we are dealing with have Covid or not. A little bit of kindness goes a long way. If retail staff decided not to turn up you wouldn't have been able to shop in the first place. Sainsburys have plenty of signs directing customers so maybe you should have opened your eyes.

Whatdayisit Fri 12-Mar-21 10:43:04

I don't think you did anything wrong. No need to shout. It is bewildering gand confusing when you haven't been out whatever the circumstances.
In our Sainsburys it was like that until about 7pm then they would shut the door and go back to the usual exit route which was confusing but you still get shouted at.
I have a liw paid job and have worked all the way through the pandemic but i still have manners. I have had a row with a sainsburys security guard for blocking the confusing exit he was apparently watching shoplifters but when i looked in the direction he was looking i saw 3 young teenage girls who had short skirts and belly tops no bags o don't know where they were stashing there loot.
There have been some lovely staff but some nobs as well.

Mollygo Fri 12-Mar-21 10:44:07

I can see why you felt it was ridiculous, but I’d have gone back, apologising and explaining that it’s the first time I’ve been out. (I actually had to do that in M&S).
So many people think the rules don’t apply to them and that’s one of the reasons Covid spread so easily.
There’s no way she could have known whether you were genuinely confused or one of the ‘rules don’t apply to me’ group.
When you’re in the wrong it’s much nicer for both parties if you apologise.

JaneJudge Fri 12-Mar-21 10:44:23

the first time I went out shopping I walked the wrong way round the co-op blush I think i was a bit overwhelmed. At least you'll know for next time

knspol Fri 12-Mar-21 10:44:41

I know it seems very petty but I wouldn't like the security person's job. I would have apologised, said it was my first outing in a year and used the proper exit.

Daisymae Fri 12-Mar-21 10:45:29

I would have done exactly what you did. Apologize and kept going. You didn't do anything wrong.

jaylucy Fri 12-Mar-21 10:45:33

Having been a retail worker I can fully see it from their point of view. I would guess that they have had to instruct people nearly every day at least since this current lockdown began!
There is a reason that you go in and out different doors and if they let one person do it, the next person coming into the shop would probably have thought " they have gone out that same s
door, so I will to !"
Absolutely no reason why you couldn't apologise and explain that it was the first time that you had been in the store for some time and then go out the way that had been indicated.
Just sick and tired of some people just doing what they want to - if every one had conformed, we wouldn't be where we are now!

sazz1 Fri 12-Mar-21 10:47:45

I had similar to this on my first time at a Tesco Express. Assistant shouting loudly at me to follow the arrows on the floor. Hadn't even noticed them.
I won't ever go in that shop again.
Plenty of other shops with better mannered assistants

razzmatazz Fri 12-Mar-21 10:47:56

I would have smiled sweetly and said " Of course I will go out the other door but it would have been nice to be asked pleasantly "

Tanjamaltija Fri 12-Mar-21 10:49:04

I would not have gone back. It happened to me this week that I visited a supermarket where I had not been for months. I know I went down one sloping aisle (not a floor) floor, so I was surprised when I saw "Entrance / Exit" near the delicatessen; I assumed it led to the same parking lot, somehow. I went out through that door and - of course, it was a different area, and I got lost, but I began walking around the block and soon found the other parking lot. But my first sentence is about how I do not like people shouting at me, especially if they are showing off their "power" to an audience.

Awesomegranny Fri 12-Mar-21 10:50:02

Problem is if they are counting numbers in and out, someone going out the wrong door will mess up calculations. So when it gets busy people will be standing outside unnecessarily if the people who have left haven’t been counted. Difficult times at the moment but we just need to obey rules to help each other

HannahLoisLuke Fri 12-Mar-21 10:50:08

I haven’t yet been to a supermarket but glad of the heads up so I don’t make the same mistake!
I’ll probably carry on with online shopping for a while.

Whatdayisit Fri 12-Mar-21 10:51:10

I fell out with sainsburys because of there 'feeding the nation attitude' as though they were giving it away for us lucky shoppers. Yes they have provided a service while other shops have had to shut. They have been allowed to sell non essentials while the high street has died. I hope out of there profits they give there staff a bonus.
While i appreciate the staff for working through the pandemic as many of us have there are many who have stood talking without a distance or without masks. Everytime you go in they are stood together supervisors on self serve or security in the door way.

Chemtrail Fri 12-Mar-21 10:51:12

It's ridiculous, it dosent make any difference which door anyone uses, op isn't going to kill anyone. It's about time people stopped agreeing to being herded around and obeying mostly stupid rules

Mildmanneredgran Fri 12-Mar-21 10:51:38

Yes, I would have done was I was being asked to do. I don't know if the "security woman" was shouting or not, but I don't think it's bewildering or confusing (could be construed as patronising) to be asked to use another door, when we all know there are new safety measures in place. The OP understood the instruction, just chose not to follow it.

paperbackbutterfly Fri 12-Mar-21 10:52:46

It's been a difficult year and we have all had new rules to learn. The shopworkers must be so fed up of telling people off but the rules are there to keep us all safe. I would have apologized and gone out the correct door. Sadly it's a whole new world and you must do the same as everyone else now.

Jo1960 Fri 12-Mar-21 10:52:59

Some security staff are outright bullies & always go for the low hanging fruit. Others are really helpful underpaid mistresses/masters of de-escalation and tact who are doing a thankless task. The majority are somewhere in between.

Personally I would not go back if I was spoken to like that by anyone. A yelled "sorry, didn't know, please improve the signage" would be all I'd be willing to do, and even then at a push & mirroring the guard's tone.