Jobsworths.

Our health centre has a separate exit door now. You come out at the back of building and have to walk round. Last week I saw an elderly lady stand with determination at the entry door which was locked. Eventually a nurse came to the door and opened it for her. To me that was the right thing to do. The old lady would have been confused and disoriented at the back of the building. To the OP, I would have reacted like you.

I suppose we’ve all at some point or another gone in to a shop though the entrance that was familiar to us without thinking .....so the security guys have a hard job to keep things in check with us all , they have their job to do and should be shown respect as we’re all bit frayed at the edges these days .
I would have said sorry and gone back around the way it’s marked out to be . Take this as a lesson whenever you go into or out of a shop , be aware and look out for the signs....they were usually big and bold so no mistaking them .....

My aren't there some goody goodies around. Genuine mistake. Get over it.

Lots of ‘would have’s here but don’t beat yourself up OP. It’s done now, and you know for the next time. If someone had shouted at me I would have wanted a swift get away and would not have gone back if escape was so close and clear!

It might be helpful for stores to have large 'entry' and 'leave' signs on each door, then it would be easier to use the correct one.

Noticed more little hitlers around gave them but power goes to their heads

Shirlb

Noticed more little hitlers around gave them but power goes to their heads

Really ? Little Hitlers?

Before this latest lockdown I ventured out once to Lidl for a couple of things, feeling very nervous as I hadn't shopped since March. Inside the shop I felt like rushing back out again as there were so many people. I got the things I needed but when I got to the checkout I forgot social distancing and just had my trolley between me and the lady in front. The look she gave me nearly killed me. I realised what I had done and tried to back up, but there was someone behind me. She continued to evil eye me until she left the shop. I was really upset by the time I got home, and haven't been shopping since. I know she didn't know it was the first time I'd been out, and was new to this new shopping experience, but a less aggressive stance would have been helpful.

We went to our local Sainsbury's a few weeks back for the first time. As we approached the door two assistants were standing there and one asked, quite hesitantly, if we were together. She then said was it necessary for us both to go in as they were trying to encourage single shoppers. We honestly hadn't given this a thought - we hadn't been shopping , so I stayed outside while OH went in. Both assistants thanked me profusely for understanding , which made me wonder if they had been given a really hard time, having to say this to couples or groups . Not an easy task for them.

Chemtrail

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

That sounds like the man at the ‘coffee cabin’ on Monday, refusing to wear a mask or to step back from the counter when placing his order.
He used almost exactly the same words about it “doesn’t make any difference” and people should stop “ being herded around and obeying . . . stupid rules”. He got quite nasty when she refused to serve him.
His masked friend, quite obviously embarrassed, told him to go away.

Good for you. Sainsbury’s staff appear to have been trained by the Obnoxious school of customer relations and boss people about to the nth degree. Try another supermarket in the future.

I would have done what you did.

I haven't been in a shop since January last year and easily get flustered when under pressure. I dread the thought of having to shop on my own, pack everything and use a card rather than cash.
I can visualise the eye rolling and being told I am not following the rules.
To the OP, I think I would have just done as you did .

Regardless of how many people are using the wrong door, there is no need to be rude. All she had to say was ‘excuse me, but you need to use the other door, please’.

Something similar happened to my husband last year when pubs allowed social distancing. He’d arranged to meet our sons in a local pub and walked in, completely forgetting to put his mask on. He was almost at the table when he was approached by a staff member aggressively telling him to go back outside, put his mask on and then come back in. The fact that he was less than a metre from his seat made no difference. I know these people have a very repetitive job to do but some of them really are jobsworths.

I attempted that once in a supermarket on a rare trip but the security person pointed to the arrows and sign showing I was going the wrong way out. I did go back out the correct way and he gave me a smile and a thumbs up. These people are doing their job and if you have worked with the great public you will know how hard and frustrating it can be.

There is no excuse for shouting at customers. Some of these people are getting quite unreasonable.

Aepgirl

Regardless of how many people are using the wrong door, there is no need to be rude. All she had to say was ‘excuse me, but you need to use the other door, please’.

Exactly.

I reckon lots of people got things wrong when the social distancing and directional rules first came in for shops. I certainly did. Never got shouted at, just calmly spoken to.

The OP was experiencing something new and unknown after a year of anxiety about a virus.

I hope I would have apologised to her and gone back in and then out through the proper exit, but after having been shouted at angrily instead of being asked nicely, I would probably have done exactly what you did.

You have a right to expect to be spoken to politely, even when you do something wrong and the fact that this woman spends all day telling people the same thing, does not excuse her rudeness.

As a teacher I spent all my professional life telling children to do or not do things I had told them a dozen times already, and most times I did so politely and kindly, so she can too.

@ Spottybooks and bags.... I totally agree with you both, to say jobsworths not to their face is acceptable as no one was hurt by it. To say it shows a bad attitude is a little OTT, If no one was coming the other way, as I guess there was hardly anyone around at that time of day, no harm was done, and I find no reason whatsoever to shout at someone like that regardless of whether they're fed up or not. We're all fed up, and at that time in the morning it would've been a new day for this security guard, so I can't find any excuse to persecute the lady who went out of the wrong door. It wasn't a deliberate " ignoring of rules" like some do. And as someone's already said, I've noticed a lot of these security people have enjoyed exceeding the authority they otherwise wouldn't have. No ones perfect and no harm was neither intended or done, so no one has the right to take the moral high ground here, over an innocent mistake. Well that's my logic opinion, most people are doing their best in a bad situation, we don't all go around shouting at people, it's obsurd to do so. If I had being in a situation where I'd been shouted at, I wouldn't have reacted too kindly either. Fed up or not, it doesn't bode well for the rest of the day, this security person or whoever she was, would have probably been attacking people by the end of the day.( only joking) but she ought to think of her blood pressure. Way OTT to be so judgemental of the poor lady who went out of the wrong door. In fact bloody ridiculous, it caused no harm whatsoever.

The one at a time rule is for only one member of a family to do the shopping, not to take unnecessary people in. Some shops are still limiting the amount od people in a store at any one time and it makes the queues longer and it is unnecessary for most people to take other people shopping with them. The are exceptions if you need a carer or have small children that cannot be left outside or at home. At one of our shops, people go in separately and then join up inside and it is very selfish of the one I have seen, it forces other people to queue in all weathers and increasing the risks.

Yes, I would have apologised to her, and gone back in and exited by the correct door. Rules are rules....for everyone.
Can you imagine if you were entering the store correctly and some shopper removing their mask came out the in door, and coughed on you as they passed close to you? Guessing you'd be complaining.

This security lady is doing a very important job. I suspect she 'shouted' or raised her voice as it would stand to reason that she is always communicating to shopper's backs. Pointless of her to whisper or speak in a volume used when chatting with someone right beside her - you wouldn't have heard her.

We have a lovely pleasant security lady at a local B&Q, where they do at times have to restrict numbers entering. I was waiting first in line to go in one day, was chatting with her, when this guy approached and obviously was intent on just walking right in. She challenged him, said he would have to wait and that it would only be for a minute or two, and received a mouthful from him, and still he was stepping onwards to go into the store. I shouted at him, in her support, and you have never seen a guy look so shocked/taken aback, and sheepish. He retreated and stood behind me in the queue! We were permitted entry almost right away then, as two shoppers came out.

I am sure the female security guards receive far more abuse than their male counterparts - mostly from men I guess....but from women too.

Absent mindedly I made the same mistake and was told by security to go back around! I apologized & did as I was asked. Seems like the majority of contributors here would do/have done, the same.
There's been a lot to get used to and shop staff must have had a tough time. All we can do is support them in these challenging times.

I would have apologised and said that I would know next time.

Caragran... Here here ?. "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone" so to speak, and all that. And no I'm not some religious freak, I went to Sunday school as a child, and found this verse very appropriate. People are too quick to judge.