Jobsworths.

I’m assuming that, as it was a major supermarket, there were clearly visible written signs with arrows saying ‘exit’ and ‘no exit’. It’s not unreasonable for the supermarket staff to assume people can read, and to expect them to follow the written directions. They get into trouble from their supervisors if they do not police the entrances and exits, so they have every right to expect shoppers to observe the signs.

I have no sympathy at all with the ‘I did something stupid and got told off, poor me’ attitude of the OP.

We need to remember that for almost a year now retired people have been able to choose whether or not to go out. Except for the clinically vulnerable that is a luxury. Others have had to carry on as normal going to work and doing their shopping. They’ve had no rest and have often had to work harder than before, not to mention exposing themselves to the risk of contracting covid. If you have stayed at home you have been fortunate to be able to do so. Yes things are different now and we must accept it. Of course there is never an excuse for rudeness but shop staff have a thankless task and will sometimes be tired and angry. We have to do as we are told or stay at home.

No but I would have apologized.At our Sainsburys the in door & out door are right next to each other! Maybe she as having a bad day. What annoys me is that despite loafs of notices asking people to shop singularly there are still people going in in pairs.OK if you have a young child then yes of course but why does anyone need to take their husband? Unless they are disabled of course. The men always look bored & fed up. I would never go food shopping with my DH. He takes ages to go round. He does often go to Morison's on his own as he likes some of their stuff but I went with him once & it nearly drove me potty. He stopped & talked to every member of staff we passed & he knew all their names. No wonder he is out for hours. I bet they dread him coming in . Hopefully he can get back to work before too long & give them some peace.

I have worked with the public throughout the pandemic (taken on a part-time job to replace the career and role I was made redundant/retired from during the first lockdown) and have been shocked at the abuse I’ve received. I’m cross and tired and just want to shout pull your neck in. No need to be rude with those of us with low paid customer facing roles. You were lucky to be able to isolate/shield, many of us have to go out and work.

Well, never mind, it's done now. I got a telling off in Tesco for using the wrong escalator - there was a lady at the top of the wrong escalator especially to tell us this - so why not put a sign up downstairs to prevent it in the first place?
"Pardon me for not being psychic" comes to mind.

I would have done what you did. I’m tired of being barked at by people with a bit of power. I know they have a job to do but a little courtesy would help. In each case I have not intentionally broken any directions and I have not been aggressive - just made a minor unintentional mistake. Sadly the longer lockdown goes on the more people are going to snap I think. Enjoy your trip out - here’s to many more of them!

Gosh, there are some entitled snobs who think the rules don’t apply to them here.

If that’s her usual job she’s doing it badly. There was absolutely no need for her to raise her voice. You are a customer after all. In the circumstances I’d have done exactly what you did.

I'm definitely with Shropshire lass on this one. I would have apologised and gone back and through the right door. Having said that, it's never okay to shout at a customer or anyone really. But you'll just have to assume she was having one of those days and forgive her!

Laronsmum..." Can you imagine if someone coughed on you. You'd be complaining"
But we're not imagining, we're dealing with the facts here. And the facts are no one was around but a stroppy security person. No one was around to cough, wrong door or not, someone taking off their mask to cough in someone's face is a deliberate and offensive act, OP was not acting deliberately or offensively, I'm afraid your case would not stand up in a court of covid law. I think this conversation has become bordering on ridiculous now. My advice to OP, is next time you make a mistake, don't post it on here. It's really not worth it. People love petty arguments, it's a sign of getting old.

yes i would have gone back as i might have bumped into another person .

They could just be at the end of the road on telling people they're using the wrong door. I bet she felt like saying, can't you read the notices?

kircubbin2000

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?

I've recently spoken to a person that was a volunteer in vaccine organising.
At first the non voluntary staff in the hi-vis jackets were like every one else helpful and pleasant. After a week they were draconian, surly and obnoxious. Giving people power can have a very unpleasant affect.

I haven't been in a shop/cafe/on a bus since last March, and I know that when I venture back into 'real life' there will be things I will get wrong. It won't be because I 'don't think the rules apply to me', though - it will be because I'm not very sure what they are, as applied by individual retailers in their stores.

Throughout the pandemic I have seen (online) a significant number of people being unpleasantly superior, from the shopping police and 'is that an essential item?' brigade at the start, through the 'you are being selfish by having shopping delivered' mutation a bit later on, the ones adopting the tabloid language of 'Covidiots', the ones who think they own the beach/woods/pavements and the school prefect types who love insisting on rules for the sake of conformity. It all got quite nasty very quickly, and in some ways I am not looking forward to getting back out there amongst them.

I'm not saying that the majority of rules have not been for the common good, and I do think that mask-avoiders and party-goers are antisocial and have no regard for the safety of others. That is no reason for people like the OP to be shouted at, however, or spoken to angrily.

In you shoes, OP, I would like to think I'd have had the presence of mind to ask to speak to the manager, but in reality I would probably have pretended not to hear and sloped out of the door in front of me, unless there were people heading towards me, in which case I would have cringed with embarrassment and headed back into the store.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

@ 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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.