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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?

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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 .

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

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.

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.

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.

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 14:55:35

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

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 14:34:17

I wouldn’t defend the shouting but I do still think calling her a jobsworth was unnecessary and unkind.

Cabbie21 Thu 11-Mar-21 14:31:03

My granddaughter works in Aldi and is fed up of the way many customers treat the staff, but shouting was not necessary in this case, was it? I think I would have explained that it was my first time out, then followed the new procedure.

Callistemon Thu 11-Mar-21 14:21:50

bored not boring

suziewoozie Thu 11-Mar-21 14:20:54

Can you imagine how scared some of these workers have been over the last year. Rude selfish customers coming too close, not wearing masks , no backing from management in many cases.

Callistemon Thu 11-Mar-21 14:20:40

Our local supermarket only has one entrance and exit and in fact I don't think any of the ones we use have more than one set of doors for customers.

Are there arrows on the floor, kircubbin?
I expect you did it through force of habit and absentmindedness and that is no reason for shouting at a customer however boring or badly paid the security staff.

A friend's daughter was stopped from walking into the supermarket with her husband - "One at a time" shouted the security man aggressively even when she tried to explain they were together.

Pantglas2 Thu 11-Mar-21 14:05:18

I haven’t done it as I’ve shopped once a fortnight all the way through but DH did when I finally let him out after his hip op!

I was the one doing the bellowing while the security in Tesco chuckled?

Amberone Thu 11-Mar-21 13:23:59

I would probably have apologised and used the correct exit, unless I was actually outside. I've found most of the security people are quite chatty and helpful once they realise you're not just ignoring them.

You're not alone in being shouted at - in the first months of lock down I was forever being turned round and shepherded towards the back of the queue as I wandered into the supermarket each week. Too busy thinking about what I was going to do once in the supermarket rather than what I was actually doing.

Baggs Thu 11-Mar-21 13:00:31

Indeed. I don't think you did anything really wrong, kirkcubbin.

kircubbin2000 Thu 11-Mar-21 12:57:37

It did seem silly to go back as I was almost out and there were no customers coming in.

Baggs Thu 11-Mar-21 12:56:42

I don't know what I would have done. If she shouted angrily, as if I was supposed to know, I might have answered that it was my first time shopping there for the firs time in nearly a year and that, thenk you, I'd know next time.

If she just shouted to make herself heard I might have said "Oh sorry, I didn't know; haven't been out for a year" and gone back to go the other way. But I might only have changed my course if there was someone coming in the way I was going out. Even then, if there was room to pass without getting too close, well, who knows.

suziewoozie Thu 11-Mar-21 12:55:02

I have a cousin by marriage who works in a major supermarket in a customer facing role. The unsafe behaviour from so many customers that he has had to endure has been beyond reason. He lives with his 90+ mother who he has been trying to keep safe. Quite frankly, if we’re old enough to be let out on our own, I think we’re old enough to behave as we should.