Jobsworths.

Since no one else was around, it did not really matter.
Just remember,
Common Sense is no longer that Common.

Box ticking is much more important.

It would have been a last second decision whether to continue on out the door you were using or to follow the yelled directions. I probably would have been a little annoyed at the employee’s angry tone so I might have kept on going.

I think the email would be OTT. However if you go ahead, the CEO might well ask to see the video footage of the event.
If he sees that, he will see how long the exchange lasted and the fact that you ignored the rules, however brusquely they were given.
Since there isn’t audio he/she will have no way of knowing exactly what was said, and I hope you were both wearing masks, so no chance of lip reading.
It was upsetting for you and possibly for her as well, but better to let it go. You’ll be much more aware next time.

send your email to the Chief Executive of Sainsbury’s, the assistant was rude and shouldn’t have spoken to you like that under any circumstances.
The security staff are not normally store assistants, but employees of a security company, probably paid even less than the Sainsbury's staff.
I'd have admitted my mistake apologised for not noticing.

Sending an email to the CEO of Sainsbury's is an over the top reaction in my opinion. It just blows the whole incident out of all proportion.
The security guard shouldn't have been rude, he/she was wrong, but so were you.
Their lives are pretty difficult, with extremely poor pay into the bargain..

I went to Sainsbury yesterday, my weekly visit. It's quite a small one, and usually not busy at the time I go. I noticed that they have now put up large 'Exit only' signs on the exit door - which has always been the exit door. There was the usual single staff member on the entrance door but no queue so I went straight in. A woman pushed past her on the other side to me with no mask. The girl asked her to wear her mask while in the store (she should have had it on anyway as this is in a shopping centre) and was told to 'f.. off, no one can make me wear a mask if I don't want to'.
As I was paying I heard a bit of a kerfuffle behind me and saw two men, again maskless, pushing their way into the shop through the 'Exit only' door, fighting against the people leaving. The Lord only knows why, it's only about 15 feet away from the entrance door.
I was only in the shop for 15 minutes. If the security people are putting up with this for 8 hours a day I'm not surprised they are frazzled.

I understand these are difficult times but everyone deserves to be treated with courtesy and respect. You were in there to spend money, money that ultimately pays the staff wages.
I would send your email to the Chief Executive of Sainsbury’s, the assistant was rude and shouldn’t have spoken to you like that under any circumstances. There are tactful ways of getting the message across.
I hope you don’t return to this supermarket. Are there others that you could use that value your custom more?.

kircubbin2000, you haven't been out in a year so, obviously, you've been unaware of the changes introduced for safety.

Shops have tried hard to organise a safer, socially distanced, one way route through the store.

Therefore, your doing what you always have - was wrong!

It's happened to me a few times, when 'in a dwam,' especially in Tesco's...although I've not been shielding. I always feel embarrassed and retrace my steps. However the staff are always polite in pointing out the error of my ways...

No. Someone at the surgery was rude like this to me the other day when I picked up my tablets. They had changed the 'system' and it was confusing to me so I went the wrong way. I was feeling upset, but the lady dispensing the medication was lovely, which made me feel better.

I do not think you were unreasonable you just had not used the store for a while and did not know the new arrangements.
If you were almost outside then maybe just keep going it was a genuine mistake.
Our Sainsburys store does not have the security down at the door anymore, what they have are entry door and exit door
and they have put those heavy orange barrier type things up so you have to use the exit door, before covid you could walk out the entry door depending on where you have parked your car.
Last week as I went in the entry door to go to the escalator
two men came down the escalator and apparently they did not want to use the exit door so they kicked the barrier down narrowly missing my leg and went out the entry door.
Two other men were shouting at them from the escalator for their stupidity and the security was just standing looking at them from the top of the escalator. When I got to the top of the escalator I said to the security you should be on the doors downstairs he just said no we have got the barriers down there so I told him to send someone to pick up the barrier as he had just seen them being kicked over. People are now acting like the covid has gone and it is turning into a free for all.

I would have been embarrassed, would have said ‘Oh, I’m so sorry, this is the first time I’ve been in here for ages’, and would quickly have gone out of the correct door, hoping no one I knew had seen me.

Just imagine how many people deliberately use the wrong door and make her cross.

I have found myself having to raise my voice on numerous occasions when wearing a mask. There have also been many times when folk wearing masks have had to do the same when talking to me from 1 metre distance. I am not alone in this and I think there's no doubt that that masks muffle speech. On the assumption that the security person was socially distant, could it be that she was merely ensuring she could be heard?

Yes
You are being totally unreasonable

You have to remember that shop & security staff have gone into work all through the lockdown and pandemic. They do not get worshipped for this like NHS staff.
Many other professions too have also continued to work under difficult circumstances & putting their health at risk - police, bus drivers, prison officers, cleaners, court staff.
You have to understand that these workers are probably feeling a but frazzled by now

i did this when they had been chopping and changing what doors to use, it was 8.30pm and nobody around, security guard stood blocking the door and telling me to go back and out the other door, i said i was sorry and will remember next time, he raised his voice and pointed at me to do as i was told, i asked to speak to the manager and asked for the security company head office number, he now just smiles and avoids me

They used to do this at Asda long before the pandemic and it was a long walk round to the other exit. I stopped going there.

Totaly agree Shirlb:

well yes, at the moment there are rules to follow and , in most shops, there is an entrance and exit, dont think she should have shouted at you though

So sorry this happened to you, OP. No one has the right or excuse to shout at another human being or be abusive towards them. Common curtesy goes a long, long way, except in the barracks. I've seen both, those members of staff and customers who ignore rules like social distancing. I would have told the security guard that I wasn't aware/made a mistake and there was no need to shout at customers and upsetting them, and what he did was unacceptable and left through the door he/she pointed to.

I thought shops had enough signs, arrows, etc, for us to follow to show which way to go. Any I have been in for the first time seemed very well organised. Maybe she shouldn't of shouted at you, unless you were far away from her, there's no need for that though, but I suppose if it keeps happening it ends up getting frustrating. I've worked in shops since leaving school and it's a thankless job most of the time, I've been sworn at, threatened that they knew where I parked my car and would be waiting for me after closing, etc. Covid, I believe has made it even worse for retail staff and the way they have been treated by some of the public. You just explain why it happened and that now you know what way to go you definitely wouldn't be doing it again.

I collected my husband from hospital two days ago. We had recently moved to the area of the hospital and I found driving around strange roads difficult. The hospital is vast. It was such a relief to find where I had dropped him off. I hadn’t been allowed to visit him and I was upset when I had dropped him off, collecting him after two weeks, I was equally apprehensive and also thrilled to be seeing him. He has been really ill.
All spoiled by the horrible officious chap who dashed over and harangued me about parking too close to a ambulance in front of me.
I gave him a mental slap around the head with a wet fish. What a jumped up jerk. A bit of power had gone to his head. I reversed and said nothing.

I think a lot of changes are confusing, especially as often they're not clearly marked. However, in Aldi yesterday large signs at the door said one customer, one trolley. I counted six spare-dinner men hanging about in the shop, in the way, watching their wives shop from afar. At the checkouts they all appeared, to clutter up the queue. Why? Managing a supermarket must be a nightmare, with foolish people who can't seem to shop by themselves

As a shielder, on the few occasions, I was allowed out before being advised to shield again, Sainsburys was the only store I felt safe in. Wide aisles, security on the door, lots of sanitisers at the entrance, hand held scanners, (as advised by the shielding service) and helpful staff.

I think calling her a jobsworth is a bit unfair. She probably had a manager breathing down her neck and the security guard isn't able to give her version of events.
I would have apologised and said I hadn't realised, as I hadn't been out much. Surely we need to make ourselves aware of the protocols, when going shopping at the moment.

I admire those who have had to continue working during a pandemic under difficult circumstances, when there are many people who ignore the rules and show no consideration of others. Being told off is a minor issue in the scheme of things.

Rules are for a reason.I would have made light of it saying 'sorree',which for many is the hardest word to use and used the other way in/out as the case may be.