Jobsworths.

I think it has been very difficult for shopworkers, they are low paid, do not get the thanks and respect other key workers have got and have been on the front line throughout the pandemic.

Many, many times a day they are asking people to wear masks, to shop alone and observe the entrance and exit directions. They are often ignored and subject to abuse. So, yes I can see why she was abrupt when you ignored the signs and just carried on regardless.

I would have apologised and gone back through the correct exit.

You were probably the umpteenth person to go out the wrong door - she has a job to do.

Yes, I would have used the other exit - you said you were almost outside, so not outside and expected to go back in.

As you haven't shopped for a year, you've missed what most of us have been doing, that is trying to do the right thing.

It's going to take some re adjusting for those who haven't been out and about for the past year. Things are very different now. The trouble is as no one wears a label to say this is their first outing, the security guard doesn't know this and treats everyone the same.
I would probably have gone back to use the correct door, if only to practise the procedure for next time.

Yes I would have gone back and out through the new exit door. I would have said sorry and explained first visit in over a years didn’t know. Door security have had a thankless task over the last 12 months, it can be confusing in the shops if you have t bed; in for ages.

I would have gone back, apologised and used the correct door, shop empty or not for the reasons already expressed.

I have done that too and so have others.
I would have done the same as you,there are ways to tell you and a little polite reminder would have been much nicer.
Yes they have their job to do for safety reasons , but i`ve noticed it`s gone to some peoples head.

I would have gone back through the right door and I hope I would have apologised. I think shop workers have just had a horrendous time this year. I watched a shop worker asking someone to leave yesterday as they werent wearing a mask, it was a really uncomfortable situation and one they must experience multiple times a day.

So most people would have gone back and out of the correct door. I honestly don't know what I would have done.

I do know that I'd have been extremely embarrassed, to the point of tears, and would be very reluctant to go there again.

I agree with the majority of posters on here. If I hadn’t been out for ages, I would have realised things have changed and been very careful to do the right thing. I think it’s very unkind to call someone doing a very necessary ( probably low paid) job a ‘ jobsworth’. Millions of people have worked hard at keeping us safe over the last year and they deserve out thanks and respect. The least we can do is follow the signs

I think it would have depended how close to the exit I was. A few feet and I would just have gone out and ignored her, on the grounds that it would have been perfectly safe to carry on, a bit like not stopping sharply at a suddenly changed amber traffic light with cars close behind me, safer to continue. Any further in and I would have apologised and followed her instructions, but angrily shouting at someone for something they have forgotten or not understood is never acceptable.

I’d have done exactly as you did Kitty, and then worried about it afterwards.

I would have apologised and used the correct door; the intention is to avoid contact with other customers as much as possible.

It is tricky. In the past year I have ventured out out a handful of times. The first time was last summer with my daughter and we went to a local cafe at a time when it was empty! I must admit I felt quite flustered trying to be aware of rules that by then were second nature to others.
This year it has been medical appointments and a trip to post office and superdrug yesterday. Both were virtually empty so kept mask on and followed signs. Medical appointments more straightforward.
I havent been in a supermarket and as yet dont want to! Tbh if I was half way out of door already I doubt I would have gone back,just muttered a very embarrassed sorry!
I empathise with supermarket workers but maybe a polite "are you aware" ,especially as so quiet,would have been better. It would have given you the opportunity to explain, and as another poster said maybe try out the alternative exit for next time.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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?

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.

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.

bored not boring

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.

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