Supermarket Altercation/Trolley rage

Kiwi in IE

OH and I became involved in an altercation in the supermarket this afternoon and I am wondering should we have stayed out of it?

We were in the local Lidl and there were 2 checkouts open. One had loads of people waiting and the other had less people, but a load of groceries unpacked on the conveyer belt and the customer was nowhere to be seen. First mistake was picking this one.

The checkout operator had already started putting these groceries through, most likely under the impression that the customer had quickly nipped away to get something forgotten. Wrong. The counter where scanned groceries are placed became full, so the checkout operator stopped scanning. There was a man with a couple of items in front of us and I had already begun to unload our trolley onto the conveyer belt. We all waited at least 5 minutes and still the person had not returned. The checkout operator had begun to pack the purchase into the trolley so she had room to scan the rest of the purchase. Lidl is not a supermarket where you expect staff to pack your groceries.

The man in front of us got annoyed and asked can the checkout operator ring the purchase off and put others through. There was now quite a line behind us. Everyone in the line who had one or two items was then put through ahead, including several behind us, but as we had a big trolley, half on the conveyer belt, our shopping couldn't be put through because the missing customers groceries were ahead of ours.

By now over ten minutes had passed with no sign of the customer whose groceries were blocking everyone else's. The checkout operator got up and went to find the person. She returned and shortly after, so did a huffing, puffing, mildly abusive old bint, who was giving out to, and being extremely rude to the checkout operator.

The old bints sale continued, then came about 5 loaves of unbagged bakery bread. She asked the checkout operator to put them into bags. The checkout operator pointed out (and very politely to her credit) that bags are in the bakery area. The Bint demanded that she go and get some for her. Checkout operator replied that a lot of people were waiting and she needed to finish putting the sale through, so Bint would need to get them herself if she wanted them.

Now Bint starts going on about poor customer service and asks to speak to the manager. The manager is on another till and she goes over and starts giving out to him about the checkout operator very loudly. The manager comes over and asks the checkout operator what had happened. In the meantime Bint has wandered away to find bags for her bread. Her groceries are put through the till and packed into her trolley by the checkout operator, while Bint wanders about and then slowly meanders back. I have my trolley up close to the checkout now, as my stuff is next and there is no room between the trolley and the dividing barrier. Old Bint returns bagless and attempts to squeeze past our trolley huffing, grunting and complaining that she will not fit. So everyone in the queue reverses to let her past when she could have gone the other way.

She was still giving out loudly about the checkout operator as she pushed past us and then apologised to me for making me move the trolley. I had had about enough of the silly old Bint by now and told her she should also apologise to the checkout operator for being so rude to her. She then tells me to mind my own business, and proceeds to ask the checkout operator for her name and the number of head office to make a complaint. I replied that it is my business as her lack of consideration for anyone else had me waiting about 20 minutes. I said to checkout operator that I will leave my name and number and if she complains, I will happily be a witness. The old Bint is right put out now and giving out to the manager. The checkout operator is in tears and has to be taken off the till because she is so upset. The manager asks for my name and number which I gave.

Now we are in the car park and OH and 5 year old Little Kiwi are coming back to the car after returning the trolley. Old Bint drives up closely behind them in a threatening manner, also coming very close to knocking a young boy off his bike, and beeps the horn. She starts giving out and gesticulating to OH and I, although her windows are wound up so we can't hear what she is saying. OH then opened the passenger door and totally let her have it. He was really angry and shouted at her for driving dangerously and told her that she was the most rude, obnoxious, inconsiderate, selfish person he had come across in a long while and that her behaviour in the supermarket was appalling. He then shut the door and walked away while she was in mid rant. She either pretended to record or did record our registration plate. The woman was mid to late sixties but I don't think being on in years is any excuse for such ridiculous behaviour.

Now correct me if I'm wrong but I think there is an unspoken but obvious supermarket etiquette and this old cow broke almost every rule. If you must run away and get something that is forgotten, you only do it if it can be done without holding anyone else up. Otherwise too bad, you will have to get it after your purchase is complete and go back through again. I have on occasion after unloading my groceries, asked the person behind me if they mind if I quickly grab a forgotten item, but only while the person ahead of me is still being served, not in the middle of my own sale. What are your opinions on this? Is it acceptable to slowly wander around the supermarket holding up the checkout? And is age an excuse for such behaviour?

Maybe we should have stayed out of it but this woman really, really irritated me, particularly her treatment of the checkout operator. Personally I think the manager should have cancelled her sale, told her to leave the store and not return.

Menas

She caused you inconvenience the her ignorance and was wrongly rude. She deserves it.

Also, who the fck expects Harrods style service in Lidl?

Spring Onion

It's 2014, most of us have the concentration span of Homer Simpson at this point so this OP is too long. Is there an exec summary here?

kneemos

This is what cattle prods were originally intended for.

conor2469

Fair dues, she sounds she sounds like a right old c#nt and you were right to stand up for the checkout staff.

Dubl07

The manager should have voided the sale and put yer wan back to the end of the longest queue.

Arthur Beesley

And you have the nerve to complain about time wasting?

suicide_circus

when i come to power, people like that woman will be killed.

Lenin Skynard

Bint? What does bint mean? Isn't it a fancy brand of chocolate?

SparkySpitfire

That would make my blood boil. I have no time for anyone like this, good on you for standing up for the poor checkout girl and putting that hag in her place.

BBDBB

Spring Onion wrote: »

It's 2014, most of us have the concentration span of Homer Simpson at this point so this OP is too long. Is there an exec summary here?

Im waiting for the movie to come out

The Backwards Man

Don't mean to be flippant, but it sounds like a bit of afternoon entertainment to me to be honest

lollsangel

Id have took her reg and reported her fir being threatening with her car to the garda

ColeTrain

I'm angry reading that tbh. I hope she falls down the stairs and breaks her hip..

Chucken

Please don't use her age as a measurement of her rudeness.
She's probably acted like that all her life.
That kind of behaviour doesn't just appear over night.

endacl

Which branch, OP? I think I've seen that same bint...

suicide_circus

People who abuse low paid retail/hospitality/service workers like that are scum.

ColeTrain

endacl wrote: »

Which branch, OP? I think I've seen that same bint...

From my limited experience, every store in the country has 'people' like these. Bunch of cúnts...

mitosis

Checkout operator should not have been scanning while the customer was absent. That's the root of the problem. However, the lady was no lady. Frequently enough I have pushed other peoples shopping to one side when they left the line. Old Superquinn in Knocklyon was a notorious spot for people who put their basket on the belt then fecked off to get bread. I always ensured they had trouble locating the basket (two tills over) when they came back to find a queue ahead of them

SpaceTime

That's ridiculous behaviour.

There's a big issue with the notion that the customer is *always* right philosophies.

You should always try to be nice to your customers but sometimes they can be extremely wrong.

When they're upsetting your staff and other customers they're just overstepping the mark!

doolox

I come across this all the time. Mostly old women who think that time is not important, engaging in "small talk" with cash operators, looking for "last minute" extras that cost the other queuers time and being a nuisance to other shoppers. They are worse on the road travelling very slowly and slow off at the lights delaying other road users who have to put up with them.

Modern self service supermarkets should have information commercials outlining the obligation to decide and have all your purchases before approaching the checkout, pack your trolley in a timely manner and have your cash or card ready, also in a timely manner.

Having seen the checkout operators working so hard I suspect that there is a high element of electronic and visual monitoring going on and probably comparisons being made between operators, shifts and stores etc urging people to increase productivity. That beast of a woman probably had the operator very worried about her loss of productivity during the incident and has probably caused an inquiry with consequent delays and waste of time, probably her own time, after working hours engaged with senior management trying to save her job.......

The beast of a woman is also wasting the time of other customers, management and other workers having to fill in for the hapless operator while she recovers from her terrible ordeal.

Such nutjobs shouldn't be allowed in minimal service supermarkets.

Kiwi in IE

Chucken wrote: »

Please don't use her age as a measurement of her rudeness.
She's probably acted like that all her life.
That kind of behaviour doesn't just appear over night.

I didn't mean I thought she was like that because of her age. After the event OH felt mildly guilty for having shouted at an elderlyish woman. What I meant is that in my opinion age is not a reason to be let away with such behaviour.

fro9etb8j5qsl2

I feel raaaaaaggggeeee just reading this :mad: :mad: TBH I would've let rip on her in the first instance of her returning to the conveyor belt, put the auld b1tch in her place before she had the nerve to cause any more hassle. You only have to read the cries of retail thread in the ranting and raving forum to see that the majority of supermarket trouble makers are middle to old aged women, thickly ignorant with a sense of entitlement to boot. No harm taking them down a peg or 2. As for her carry on in the car park, I would have been so enraged by that point that I would have rang the gardai and reported her for nearly knocking ye down.

Kiwi in IE

endacl wrote: »

Which branch, OP? I think I've seen that same bint...

Enniscorthy!

cruais

I unfortunately see this type of behaviour most days. If you have access to the ranting and raving forum, you will probably see examples of some of them.

In my opinion, these people seem to think that the louder they kick and shout, the more people will jump for them.

Empty vessels. ....

Kiwi in IE

mitosis wrote: »

Checkout operator should not have been scanning while the customer was absent. That's the root of the problem. However, the lady was no lady. Frequently enough I have pushed other peoples shopping to one side when they left the line. Old Superquinn in Knocklyon was a notorious spot for people who put their basket on the belt then fecked off to get bread. I always ensured they had trouble locating the basket (two tills over) when they came back to find a queue ahead of them

Checkout operator was stuck because it was unloaded onto conveyer belt and others had unloaded behind. She was not in any way at fault. I think she had also left just before we arrived and had therefore been present at the commencement of scanning.

Chucken

Kiwi in IE wrote: »

What I meant is that in my opinion age is not a reason to be let away with such behaviour.

Of course it's not but the way I'd look at it is, feel for her rather than keeping the anger

Imagine living with her

SimonLynch

On one hand I'd say I hate the recession for driving Dunnes/SuperValu/Superquinn customers into Aldi where they just don't get the concept of how unpacking trolley/repacking to trolley, paying and moving to the bagging area.

On the other hand, I hate the recession for what it's done to an elderly relative of mine who I was out with shopping with at the weekend. Worries about loads of other things make him a bit stressed and sometimes he takes it out/lashes out unfairly and feels awful later.

I tend to give the elderly a fair bit of leeway even when they don't obviously deserve it. (OP was absolutely right to give contact details as a witness though)

joolsveer

From Arabic بِنْت (bínt, “girl, daughter”), used to denote a patronym.

The term entered the British lexicon during the occupation of Egypt at the end of the nineteenth century, where it was adopted by British soldiers to mean "girlfriend" or "bit on the side". It is used as a derogatory slang word in the United Kingdom, meaning 'woman' or 'girl'. Its register varies from that of the harsher bitch to an affectionate term for a young woman, the latter being more commonly associated with the West Midlands. The term was used in British armed forces and the London area synonymously with bird in its slang usage (and sometimes brass) from at least the 1950s. The term has also famously been used in the classic film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, in which the Lady of the Lake is referred to as a "moistened bint", and in the phrase "grotty Scots bint" in the "English English" scene of the film Austin Powers in Goldmember. It also appears in the famed British sitcom Fawlty Towers, in which Basil Fawlty refers to his wife Sybill as a "cloth-eared bint."

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bint

cock robin

I suggest a possee and sticks with flames at the end and lets hunt this old kunt down....

Amirani

Fair play for sticking up for the checkout operator.

Maphisto

Hi OP. My €0.02 . It sounds like this woman is just a row waiting to happen. I don't see you did anything wrong or could do anything different (other than with hindsight).

I would not be at all surprised though if the woman has mental health issues.

ardle1

doolox wrote: »

I come across this all the time. Mostly old women who think that time is not important, engaging in "small talk" with cash operators, looking for "last minute" extras that cost the other queuers time and being a nuisance to other shoppers. They are worse on the road travelling very slowly and slow off at the lights delaying other road users who have to put up with them.

Modern self service supermarkets should have information commercials outlining the obligation to decide and have all your purchases before approaching the checkout, pack your trolley in a timely manner and have your cash or card ready, also in a timely manner.

Having seen the checkout operators working so hard I suspect that there is a high element of electronic and visual monitoring going on and probably comparisons being made between operators, shifts and stores etc urging people to increase productivity. That beast of a woman probably had the operator very worried about her loss of productivity during the incident and has probably caused an inquiry with consequent delays and waste of time, probably her own time, after working hours engaged with senior management trying to save her job.......

The beast of a woman is also wasting the time of other customers, management and other workers having to fill in for the hapless operator while she recovers from her terrible ordeal.

Such nutjobs shouldn't be allowed in minimal service supermarkets.

Perfect summary off the way checkouts should be approached!! How come 90% off us normal humans know that already, and the other 10% off psycho nut-jobs are oblivious!! I think they are self centred 'me' inspired freaks off nature..... Bless them.

thecatspjs

suicide_circus wrote: »

People who abuse low paid retail/hospitality/service workers like that are scum.

People who abuse anybody like that are scum.

Kiwi in IE

The first time she returned after the checkout operator had to go and fetch her, her main complaint about the 'dreadful service' was 'being rushed'. :P

bootybouncer

your husband sounds like a right bully too........................opening a car door, if I was related to the old dear (or bint as you put it) Id be promptly on the garda with your reg, no right to open a car door like that

endacl

bootybouncer wrote: »

your husband sounds like a right bully too........................opening a car door, if I was related to the old dear (or bint as you put it) Id be promptly on the garda with your reg, no right to open a car door like that

You don't by any chance frequent LIDL in Enniscorthy....?

Lenin Skynard

Lenin Skynard wrote: »

Bint? What does bint mean? Isn't it a fancy brand of chocolate?

I thought it was funny anyway.

Glad you stuck up for the checkout person OP, a small triumph of good over evil there .

deseil

If someone did a comedy sketch of that it'd be hilarious, im invisaging the aul one sitting in front of her range stewing and thinking how she can exact her revenge....lets just hope her sons aren't the Wexford mafia!!

Amirani

bootybouncer wrote: »

your husband sounds like a right bully too........................opening a car door, if I was related to the old dear (or bint as you put it) Id be promptly on the garda with your reg, no right to open a car door like that

Is it illegal to open a car door? I think the Guards would have a good laugh at you.

deseil

deseil wrote: »

If someone did a comedy sketch of that it'd be hilarious, im invisaging the aul one sitting in front of her range stewing and thinking how she can exact her revenge....lets just hope her sons aren't the Wexford mafia!!

I'd love there to be a Wexford Mafia. I'd.....I'd just love it. And a Kerry Krew. And a Cavan Coven - though there probably is one of those, like the Portlaoise Posse.

happyoutscan

bootybouncer wrote: »

your husband sounds like a right bully too........................opening a car door, if I was related to the old dear (or bint as you put it) Id be promptly on the garda with your reg, no right to open a car door like that

Ah ffs will you ever go away with this nonsense. 'No right to open a car door like that', even when the dear old bint is being a danger in her own car around children?

Maphisto

bootybouncer wrote: »

your husband sounds like a right bully too........................opening a car door, if I was related to the old dear (or bint as you put it) Id be promptly on the garda with your reg, no right to open a car door like that

Please let me know where you shop, I want to avoid that place.

HeidiHeidi

This incident would have driven me into orbit!

But never forget that she may have been old/confused/flustered/dithery (I accept that it sounds like she was none of the above, bar old). I learned my lesson to hold fire when stuck a few cars behind a car that was dithering all over the place on some backroads in Dublin - was only short of leaning on the horn and/or getting out to abuse the doddery driver - when I eventually got within proper sight of the car realised it was my own father :eek: who has never been know for his speedy manoeuvres while driving.

Having said that, if I ever found him abusing staff like you describe, I'd kill him!

ollaetta

Lenin Skynard wrote: »

Bint? What does bint mean? Isn't it a fancy brand of chocolate?

Yes, I think it's Lidl's version of Lindt.

Dubl07

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

This incident would have driven me into orbit!

But never forget that she may have been old/confused/flustered/dithery (I accept that it sounds like she was none of the above, bar old). I learned my lesson to hold fire when stuck a few cars behind a car that was dithering all over the place on some backroads in Dublin - was only short of leaning on the horn and/or getting out to abuse the doddery driver - when I eventually got within proper sight of the car realised it was my own father :eek: who has never been know for his speedy manoeuvres while driving.

Having said that, if I ever found him abusing staff like you describe, I'd kill him!

If your dad's still around and driving like that, perhaps it's time to get him some sight tests, refresher lesson and/or taxi vouchers, Heidi.

suicide_circus

bootybouncer wrote: »

your husband sounds like a right bully too........................opening a car door, if I was related to the old dear (or bint as you put it) Id be promptly on the garda with your reg, no right to open a car door like that

Horseshiite

Greenmachine

What a silly cow that woman was. A few week ago when I was checking out in lidl with the OH. The checkout operator pointed that the meat package was torn. I went back and changed it while the rest of my groceries were being scanned. Wouldn't dream of making people wait. Clearly there are people out there who really are in their own little world.

astrofool

I'd have put all her stuff back on the trolley, and moved the trolley out of the queue, 2 mins waiting would be about the maximum, especially if she hadn't given any notice for when she'd be back.

I worked behind the till during my secondary school/college years, if people left the queue, I'd suspend their sale, move their stuff to one side, and continue with the rest of the queue, never had anyone complain about it.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Lenin Skynard wrote: »

Bint? What does bint mean? Isn't it a fancy brand of chocolate?

Obviously nobody here is a fan of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

HeidiHeidi

Dubl07 wrote: »

If your dad's still around and driving like that, perhaps it's time to get him some sight tests, refresher lesson and/or taxi vouchers, Heidi.

That incident was at least half down to my impatience on the road! He was never likely to be involved in a high-speed crash, in fairness, far more likely to induce road rage in others (eg me ).

He's very rarely behind the wheel, if ever, these days - has taken to a bicycle to wobble around the place - not sure if that worries me more or less :eek:

But any time I find myself beating the steering wheel in frustration, or doing a jig behind someone dithering at the till, or frantically trying to pass someone weaving slowly around the pavement when i'm in a hurry - I remind myself that they're someone's Mum or Dad and take a deep breath.

(and then go mad!)