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A British mother was left 'in tears' and 'in shock' after a confrontation with an Aldi cashier.
The mum says she was shopping with her three children when the row over the speed of his scanning occurred.
Nicola Fuller became embroiled in a tense discussion with the "disgracefully rude" staff member, reports our sister title the Daily Mirror.
She said she was left traumatised by his "aggressive approach" and the "ferocious" speed of the conveyor belts while checking out.
The loyal Aldi shopper says the worker refused to slow down his scanning - even as food fell from the allocated packing area onto the floor "like a slot machine."
Eventually "huge towers" of products piled up, as Nicola "frantically reached" to pack her bags as quickly as possible.
"He could see my struggle and when a tin finally fell, I began crying and shaking," she said.
"I knelt to the floor to pick up the food while simultaneously trying to watch my children.
"I asked the cashier to please stop scanning through more food and that it felt like he was throwing the items at me."
But Nicola says she received a "blunt and aggressive" response, as the cashier accused her of not "packing quickly enough" and dubbed her a "liar" for her accusations.
Nicola said another Aldi worker then took over and diffused the tense exchange, while the cashier walked away.
"The other worker was very lovely and understanding," she said. "But the incident has personally knocked my confidence.
"Shopping with three children can be challenging enough without suffering panic and anxiety at the checkout and leaving the store in tears.
"I was shocked how someone in customer care could disregard my struggle with no empathy or care whatsoever. It's totally unacceptable."
Nicola, who was shopping with her children aged two, three and seven, says she reported the incident to Aldi's customer care team, who say they have raised it with the area manager.
Having shopped at the supermarket chain for the last 10 years, she says she now feels "worried" about returning to the store.
"Normally I pop into Aldi a couple of times a week, but I've been putting it off," she said.
"I'll have to face it at some stage, but the experience has really unnerved me and I'll be steering well clear of that particular employee."
Her account raises wider questions about the limited space in Aldi packing areas, which has divided shoppers before.
She said: "I've never liked the checkouts. It's always a rush, and the area is so small. I've never had an experience as horrid as this one though."
An Aldi spokesperson said: “Our colleagues are trained to work at a pace suitable for each individual customer. We have spoken to Ms Fuller to apologise for her experience at the Guisborough store and hope to see her again in the future.”
This gives me the opportunity to complain about how small the packing areas are at the self checkout at my grocery store. You have to put every item on the packing area because it weighs them, but then there's not enough room to put everything so you end up carefully stacking things and taking way longer than you would if they would just provide a little more room. It's a terrible, terrible design.
They do have half a dozen self-checkouts that are reasonably sized, but they're about 25% of the total checkouts. I'll often just refuse to use the poorly designed ones and wait until one of the decent ones is clear. [Reply]
Honestly sounds traumatizing. I was getting anxiety just reading it. Reliving every moment. Ever jar of applesauce just blasting down the conveyor belt. Ground beef jettisoning past the scanner at break neck pace. Jars and cans...fruits, veggies....all just hurling through the checkout like asteroids zipping through space. And then her kids are screaming too? "Mom! Mom! my lunchables!"
Ughhh...that poor woman. Sounds horrifying. The kind of stuff they make movies and video games out of. [Reply]
Originally Posted by ToxSocks:
Honestly sounds traumatizing. I was getting anxiety just reading it. Reliving every moment. Ever jar of applesauce just blasting down the conveyor belt. Ground beef jettisoning past the scanner at break neck pace. Jars and cans...fruits, veggies....all just hurling through the checkout like asteroids zipping through space. And then her kids are screaming too? "Mom! Mom! my lunchables!"
Ughhh...that poor woman. Sounds horrifying. The kind of stuff they make movies and video games out of.
At least we know she wasn’t buying soap or toothpaste since she’s British [Reply]
Originally Posted by Lzen:
This sounds ridiculous. I mean, yeah, sometimes you get a rude person at any place that is customer service. But being traumatized? Give me a break. When did people become so soft?
People have been soft for a LONG time. Imagine being angry, offended, or "traumatized" at the thought of having to share a swimming pool, restaurant, or water fountain with someone that looked different than you. [Reply]