On The Fringe

[poliphilo]

There was some sort of drama going on at Aldi yesterday afternoon. At one point all three staff decamped to the locked staff room- where they keep the money-  leaving us customers waiting patiently at the tills and wondering, whimsically, whether we'd get away with it if we ran to our cars with our shopping and drove off. Then they came out again- and the girl who arrived at our till was weeping copiously. I've been served by grumpy people before now, but never one in floods of tears. Ailz- who is good at this sort of thing- asked her what the matter was and if we could help- but she wasn't saying much- except that the guy who had made her cry- and who we'd already seen having a shouting match with a customer- was subbing for the regular manager. I left feeling (a) that I wanted to get away as fast as I could and (b) that I should have done something... like...like...I don't know what.

Comments

[silverhawkdruid.livejournal.com]

I had a manager do that to me once. I had done the unforgivable and left my keys in the till while I went for a tea break (I was 16 and it was my first job). When I got back I opened the till after serving my first customer, and all the notes were gone! I shot up to the office in a blind panic to tell him what happened, and the b****** screamed at me for five minutes, threatening police and allsorts before finally telling me he had removed the money himself to scare the hell out of me and teach me a lesson.

From tears of fear, came tears of anger as what he'd done sank in. Then I quit on the spot! I went home, told my dad, and he reported the guy to head office of the chain. Don't know what happened to him, but he wasn't there next time I went in as a customer.

I think you did what you could. You showed the girl some sympathy. The guy shouldn't be in charge if he can't keep his temper with staff and customers. Geeze!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

What a horrendous experience!

People are routinely promoted beyond their level of competence.

[aellia.livejournal.com]

I would imagine that a customer had said he gave her a £20 note and she's given him change for £10 or something like that. Then they have to do a till read. It always used to make me feel like they thought I was on the fiddlw.
x

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Could be.

I guess that sort of thing happens a lot...

[oakmouse]

You might consider reporting his behavior to the higher-ups in the chain. It's not professionally acceptable behavior to bully employees or have a public shouting match with a customer.

[daisytells.livejournal.com]

My thoughts exactly! He should not be permitted to treat the help like that, especially when customers are kept waiting so that he can feed his big fat ego!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

But what if she'd done something that warranted a severe ticking off? I didn't see enough of the action to be sure that he was in the wrong.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I don't believe I saw enough to justify a complaint. The girl at the till might have done something that warranted a reprimand- and her tears could have been unjustified. I know from having done it all too often, that it's dangerous to make assumptions on fragmentary evidence.

[oakmouse]

Fair enough. I based my comment on my years of experience as a retail employee, and what I've seen of public versus private behavior on the part of managers and employees both. Basically, my take is this: if the guy is publicly shouting at customers and if he's sending an employee out onto the floor in tears, that says to me that he's out of control. Maybe the girl earned a ticking off, but he should have allowed her to go wash her face with cold water before he sent her back to the till. Maybe the customer shouted at him first, but it's his obligation as a manager to keep his own temper or take the argument into the back office where it won't disrupt other customers' shopping. Both in the amount of time you were in the store? Not good.

However, that's my take. If you feel you haven't enough to go on to complain, that's your judgment call. You were there, after all.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Aldi keep prices down by employing very few staff. This is a big store and- as far as I could see- there were only three people on duty. That's got to be stressful.