General Chat

I wonder if something similar has ever happened to others.

I'd left work and called into a local supermarket on the way home.
While looking for something for dinner and elderly lady approached and asked me where was the buttermilk kept....
I told her I didn't know and to maybe try the milk section.
She asked me to 'show' her where the buttermilk was and I told her I didn't know, to try asking someone else.
She got quite huffed and told me she was going to report me..and she stomps off.

A few minutes later I am approached by the elderly lady with a store employee and store manager in tow.
She explains to the store manager I refused to help her find the buttermilk and she wants me fired...

Problem was I didn't even work there!!!
When the manager tried to explain this to the lady she thought everyone was "taking her for a fool" so she stomped off saying she was going to report the lot of us...

The uniforms were similar and I had forgotten to remove my name tag after work...so I guess I may have looked like Staff...

Kellie

Oh Yes

I was in a store in Toronto Canada looking for a gift for a wedding shower,
when a woman approached me, asking me about gifts, I told her I was only on holiday and didn't have a clue where things were.

she then approached my son who was only 11 at the time so I went over she was asking my name.

Turned out we were at school together in London, I hadn't recognized her and wasn't aware she had moved to Canada :-S

Small world isn't it :-D :-D

Happens to a friend of mine all the time.

She's a sales rep, wears black pants & jacket, with her ID on the breast pocket. No matter where she goes, somebody will ask her for assistance.

She picked me up at the airport once; on the way from the gate to baggage collection she must have been asked for assistance at least six times.

I was once visiting an elderly man in nursing home ,on the way through a lounge an elderly lady tugged my jacket and asked for a pan .I thought I'd better find a nurse for her ,wondered why she asked me ,then realised I was wearing navy pants and jacket ,similiar to staff .

It made me realise how people especially in hospital settings do get confused ,these days in big public hospitals there apperas to be no easy way to sort their uniforms even with name tags .While waiting for a friend in hospital I noted a lady cleaner in a nice uniform ,looking smarter than a nursing sister .Also seeing most of our nurses are agency workers they all have different uniforms . :-S

June,
There was an elderly man here.....always dressed in a suit and carrying a brief case....well groomed, well spoken...He began turning up at some shelters, nursing homes etc and speaking with clients and even at Church and various town meetings.
Everyone thought he was wonderful and helpful and he really seemed to be able to connect with those less fortunate or feeling down..
Then one day someone asked "Who is he?" and noone had any idea!!
Everyone thought he worked for some other department/area etc and noone had bothered to query him..

Turned out he was just some elderly man suffering early onset of dementia and thought he was some type of "official carer"
All he had in his brief case was a banana and peanut butter sandwich!!!

Kellie

LollyW'S,
I've had that happen between states but never countries!!

Scozzie,
My dad was always being "mistaken" for a Detective...(I have no idea why but I guess he looked like a detective to others)
A few times I had people try to 'dob' someone in by trying to give me information to pass onto my dad...

I wonder if some people just have a "look" that people "recognise" as being a certain profession??

I know I think I can always pick out the off duty policeman in a crowd!

Kellie

Hm!

once upon a time a copper was always obvious by his uniform, but these days they all look similar....security guards are much the same.......

Bob


I have been asked If I was stirling moss, and john surtees, though...........by a traffic cop!

ha Bob
"I have been asked If I was stirling moss, and john surtees, though...........by a traffic cop! "

All I've even been asked was had I been drinking or did I have any drugs in the car!!!!

I said YES to both and was stuck a the side of the road till my car looked like it was still on the assembly line....(I didn't do that again in a hurry)

Kellie

Kellie and Scozzie

I've got a red 'i" for information tattooed on my forehead..LOL!!

:-) :-)

Margot

Kellie-you found out the hard way that it doesn't pay to be a smart a**e
with the cops! LOL!! ;-) ;-)

Margot :-D :-D

ROFL - we're friendly with a few local cops - most of them have tattoos... out of uniform they look daggy, just like everyone else :-D especially at the pub lol

would of it hurt to show her to the dairy section? :-( she was an old lady after all .

Hayley
As Sad Mushroom says she didn't know where the milk section was,she could have been trailing the old lady all over the supermarket lokking for the milk section,which wouldn't have done any good to the old ladies temperament or he health.

Sue

This would never have happened in days gone by as no-one went around in their work clothes. Why anyone would want to advertise their place of work baffles me. Having been in a uniform most of my working life the last thing I would want is to give anyone the impression that I am still available..........and I have been known to help old ladies in the supermarket, usually to pass them something off a shelf they can't reach.-jl

I don´t wear a uniform of any kind & I´m a pensioner, but there´s rarely a day goes by when a group of tourists doesn´t stop me to ask directions to places of interest.
Yes, I live here & I do try to be helpful, but have to explain that while I speak & understand Castilian, I haven´t a clue about Catalan & that is the language which is used & spoken here (although most of the locals are bi lingual). Visitors from the mainland get more annoyed at not being able to understand anything here than foreign tourists do.

Hayley
I have worked in supermarkets where we didn't have signs for where foods were.

Also you have to remember that Kellie is in OZ and we are in England the layouts of supermarkets could be totally different and they would be larger than ours.
I will tell you a true story.
When I worked in a certain supermarket which has now been taken over by Asda we didn't have signs and there are a lot of small supermarkets that don't have signs.Tesco is one of them.

But if people who have just finished work need to do a small shop then it should be up to the person if they have time to help as they may need to get home for their own children finishing at school/college.

Surely if Kellie didn't know where the buttermilk was kept then she did the right thing instead of trailing an old lady round the supermarket lokking for the milk.

Wonder what would have happened if Kellie had trailed the old lady round the supermarket until they found the buttermilk,the old lady could have collapsed with exhaustion and then who would have felt guilty.

Just another point of view.

I have agree with Hayley and besides no matter where you are or in what supermarket there is always staff around, so if this was me I would have found a member of staff and asked her where the item is and then assisted the old lady, if not and and I could honestly hand on heart say this I would have got the buttermilk for her and give it to her......no matter how large the supermarket whats a few minutes to help out someone elderley I would hope that if it was my Nan and I was not there that someone whether it be staff or not to help........

I speak personally and to if it was me this is what I would do, not having a go, just pointing out yet another point of view :-D

Where I live, we have, what I have been told, is the largest Tesco in the UK. If you walk in to the right is non food items, to the left, at the front of the store is the Tesco clothing section, behind that several more non food aisles. You have to walk past quite a number of aisles before the food section even starts. I've only been in 2/3 times and have no idea where anything, other than the book section is. The rest of it I have to wander up and down the middle aisle that separates front from back to find anything. You can't see half the signs until you get near the aisle they are in. It could take a lot longer than a few minutes to find it. Past experience has also taught me that Tescos don't always keep things where you expect them to be, it could be the same for the supermarket Kellie was in.

For all we know Kellie could have had kids to pick up by a certain time and was just picking a few items up. She may even have a disability that makes it painful for her to walk any further than necessary.

Mersey always has trouble being mistaken,whenever she stands near the Mersey Tunnel Motorists keep stopping and giving her money then drive off through it, quite lucrative I suppose but annoying. :-D :-D :-Dpmsl. :-D

Your so cheeky Merlin!! lolol :-D :-D...... kicks Merlins Butt...... :-P