General Chat

I agree with Kellie-you did the right thing under the circumstances.That so-called little old defenceless lady sounds as if she has very sharp claws to me.She's the sort of person who has been grumpy and difficult all her life-now she is old she's having a field day-she has a great excuse to be difficult.That sort of person is very quick to take offence, and claim that they're being victimised.I know I'm generalising, but I come across that sort of person occasionally,and she fits the bill perfectly.

Margot.

I'd like to reply to
""I have an elderly Mother and it upsets me to think that in this day and age, whilst trying to keep what little indepenance she has left, that someone if she needed it wouldnt take just a few mins to help her if she asked for it, wheather it be to help point her in the right direction of the buttermilk or help her coz she is having a heart attack..2 mins and abit of commonsense would of all it took ....tsk what is this world coming too..""

You are lucky to have an elderly mother...some of us don't.
I could have pointed the lady in a direction but it would have been in any direction. I have no idea where buttermilk would be...I would have only been sending her on a wild goose chase.

The comparison between finding buttermilk and having a heart attack is just about as ridiculous as anything I have seen.

2 minutes is hardly what it would have taken and could have meant my children being at home on their own,,after dark...
In the situation we were in it wasn't something I was about to take a chance on.

It has nothing to do with common sense OR someone elses elderly parent battling to keep their independance.
It has to do with priorities...

I bet if I came in and posted that I'd left my children alone at home after dark and they had been hurt (or similar) while I was helping some lady at a supermarket find buttermilk....You would be having a say about how 'bad' of a mother I was for not putting my children first!!!

Tsk...By the way....the year before I was nominated for Volunteer of the Year Award (here in Australia) for the work I had done helping/supporting Frail Aged and Mental Health Clients on a pilot program,,that is now fully funded by the Government and assists many Aged/In Need clients..

Kellie

Scozzie,
Woolworths and Coles keep changing here too.
You go in thinking you can just 'grab' something and it's not there...
Our butter and juice etc is now in the same aisle as lollies and chocolates!!!
While the yogurt and eggs are the aisle behing it,,,,,with milk, cream and other yogurts up about 5 aisles and frozens are all the way up the other end of the store...

You have to walk the whole store just to grab a couple of things
Kellie

OK,
Let me explain why I was in work clothes and didn't wander around trying to keep at a dawdle to find buttermilk...

Single mother working 2 jobs,,,no car...
Walking home from 2nd job and called in to grab something for tea/dinner as I had 4 sons at home waiting to be fed.
Once home there is cooking, washing, cleaning, helping with homework, unpacking/repacking school bags, making lunches and hopefully time for a shower before bed...before I have to get up between 3am and 4 am to go to first job again...

Sorry but I just didn't have time to wander around looking for something which I had no idea what it was let alone where it was...
IF I would have realised the lady thought I was staff I would have explained I wasn't and maybe she would have looked for someone else..

This wasn't some helpless little old lady,,,she was quite abrupt and rude and obviously could find a store manager faster than I could find something for dinner...I bet if she made as much effort finding buttermilk she wouldn't have needed anyones help!!

Kellie

our local supermarket recently changed things (WHY do they do that?)

On one side you'll find cheese, in the middle you'll find eggs and milk, and waaaay over the other side you'll find butter, cream & yoghurt.

No idea where to look for buttermilk. or cream cheese. :-D

No, George, St Helens. It's a new store that was built alongside the new rugby stadium and opened last year. I could be wrong about it being the largest, it's just what I've heard.

ChAoTic,

were you talking about the camberley store.?

George

Hayley, my mum has a heart condition and walking her up and down Tescos to find the buttermilk would not do her any good at all.

Sad Mushroom,

I find it quite understandable that you were mistaken for staff, moving round the store on your own,
Normally in supermarkets you get two or several women just standing chatting, blocking the isles making it difficult for people to get past, so to find a woman actually moving and not standing there gassing, no wonder she thought you must have been staff. :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D

George :-) :-)

I have an elderly Mother and it upsets me to think that in this day and age, whilst trying to keep what little indepenance she has left, that someone if she needed it wouldnt take just a few mins to help her if she asked for it, wheather it be to help point her in the right direction of the buttermilk or help her coz she is having a heart attack..2 mins and abit of commonsense would of all it took ....tsk what is this world coming too..

OMG!! Merlin and now you Bobtanian ........I feel bullied now LOL :-P

LoL

didnt realise that Mersey was Pay as you Go?

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

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

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.

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

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 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.

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

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