‘Cut it out’

The minority of supermarket customers abusing staff over the lack of such items as toilet rolls should curb their tongues, Unite said today (18 March).

 

 

Unite, which has about 9,000 members at Sainsbury’s including check-out staff and shelf fillers, said that it had had reports from its reps that a number of customers were taking out their frustrations on staff.

 

 

Unite national officer for the food industry Bev Clarkson said, “We have had a number of reports that customers have been abusive to our members who are doing their very best in these unprecedented times.

 

 

“People have been getting frustrated that they have not able to obtain items such as toilet rolls – there have been similar reports across the retail sector.

 

 

“Customers should curb their tongues as there are no problems in the food supply chain – being prudent is fine, being greedy is not.

 

 

“We should be thanking – not abusing – those dedicated staff working in the food retail industry – a key sector as we come to terms in dealing with the coronavirus outbreak.

 

 

“Basically, we need to be more considerate to each other during the coming weeks.”