'Some shoppers have verbally abused us and thrown items off the shelves at us' - the realities of working at a Harborough superstore during the pandemic

Shocked staff at a Harborough superstore have been repeatedly verbally abused and even had items off the shelves thrown at them by customers during the Covid-19 pandemic.

A handful of the shop’s employees, been officially classed as key workers during the 10-month coronavirus crisis, have even had to take time off suffering extreme stress after being left traumatised by their ordeals.

Blowing the lid off the day-to-day reality that hundreds of his colleagues across Harborough and South Leicestershire are forced to face, a frontline shopfloor worker agreed to talk to the Harborough Mail on condition of anonymity.

“The Covid pandemic has been a terrible time for all of us up and down the country – and this is certainly no different for those who like me work in a shop.

“It has been shocking at times – and you are left wondering what the heck is going on.

“I want to make clear from the start that the majority of shoppers are fine and no problem what so ever.

“But there is a small percentage who have given us no end of grief,” said the dad, who’s worked in his store for about five years.

“We have seen a lot of verbal abuse dished out to our colleagues.

“Effing, blinding, a lot of very bad language and threats made in the heat of the moment.

“I’ve suffered too at the hands of these people.

“A lot of the trouble has occurred at our checkouts when shoppers have been forced to queue up.

“They quickly become agitated and impatient, they don’t like to wait and so they kick off and tempers flare.

“They abuse other shoppers as well as our staff, turning the shop into a very volatile environment,” said the worker.

“It’s shocking at times – and very worrying.

“Luckily none of us have been physically attacked or injured.

“But items, products off our shelves, have been picked up and hurled at my colleagues.

“Many of us have felt very high levels of anxiety continuing to work throughout this very long pandemic as we’ve come under fire from totally unreasonable customers.

“Damage has been done and a few employees have had to take time off due to stress and worry.

“Some offenders have been very threatening and aggressive.

“I recall seeing a 2019 survey saying that nationwide over 400 shop workers a day were being badly abused by shoppers.

“And that was obviously before this pandemic – now that level of abuse has gone through the roof,” said the worker.

“We are being targeted by this unacceptable minority on a daily basis.

“Younger customers are not so bad, I’ve got to say, they’ve been OK on the whole.

“But apart from them this huge problem cuts right across the board – both men and women, all age groups.

“The big big issue has been people keeping their two-metre social distance.

“They read all the signs and constant reminders as they come in – and then just forget about it.

“It’s been a major factor and massive root of trouble.

“Time and again we’ve seen people reaching across each other in the aisles to grab their bacon, tin of beans or what ever and crowding everyone else.

“So we have to remind shoppers to keep their distance – and some don’t like being told and promptly lose the plot on the spot.

“We all know that we can be infected by Covid by people walking and standing far too close to us.

“We are all committed to doing the best job we can for the public.

“But who wants to come to work knowing that we could catch the coronavirus from a shopper who can’t obey the basic rules and guidelines?

“Many of us have partners, families and children.

“Imagine how we we’d feel if we caught Covid working in the shop before going home to give it to our loved ones?

“No job in this world is worth getting Covid for and falling very sick or even worse.

“Wearing a mask wrongly or not wearing one at all has also been a serious problem.

“But that seems to be improving now as stores crack down on people not wearing face coverings.

“It’s been a real struggle.

“Thank goodness management here have been good at imposing measures to combat the threat of the virus.

“Because without these controls it would be absolute chaos, a free for all.

“There have been flashpoints – and the level of verbal abuse has been sky high, which is shocking.

“We’ve just had to focus on continuing to serve people as well as we can every day as we did before while implementing the Covid controls.

“Our staff have been very resilient, very strong.

“They’ve had to be or this terrible pandemic would have got on top of them and ground them down ages ago.

“We are all in the same team and we’ve had to look out for and look after each other.”

Asked if he had a special message to give to shoppers, the middle-aged worker replied: “I’d tell them that you have to be patient.

“It’s going to be slower, it will take you longer to get around.

“I’d say to them – treat us with decency, with dignity, with compassion.

“Treat us as you’d want us to treat you – as fellow human beings.

“That is all we ask.”