Physical attacks/threats on staff.

[ali p]

A shoplifter was spotted hiding make-up down her clothing by a member of staff. She notified a manager who in turn notified my dad who is a customer champion on the door.  On his own again -cause the in store security had gone off on another driving jaunt for .com, but thats another story. There was a man with the woman and they were stopped from leaving the store . A bit of an altercation arose before the arrival of police. My dad was pushed and almost ended up in the floor. The manager decided to let them go as things were turning nasty. Fortunately a customer saw them leaving in their car and forwarded the reg plate, this was passed on to the police who managed to stop them 15 mins up the road coming off the motorway. They have been charged and are out on bail. The make up has been returned estimated at around 800 quid worth.
But needless to say it has shook my dad up and has been having trouble sleeping.

[12brook3]

so it still happens customers putting the boot in i worked for tesco for 13yrs left in 2001 best thing i ever did i now work as a qualified mental health carer recently qualified after 12yrs abuse from customers i decided to take that leap glad i did and found there is life after TESCO i still talk to mates after all these years so if you are thinking of leaving take that leap of faith i did 

[ali p]

i did a 9 year stint there 12brook3 and like you know what it's like on the other side , my dad is just hanging on for iminent retirement.  he only keeps working cos he likes his nforeign holidays so much

[Everylittlehurts]

I can only describe my last day at Tesco as coming to the end of a prison sentance. When I was let free from her evil cluthes it was such a big weight lifted off your shoulders. All the politics and the nastiness, the threats and the constant worry, all gone! I would advise anyone who actually wants to one day have some sort of personality to do the same. I know this will offend many reading this, but whether you notice it or not, the truth is when you work for Tesco you are little more than a loyal lapdog, a poodle, a bitch, one of the Pied Pipers rats!

Be an individual, get some thoughts of your own. Get a job that gives you more than just money back. A job where you have a voice and don't just have to lick ass and fall for the cult brainwashing to get on. Get some self respect and leave!

[TescoStudent]

I have been threatened several times, first of all by a drunk old man, telling me to 'Pack his F-ing bags' and I replied that I would do so, when he said 'Shut the F-up'.
I get abuse every time I get on the checkouts and still I have to put on my biggest smile and say 'Do you have a clubcard sir?' gggrrrrr!!!!!
Also had some very serious violent incidents happen to collegues, one of our security guards was pulled out of the store and beaten by a group of youths, luckily the male section managers ran out after them and jumped in!
They then went round to the garage and hit one of the workers there too. 
Also my manager came to me in CPM and gave me a trolley full of meat to put back, which a customer had tried to do a runner with, subsequently abandoning the trolley and pulling a knife when confronted.
I have had junkies swearing at me, people threatening to 'wait outside' but they never do. I am actually usually very friendly, and I dispair when yet another person starts getting abusive over nothing.  I had a customer write to head office because I 'Looked at her funny' but since she admitted to swearing at me, not a leg to stand on. 
Why won't Tesco stand up and say We will not accept people abusing our staff!

[Tilltart]

Tesco H/O only worry about money threw a till and not the abuse from customers to staff

when I was a front end T/L

I had a member of staff in tears from verbal abuse over a customer being asked for ID, the CSM at the time was called to CSD and he knocked on the door of the office I was consoling the member of staff, I was pulled outside and told "that customer was well over 18 you pr**k whats up with you now go sort her out and get her back on her till" I just told him I was on overtime and didnt need this sort of abuse and went home. 2 weeks later I was suspended for a very minor issue that takes place in stores daily hmmmm wonder why

So is it attacks by customers or senior managment ?

[Everylittlehurts]

So much for "you say no, we say no!"

[Anne]

Not everything is as black and white as that though. You can't take everything at face value.

[bushido]

I find that HO and the main board do support you, they do not accept abusive customers.
its the managers in store that sometimes allow this to go on.
Its like most company policies such as H&S. The board want you to follow the rules, its the managers in stores that prevent it.
Raise grievances, and try to get them out of store ASAP.
nothing like a little embarrassment to bring managers in line with policy

[Jaycloth]

Bushido, An interesting point regarding managers not adhering to the rules etc: I have always felt that this is due to the target system. When targets and bonus payments are involved, rules are bent or broken. Figures are "massaged" or, in common language, falsified. I'm not saying that these actions are right, but they are very tempting to a manager when the alternative is a censure. Maybe the answer lies in support and investigation, to discover the true reason for targets being missed. Or would that be too easy.

[bushido]

also the protector helpline, area organisers. Have found those to work as well as grievances.
My store went through living service and when asked about the Store Manager (to describe in with one word answers) i replied Bully, Unprofessional, Bully, Swearing, Bully, Figure-Massaging (ok I cheated and hyphenated 2 words!).
When it came to the team meetings, I coached the other managers to tell their stories.... funnily enough within 4 weeks, that manager had been 'moved'

[The Mrs]

Teenager punches supermarket employee and threatens to kill another after birthday drinking session

http://www.newburytoday.co.uk/News/Article.aspx?articleID=7298

[fatty]

Well i would like to say thats its been a good couple of weeks but after being assaulted by a member of staff, then helping investigate threatening behaviour from a TESCO driver to a member of staff, at least three incidents of verbal abuse in store that required immediate security attention....

Its never ending.

Keep on reporting everyone.

[Seanmclude]

[jem]

last night i was verbally abused by a group of lads in store  all i asked them to do was watch there language  and to keep the shouting down as we are a family store. also to stop them kicking footballs about    i had to raise my voice as they weren't paying attention  they did leave after i said if u don't go I'm calling the police they did leave after throwing sweets at me. The 2 lads i was on with just stood there as if nothing had happened . Although I'm t l  we still need the support of your staff  but they don't seem to care

[bushido]

because in the induction, tesco tells them not to care, not to get involved, just to witness.

why should they for the pittance they are paid?

[Heero]

[ali p]

a couple of kids were in the store the other night nicking cans of beer. They were stopped by instore security who happened to be around.police were called but the kids insisted they had bought the tins from somerfields when asked they replied an hour ago the shop had been closed for 4 hours   Whilst they were being interrogated somebody nicked one of their bikes from outside.   Think that's what you call just deserts

[Chairswan]

because in the induction, tesco tells them not to care, not to get involved, just to witness.

why should they for the pittance they are paid?

I'm with Bushido with this one, at the induction I was given, we were reminded about what happened to the women who chased after a thief who nicked her purse at a London railway station & resulted in the victim being run over over & killed by the culprit. 

A colleague at work told me about an incident many years ago when a suspected shoplifter was beating up a manager just outside our frontdoor entrance, it took a dozen members of staff, ga's & managers to get this guy off. 

The same bloke also told me about whilst he was working on the produce section, a manager was dealing with a shoplifter who was giving a load of hassle, the chap grabbed a wire customer basket & gave him one round the chops!! 

[Tweedle Dum]

i don't know whether this counted as an attack but during my time as a t/l on checkouts we had a very nice,pleasant and well mannered girl working for us who copped for a lot of stick off a customer who spoke very little english and understood even less.
She was putting the customers shopping through maybe a few banannas and a few 6pints of milk, this was the time when you could use the milk tokens for so many pints at a time, anyway the customer had decided that he could pay for the whole shop with his tokens when he was told politly by the cashier that he would have to pay the remainder of the shop that wasn't milk in cash or by other means he decided that it was a good idea to make a grab at the cashier and spit in her face and verbally abuse her which resulted in the cashier telling the customer to f**k off and withholding his shopping. a complaint later and the cashier is asked to to end their shift early and go home to prepare for a disciplinary hearing whereas the customer was free to shop in storeafter the incident.
Come disciplinary day the checkout manager failed to defend the cashier and USDAW did even less end result another cashier lost due to tescos negligence to protects its staff from abusive customers.
The cashier was sacked but i don't view it like this because if it was me the customer would have been having food through a straw for a month or more.

[bushido]

whereas instead of swearing she could of complained or taken a grievance out against the customer, and acted like a civilised human being, instead of coming down to this thug's level. She would still have a job and he would be banned for life.

I guess your way of hospitalising him would have been the way to go eh?

[Gremlin]

So Bushido if some guy had spat in your face you wouldn't have reacted the same way?
I'm a Site Manager for an Express store in a rather nasty area where in the whole 5 months I've been in charge there has been 9 attacks on staff not counting the threats and verbal abuse.
I doubt very much taking a grievance out on a customer would make a blind bit of difference - they'd go elsewhere or like my store just come back a week later with a mob of friends.
Now tell them to f-off and they actually get the message that staff are not here to be their punch bag or be verbally abused.
Attack any of my staff and your fighting every other member of staff in the building. This approach has actually worked well here and is quite interesting to see the look on their face when we meet fire with fire.

[adspackman]

While it may not have been the ideal course of action (although perfectly understandable in my opinion and I probably would have reacted in a similar way) I do think that sometimes people like that need staff to stand up to them. If we all just sit there meekly and take whatever they throw at us then they're just going to keep doing it, either in Tesco or elsewhere. If someone stands up to them a few times they might realise that they're not going to be able to get away with it all the time.

Pigs may fly too of course.

[bushido]

sorry gremlin but i used to work in the drug rehab capital of Europe in a store and believe me, I've been involved in incidents with knives, bats, and various other weapons, even being threatened to be shot.

However, I always acted professionally, restraining them when necessary. I have never sworn at them or thrown a punch.
I wouldn't stoop to their level. We can always walk away if we cannot control the situation and use the panic alarms, thats what they are for.

Despite all threats of recriminations, not one ever attacked  me after work, although one was foolish enough to follow me. He was dissuaded easily enough and went about his way.

If we come down to their level, we encourage them to come back and have a go, just for kicks every time they are bored.

If a guy had spat in my face, I would have grabbed them and detained them for the police, but then I am an instructor in various martial arts.  If I weren't I would have called the police, the managers and anybody else to hand. I also would have made a bee line for the nearest sink.

As a union rep I would have argued for the lady who swore that that was extreme extenuating circumstance which should have been taken into account. But I wouldn't condone that action.

[clansman]

hello all how is every 1 i have now moved full time to security since that happy day i have had verball abuse and some threats that they were ( going to do me ) as 1 bunch of lads put it but a few weeks ago a lad ran out the shop and i went after him i lost him and got told to return to the store the police got him and i got told he had a 13" blade on him dont  think i will be so quick to run after some 1 again lol