(UPDATE!!) felt humiliated and insulted by two tesco female staff yesterday

justanobody00

hi everyone, some time back i made a post regarding the two female staff members at tesco who called me dodgy and laughed in my face because i was veiled (due to my religion: Islam) with my coat hood up (i was so cold because it was ramadan then and i did not eat from dawn) and obviously i was humiliated and i left the store in tears. read the old post and you'll get the gist of what happened. by the way, thank you to everyone in that thread for being so kind and supportive to me, i really needed it during that time.

a HUGE HUGE HUGE shoutout and thank you to @Santosha12 for giving me the CEO's email because guess what? a specialist customer service person got back to me really fast and dealt with it and she gave me a digital £50 tesco gift card on the house and apologised for the incident. however, at the same time im not satisfied with the outcome of how they dealt with those two staff, apparently they thought i was dodgy because my bag was open near the makeup LMAO i really hope they got a serious write up or a stern telling off from HR at least. i wont be shopping there for a while.

but yeah, i just wanted to write this follow up update post because i want people to be able to stand up for themselves and not tolerate any BS or disrespect from others. please speak out and let them reap what they sow.

Victor

That was not on!

JF7891

Well done for getting through this trauma, we are all immensely proud of you! And we thank you for fighting for the rights of us all, no matter which background! Trust me, such brave acts are felt in every section of life in consequence, making it a much better place to live safely!

IrishManc

having previously worked at Tesco for 17 years up to 2019 as an older Irish gay man, it was pretty bad back then, even before I was diagnosed with autism in later life in 2021 after I left - I know of two people with diagnosed autism aside from myself working at my former store in the years beforehand who were routinely and relentlessly bullied, having been called horrible names and were then falsely accused of theft (in one of these cases) before being both dismissed and the in-house trade Union did nothing to help them, totally siding with management, who threatened to sue for libel and slander anyone who spoke out about the cases involved - however, in your case, you were a customer in the store and this example of bullying was even more unacceptable - these two women should have been subject to the disciplinary process for rudeness and incivility to a customer and should have been dismissed without notice for gross misconduct - it’s very strange how the media never wants to pick up these bullying and discrimination cases against Tesco in Labour Stronghold areas - I would not be at all surprised if these cases have got far worse since Covid and how many more of these cases go unreported

teuchterlass

So sorry you've had to put up with such behaviours and treatment, so ignorant and biased people. I hope you never have to deal with folk like that again.

Wonder what customers were thinking of me today in my local supermarket - elbow crutches, rucksack, getting folk to put stuff into it, finding something else and getting someone else to pop it in. Rucksack full.

Got to checkout, emptied it all out (luckily staff know me) and paid for it, the look on some customers faces was priceless, think they'd been watching and expected me to go out shop door without paying.

Usually shop with a friend, everything goes in trolley, I pay and they take it home for me.

Girl_No1

That's a tale of bravery against discrimination to keep us all going. 👍

I too should have done something a couple of weeks ago when they treated me badly - nowhere nearly as badly as you OP, but badly enough.

They cancelled my home delivery order and did not tell me. I waited for hours beyond the expected delivery time and eventually called them.

I explained I am elderly, housebound, and was relying on the delivery for basic provisions to allow me to eat. I was met with "Yeah, sorry, it's bad that we didn't let you know, you can collect your order up until 8:00pm tonight, and we'll refund your money within five working days."

I said, so you're leaving me without basic provisions when I'm housebound and holding my money meaning I can't buy replacements?

Again, an automatic Customer Service apology was spoken at me along with the commitment to ensure the store manager was made aware.

Fortunately I had someone who kindly went for a basic shop for me that evening.

I truly expected some sort of contact from the store manager, but nothing at all.

I wish I had the OPs spirit.

Banarama123

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/132926/update-felt-humiliated-and-insulted-by-two-tesco-female-staff-yesterday

well I guess if your bag was open it can look dodgy. I’m sure lots of people will have different opinions. You knew you had no bad intentions but o guess it didn’t look that way with an open bag near the make up as you said yourself.

Santosha12

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/132926/update-felt-humiliated-and-insulted-by-two-tesco-female-staff-yesterday

Thank you very much for updating us on what happened @justanobody00 . I'm glad too that they responded to you quickly and apologised which is the very least you deserve. I can understand why you don't feel satisfied with the outcome but two thoughts come to mind.

Because you sent it to the CEO (rather than going into the store as I think you'd been advised) I have no doubt at all that it will have been made known to the Head of Dept. plus HR. So regardless of the fact they gave you the 'explanation' that the two staff members had given them, it doesn't mean that they (Tescos) necessarily fully accept that version, especially if they were able to access any relevant CCTV. Either way, your courage and strength in reporting it results in those two being brought to the attention of their senior managers so (if they are still employed) I'd imagine they'll watch their step now if they value their jobs. They will not like, one bit, the scrutiny and discomfort they may feel they're under now.

Your actions may have prevented others being treated so appallingly so good on you taking it further, for yourself and others.

I had the CEO's email so it was easy enough to pass it on to you but thank you for your very kind acknowledgement.

I'm in the process of a complaint about a shocking situation I have faced in my local NHS Trust; I've prevaricated about it for months but will be submitting it directly to the CEO, I don't intend going through PALS as I'm not looking for them to find a solution/liaise with the staff concerned to resolve it for me as I have no trust whatsoever in them now. But I still want the CEO to know as it's happened on his watch and the CEO is ultimately responsible.

Sorry to waffle about my situation but I guess what I'm really highlighting is that getting to the 'top' person will, in my past experience, result in action (even if we are not always fully updated of what that is!). I say that from a background in HR/Operations reporting directly to CEOs.

My very warmest wishes to you and take care of yourself and thanks again for taking the time to update us.

Santosha12

@justanobody00 Oh meant to say sorry, the 'explanation' they gave.... yes, can understand why you LMAO, I'd bet HR or anyone hearing that would if it wasn't so serious. There'll be processes to follow if they had seriously suspected say, shoplifting, because 'your bag was open near the makeup up counter'. Laughing in your face would not be part of any 'process', nor part of any decent human beings' behaviour.

So just remember, you can hold your head up wherever you are or wherever you choose to go - and it's only your opinion that matters when it's happened to you. Best wishes to you.

silmarillion

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/132926/update-felt-humiliated-and-insulted-by-two-tesco-female-staff-yesterday

I remember replying to your original post! I’m glad you complained to Tesco about those 2 employees! Not enough of those people are challenged, and they think it’s ok to harass people when it almost certainly is not.Too many people these days have negative opinions on people’s race, ethnicity, sexuality, disability etc. good on you and I hope you spent all the money on having a nice Eid!

Rosie_Scope

What you went through sounded awful. Glad you were able to receive an apology @justanobody00 even if the result isn't quite what you wanted for the staff involved. Thanks for updating us!