On this particular day, amidst the mundane hustle, the true measure of empathy was tested. While some saw only an inconvenience, one person stepped into the space of compassion, recognizing the profound courage it took for her to simply be there, reaching out with every glance, every faint movement—a testament to the unspoken human spirit that refuses to be invisible.
Work at a supermarket and we regularly have this lady come in to do her shopping. She’s always by herself and never has anyone else for her, no carer or anything. This lady is completely confined to her wheelchair and has extremely limited motor skills to the point where she can only slightly move her fingers.
She cannot speak at all, besides little mumblings that are completely unintelligible. If you ask her a question, she will just look at you and try as hard as she can to give you an answer but she never has the ability to do so (you can see it in her eyes and the way that she’s looks at you that she wants to respond to you.
Anyway, I was working the other day and she came in and it was me, my supervisor and another guy. My supervisor is a total ass and audibly complained that she was in the store because it meant she couldn’t anything whilst she was there (she had to fill on for someone whilst one of us helped the lady).
My supervisor told me to help the lady as the other guy was on his break. No problem with that but I’ve never dealt with this lady before (helping her actually get the items she wants/needs to buy, it’s always the other guy).
So obviously I had no idea what she wanted, and essentially she ended up buying 6 tubs of mayo and that was it. It is extremely hard to get confirmation from her but she pointed to the same brand of mayo 6 times and slightly smiled after each one I picked up so I thought that she really just needed the mayo.
Got her through check out, and she went on her merry way.
Later that night her daughter comes in and demands a refund because, as she put it, “who in this world needs 6 fucking tubs of mayonnaise?” My supervisor agreed with her that I’m an asshole for not trying to do a better job at understanding her which pissed me off a lot.
TLDR; wheelchair confined disabled mute and limited movement woman was sold 6 tubs of mayonnaise by me when she came in shopping at my store. Daughter thought I was stupid for selling someone that much mayo and said I didn’t do a good enough job of trying to understand her.
I tried as hard as i could go understand her but apparently sold her stuff she didn’t want, so reddit am I the asshole?
EDIT 1
Removed “confined” from “confined to her wheelchair”
Just for some clarification
• The lady cannot move at all so we have to go into her bag, get her bank card, and process the payment and provide her with a receipt. A comment of mine explains that this is what we were told to do by a carer who used to accompany her
• I wasn’t in a rush at all, she most likely was however. I can somewhat guess this by the amount of time she spent in the store (5 mins compared to her usual 20-30 mins)
Conclusion
The original poster (OP) faced a challenging situation where they attempted to assist a customer with severe physical and communication disabilities, resulting in an unintended purchase of six tubs of mayonnaise. The OP felt frustrated because they believed they tried their best to communicate, yet they were later criticized by their supervisor and the customer’s daughter for misunderstanding the customer’s needs.
Does the responsibility for a failed transaction lie primarily with the employee who made a reasonable effort to interpret non-verbal cues, or with the system that allows a customer with such profound needs to shop alone without adequate support or pre-established communication protocols?
Here’s how people reacted:
It takes more training to be an assistant for disabled people than it takes for being a cashier.You didn’t know how to deal with it and its perfectly okay for you to not know,its not a easy job.
There is this special dish which name i dont know how to translate on english which requires A LOT of mayo.So If i were you I wouldnt think too much about why she needed that much mayo.
Also manager is an asshole because if the other guy wasn’t there he should have helped her and not you because he at least saw what the other guy was doing so he knows something, you on the other hand dont have a clue on what to do.
Side note, what the fuck is a person that disabled(no offense) doing ALONE in a SUPERMARKET? As you said,she is so disabled she can only move her fingers,what is she doing alone??What if she had a stroke or anything,who would have helped her?
And the daughter is an even bigger asshole for having the audacity to complain when she as a perfectly healthy person gave the task of buying groceries to her disabled mother.She has time to complain but not the time to buy it for her or for them if they live together.
Best of luck OP, try to get a different job if its possible!
Yes you are in a public service job which does require you to serve ALL of the public, and I will admit, that is a bit of a silly moment to assume she meant 6 tubs of mayonnaise, but at the same time, you work a monotonous job and things like this are small mistakes. She didn’t stop you, you had know way of knowing, as far as you were able to understand, she had given you confirmation. If your boss wants you to handle these situations a certain way then he should train you to handle them a certain way.
I feel like you’re withholding some information… There must be another option of communication available if she can manage to pay at checkout despite being barely able to move her fingers. Also if your coworker was able to help her all this time without receiving complaints.
All in all, you could have tried harder to avoid selling someone items you weren’t sure they even wanted (CYA – cover your ass!). But you still assisted the lady from start to finish without making a fuss. I’m sure she appreciated that. NAH
**Edit for typos
You work at a grocery store, you are not trained to deal with special needs people. This woman’s family should be helping her with this, not random grocery store employees.
your job is to work at a grocery store, not read minds. The daughter sounds like TA and honestly if she knows her mother is disabled and has trouble with things like this why wouldn’t she come with her in the first place ?
Did you do this just to get her out of the store as quickly as possible?
Honestly, you tried your best. But maybe talk to the guy who normally helps her so you know how to help her in the future.
Or even talk to the daughter.