Tesco Pharmacy - when polite is not polite

Pollycat

JetpackVelociraptor said:

There has been a huge shift in the way people behave in shops and other customer service interactions. As customers you tend to only notice the knock-on effects this has on your shopping experience. More shops have signs up saying they won't tolerate abuse, sales assistances may be less tolerant or more apt to take offence. But the truth is that since covid some people react way over the top when they perceive that they are in some way being told what to do, even if it's perfectly reasonable.

I don't see anything wrong with a pharmacy continuing to maintain safety procedures like masks and hand cleansing. It's a pharmacy, so it's entirely plausible that they have regular contact with people who would still be at risk from catching covid or other diseases such as people who are immune-compromised. They may have decided to prioritise the safety of those customers over the comfort of their other, less vulnerable customers. Maybe they have found themselves a profitable niche as a result of being somewhere those customers feel safe to shop. Or maybe one of the staff or owners is actually immune compromised and wants to be safe at work.

My shop has never allowed pets inside, children jumping on things, people to block the exits with their cars, people to take things away without paying for them "just to try", or people to walk around barefoot inside. I honestly don't know why anyone would want to do any of those things here, but I can tell you that in the 4 years during and since covid I've had more people be rude, argumentative or downright abusive over not being allowed to do these things than we had in the previous 10+ years prior. I'm not even including the terrible way people behaved during covid when we had to implement all the covid safety measures. It's like some now feel that any kind of instruction given to them inside a retail environment is an infringement on their civil liberties or something. I don't have any signs up, but I'm comfortable telling people to leave if I have to. I wouldn't necessarily expect staff to feel comfortable doing the same.

There seems to be an escalation in air incidents.
Just today I've read about:
a group of stags booted off a TUI flight to Bulgaria for being drunk and abusive to cabin crew
a woman who refused to put a seat belt on her child when coming in to land - armed police boarded when the plane landed (also TUI)

In 2019 - the last year for data before COVID - 373 incidents of "air rage" were reported. In 2022 this number nearly tripled. MPs are set to debate whether to change the law in order to address the problem.

Mass brawls, drunken threats and passengers stripping off: 'Air rage' incidents surge in the UK | Politics News | Sky News

People seem to be more aggressive and entitled than previously.

I don't understand why airlines don't put people who cause disruption and delays on a permanent flight ban.

Re the original post, lots of places have 'zero tolerance for abusive customers' signage.
Buses for example.

Brie

Well I wouldn't be able to use the Tesco pharmacy in the pictures as my surgery won't let me order repeat prescriptions more than a week before they are needed.  Good thing I don't live near there.

born_again

Order script from doctor, they tell you it will be ready to pick up from chemist in 48 hours. 
I love the way they tell you this, as you go to chemist & 4 days later they still have not received it from the doctors. Go back to doctors & it's "Ah waiting for doctor to sign" before we can send it off...🤬

Albermarle

Pollycat said:

JetpackVelociraptor said:

There has been a huge shift in the way people behave in shops and other customer service interactions. As customers you tend to only notice the knock-on effects this has on your shopping experience. More shops have signs up saying they won't tolerate abuse, sales assistances may be less tolerant or more apt to take offence. But the truth is that since covid some people react way over the top when they perceive that they are in some way being told what to do, even if it's perfectly reasonable.

I don't see anything wrong with a pharmacy continuing to maintain safety procedures like masks and hand cleansing. It's a pharmacy, so it's entirely plausible that they have regular contact with people who would still be at risk from catching covid or other diseases such as people who are immune-compromised. They may have decided to prioritise the safety of those customers over the comfort of their other, less vulnerable customers. Maybe they have found themselves a profitable niche as a result of being somewhere those customers feel safe to shop. Or maybe one of the staff or owners is actually immune compromised and wants to be safe at work.

My shop has never allowed pets inside, children jumping on things, people to block the exits with their cars, people to take things away without paying for them "just to try", or people to walk around barefoot inside. I honestly don't know why anyone would want to do any of those things here, but I can tell you that in the 4 years during and since covid I've had more people be rude, argumentative or downright abusive over not being allowed to do these things than we had in the previous 10+ years prior. I'm not even including the terrible way people behaved during covid when we had to implement all the covid safety measures. It's like some now feel that any kind of instruction given to them inside a retail environment is an infringement on their civil liberties or something. I don't have any signs up, but I'm comfortable telling people to leave if I have to. I wouldn't necessarily expect staff to feel comfortable doing the same.

There seems to be an escalation in air incidents.
Just today I've read about:
a group of stags booted off a TUI flight to Bulgaria for being drunk and abusive to cabin crew
a woman who refused to put a seat belt on her child when coming in to land - armed police boarded when the plane landed (also TUI)

In 2019 - the last year for data before COVID - 373 incidents of "air rage" were reported. In 2022 this number nearly tripled. MPs are set to debate whether to change the law in order to address the problem.

Mass brawls, drunken threats and passengers stripping off: 'Air rage' incidents surge in the UK | Politics News | Sky News

People seem to be more aggressive and entitled than previously.

I don't understand why airlines don't put people who cause disruption and delays on a permanent flight ban.

Re the original post, lots of places have 'zero tolerance for abusive customers' signage.
Buses for example.

I struggle to understand why people should be more badly behaved because we had a pandemic/lockdowns.
It may well be the case, but I can not follow the logic of why?
In my own life and those around me, I do not see any change in behaviour at all related to the Pandemic. All back to Business as Usual.

JetpackVelociraptor

I'm not a member of the British Retail Consortium, but they've produced a report stating that abusive incidents have nearly doubled since the pandemic. Take a look: https://www.drapersonline.com/news/violence-and-abuse-against-retail-staff-doubles-since-pandemic I think they're primarily talking about actual criminal abuse and violence, which is an alarming thought. I've not had anyone behave quite that badly in my place yet.

If you google it, a lot of people are reporting on this. The Guardian says it's to do with increased stress on people due to the cost of living crisis. Makes sense to me, people under stress definitely do behave more badly.

If you don't work in retail I wouldn't be surprised if you haven't seen the impact yourself. At least some people who are rude or abusive tend to be less so when they have an audience.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Perhaps the pace of life is slower here in sleepy North Wales but I find all these notices create a very negative environment. 

My wife works in hospitality and whilst customers were a bit funny during Covid I don't recall her saying anything about shouty, sweary, angry customers in the last 18 months. 

They do however get a lot of reviews stating the atmosphere is pleasant and the staff are wonderful.

THINK BEFORE YOU ACT!! screams moral superiority and that is just as bad for society as the people being abusive. 

Sadly division is deliberately being bred and the tussle between the entitled and morally superior fuels this greatly. 

In terms of prescriptions our GP closed their counter during Covid and beyond, instead you had to wait outside the building, nice for the elderly in winter, there was a door bell and an A4 sized window, the window had an A4 sheet of paper on it stating to only press the bell once as staff may be on the phone. Now fair enough but the placement on the window so you couldn't see inside felt deliberate and very unfriendly, if the bit of paper wasn't there you would have been able to see the member of staff on the phone.... 

Nobody should be abused at work, perhaps the police should be turning up a bit quicker rather than notices being plastered everywhere but would that satisfy a sense of importance for the people working in such places?  

theoretica

Notices like that aren't up because anyone expects customers to read them and decide not to be abusive.  They are there to make staff feel their employer is on their side, to embolden or authorise the employees to stand up for themselves, and to gesture at if they do need to ask someone to calm down. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

theoretica said:

Notices like that aren't up because anyone expects customers to read them and decide not to be abusive.  They are there to make staff feel their employer is on their side, to embolden or authorise the employees to stand up for themselves, and to gesture at if they do need to ask someone to calm down. 

When people are frustrated staff "standing up for themselves" is more likely to escalate the situation, an apology, regardless of whether it's due or not, generally deflates people, once calm they can then be reminded it isn't appropriate to take their frustrations out on others just doing a job and the shame will likely serve as a reminder not to do it. 

For the people who are generally unpleasant I don't think it makes much difference and there are laws against antisocial behaviour as well as causing alarm, harassment or distress with threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, or disorderly behaviour and it should be the job of the police to deal with.

It is interesting that as a species on a global scale we are still bound by the primeval concept of survival of the fittest, rather than being the strongest caveman or the best hunter in the tribe, it's those who can amass the most wealth and you certainly don't amass vast wealth without stepping on people (even those of us posting here step on people carrying out every day activities) yet when the masses behave in such a manner they are condemned. Perhaps those who have such wealth and power are smart enough to hide their wrong doing whilst the masses are busy arguing amongst themselves in supermarkets.

username

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Perhaps the pace of life is slower here in sleepy North Wales but I find all these notices create a very negative environment. 

My wife works in hospitality and whilst customers were a bit funny during Covid I don't recall her saying anything about shouty, sweary, angry customers in the last 18 months. 

They do however get a lot of reviews stating the atmosphere is pleasant and the staff are wonderful.

THINK BEFORE YOU ACT!! screams moral superiority and that is just as bad for society as the people being abusive. 

Sadly division is deliberately being bred and the tussle between the entitled and morally superior fuels this greatly. 

In terms of prescriptions our GP closed their counter during Covid and beyond, instead you had to wait outside the building, nice for the elderly in winter, there was a door bell and an A4 sized window, the window had an A4 sheet of paper on it stating to only press the bell once as staff may be on the phone. Now fair enough but the placement on the window so you couldn't see inside felt deliberate and very unfriendly, if the bit of paper wasn't there you would have been able to see the member of staff on the phone.... 

Nobody should be abused at work, perhaps the police should be turning up a bit quicker rather than notices being plastered everywhere but would that satisfy a sense of importance for the people working in such places?  

The entire set of signs in different colours, font sizes is just awful and that is before you get to the content - numerous spelling and grammar mistakes and to top it all it all off it is written in capitals, which is very shouty.

Completely get that staff should not be abused at work, but to have a copious amount of shouty and badly written signage doesn't exactly say welcome to our pharmacy and just screams of "attitude".

cannugec5

signs like signs like that offend my sense of order. I agree with others that the spelling and grammar need attention. 

However as to the need for 10 days to collect a prescription- I think that is fair.

Our pharmacy has to order in things that are less than ordinary so this rule is all encompassing. In reality I’ve asked my husband to check if my prescription is ready when he is going to the pharmacy to collect his own or for a neighbour. Sometimes it’s ready in less than 24 hours! But I don’t expect that. The pharmacy is being sensible in asking people not to leave things to the last minute. 

The fact that signs are deemed necessary for staff not to be abused is very concerning.