Tesco workers offered body cameras as violent attacks against employees soar
Tesco workers offered body cameras as violent attacks against employees soar
Tesco’s boss is calling for changes to the laws as company says more than 200 of its employees are victims of serious physical assaults each month
"Mr Murphy write in the Mail on Sunday that a law should be introduced to make abuse or violence towards retail workers an offence in its own right across the UK"
Is brandishing a knife at someone not already an offense?
Surely the problem is a shameful lack of policing and more people falling into poverty following 15 years of tory rule. how is creating an offense out of something that is already an offense going to change anything?
Seriously. Emulating the USA’s criminal “policies” is stupid, and I live here. Next thing he’s going to suggest all your cops have guns, and then suddenly you’ll have black market firearms everywhere.
No need for new laws here, the current laws should just be actaully enforced.
If, as a giant corporate entity, your employees are getting wide spread abuse, you need to look at your company and assess why so much anger exists. The problem is likely rooted in Tesco treating it's customers like shit whilst they are living through an economic crisis.
Yes, somebody who snaps and draws a weapon is ultimately in the wrong, but with the numbers of customers Tesco has there was always a good chance somebody would snap.
When you say "treating their customers like shit", how do you mean? I get that the rapidly raising prices for a weekly shop are going to annoy people, especially if their income isn't raising at the same rate, but that's happening across the board and the average Tesco worker has no control over inflation. Maybe the queues may be long some times of day but thats a decision you make as to when to go shopping.
Used to work in a pretty sizable Sainsbury's up until last year. I never dealt with physical abuse from a customer, but I did hear about a fair bit of it, especially from the female members of staff.
Customers would come in and start being incredibly inappropriate to them. You'd hear that one customer had patted them on the bottom, or grabbed their hand. One customer would routinely come in and start trying to kiss my partner's hand (we worked together). You report this behaviour to management and at best it's laughed off.
Don't even get me started on the behaviour some customers think they're entitled to push on staff who are unfortunate enough to have to do reductions in the evening; grabbing, pushing, shouting, you name it, it's done. Management are adamant it has to be done on the shop floor though, why? You tell me.
Ultimately what I'm trying to say is that a lot of these sort of things might be less prominent if management came out and backed their colleagues when a customer was showing signs of being a t*at. Fitting them with cameras makes it look like another profit protection measure.
These are criminal acts right? Why are they even being escalated through management, shouldn't they just go to the police directly?
Manager here's a copy of the police report for what happened last night, when I was assaulted while stocking shelves. Doesn't really give them any wiggle room
My thought exactly. Date and time. Report to police. Police obtain video of criminal. Court time ensues.
Fitting them with cameras makes it look like another profit protection measure.
I was nodding along till here. Wouldn't fitting employees with body cameras making it easier to prosecute the criminals? Lack of evidence is probably the issue in most cases.
I've seen the mad fight for the reduced products in a Tesco once. People are mental about it, to save a few bob at best.
My partner does the reductions on a Friday evening and there's a guy who basically walks around the shop for two hours in anticipation. My dude...
I went to Asda not long after lockdown had lifted the first time and said something standard to the lady on the checkout like "long day?" and she looked at me with hollow eyes and told me that when she'd told a woman they'd run out of toilet roll the customer spat in her face. Some people are the worst.
Sometimes you can tell the checkout asst is just fucking done having the same basic conversation 100x and wants to scan silently, but I always try and inject a bit of happiness into their day if they've not fallen mute. Working any public-facing retail job is bloody awful... speaking from personal experience, I used to temp at Toys R Us at christmas and let me tell you, there's no more entitled creature than a parent at christmas who has left it too late to get this years most popular toy.
BUT *MYYYYY * CHIIIIIILD
If someone is already assaulting a member of staff, what stops them just stealing the camera?
Call me cynical, but it sounds like a disguise for a profit protection thing.
You're not even allowed to carry OC spray in the UK, so I'm guessing it's for "identification" of the probably-masked attacker after he has his way with the employee.
After 1900 our Tesco local has their doors locked and you have to be let in. Why are people such pricks. I work on the railway and someone threatened to stab me over a £4 ticket the other day. I just fucking hate people.
Must be a pretty old Tesco to be still going after 123 years!
Crime goes up when desperation levels go up. People are desperate. Agreed, it's wrong that it puts you in danger, but you are the face of the corporation they are angry at. It's misdirected anger.
I hope you give your employers an earful for putting you in that vulnerable position.
Permanently Deleted
The video in that article is wild, what the actual fuck
Welp 😥.
Fucking hell I'd be petrified. That mad lad can just have the chocolate hobnobs, they aren't worth it...
Ik someone who works in Sainsbury's and she wears a bodycamera
Honestly, how long until all of us are wearing body cameras so we have accurate evidence of what is happening?