Colin, 49, former assistant store manager, Brighton
“I worked in retail all my life and it was generally great, but then lockdown happened, and everybody changed and became more aggressive. In one job, a member of staff caught a customer filling a linen basket with clothes, there was an altercation and I was called. The customer lunged at me with his face inches from mine, nearly headbutting me. It left me feeling threatened, in a daze and convinced he was following me home. Once I’d calmed down, I emailed my manager and was able to have a chat about what happened. The local community officer came in, looked at the CCTV and suggested we didn’t follow up because the offender was filming me.
“This happens a lot, people film us to intimidate us, threatening to share it on social media or with other criminals who could come back for us. I moved store not long after that because I had a nervous breakdown.
“Before then, I took pride in protecting our customers and working in great teams. At one store we adopted code phrases for radio announcements to support each other. ‘Can Davina go to womenswear’ was code for an aggressive female, ‘David’ was a male and ‘Billy’ was a problem at the front door. But there was a lack of support from above, and refund policies often made things worse.
“I once had a customer trying to return some sale underwear without a receipt which was against policy. I tried to defend the policy but the customer went to head office and they were so scared of getting sued that they issued a refund and £25 compensation. If all the larger retailers could come together to agree on the same policy for a uniform approach there could be power in numbers.
“I think training would have helped, or a counsellor coming in to stores once a month to chat with staff and share feedback anonymously to head office. I left retail eventually, because I started taking [customer abuse] too personally and would go home and burst into tears. I have PTSD so I’m not working currently. I recently relocated and joined a charitable organisation called Men’s Shed – they are nationwide and differ in size – a community that comes together to do something practical like wood, metal work and crafting. It’s really helped me to recover my mental health and I’m now looking at a career in carpentry.”
