Two women were reportedly left "humiliated" by a male cashier when buying period products in Lidl. The women, believed to be a mum and daughter, bought multiple sanitary items in the supermarket last weekend.
However, shoppers said they were left stunned when a male member of staff working on the tills allegedly told them loudly in front of other customers that there was a limit on the number of such products they could buy. The women were said to have been left "humiliated" and having to move to another till, reports Somerset Live.
Venting her anger about the incident on social media, one shopper claimed: “This man thought it acceptable to completely humiliate and shame a mother and daughter whilst attempting to buy multiple sanitary products. Two women living in the same household with synced periods… not uncommon at all.
“He deemed it acceptable to shout to the back of the queue, in a very hectic shop, that what they were buying wasn’t ‘allowed’ to be purchased. He kept shouting ‘you can’t buy any more than 12’, ‘you won’t be served here’.
"They did in fact not have any more than 12. He continuously repeated himself, becoming more and more aggressive, totally embarrassing the mother and daughter more and more each time he did so. He then began to argue with said mother over what she had, she politely told him they didn’t have any more than they were ‘allowed’ to purchase, but he just continued.
“Whilst this was happening everybody who was queuing at the other tills had turned to look at what was going on, causing yet more unnecessary embarrassment. This resulted in them going to another till to be served perfectly, no questions asked. They were, in fact, served by the deputy manager.
"The mother raised her concerns with what had just happened and she apologised on his behalf, whilst he decided to again raise his voice to defend himself. The teenage daughter said had she had been on her own she would have put down the sanitary products that she needed and left crying due to immense embarrassment and would have just 'gone without'.
“This is in no way, shape or form, acceptable. Nothing will ever change unless we all challenge the stereotypes, the stigma, the taboos surrounding menstruation. How dare this man feel it acceptable to not only question but completely humiliate a mother and daughter.”
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Lidl has now apologised after the incident in Wells, Somerset, and said retraining was being provided to prevent future incidents.
A spokesperson for Lidl said: “We were extremely sorry to learn of this matter and would like to sincerely apologise to the customer. We always aim to deliver a welcoming and positive shopping experience and were therefore incredibly disappointed to learn that we fell short on this occasion. The matter was immediately escalated to management and we can confirm that retraining is being provided to help ensure that it does not happen again.”
