Lidl has been forced to apologise after two customers buying sanitary products were reportedly "humiliated" by a male cashier. It's claimed the staff member on a till loudly told them in front of customers that there was a limit on how many feminine hygiene products they could buy.
The women, who were believed to be a mother and daughter, were mortified and other shoppers were shocked - with one claiming the man at the till was shouting out to them at the back of the queue. After trying to explain that they hadn't exceeded the limit, the embarrassed pair eventually moved to another till, reported SomersetLive.
Lidl has issued an apology following the incident at its store in Wells, Somerset, adding that "re-training is being provided" to make sure it doesn't happen again. One customer, Holly Baker, recounted the scene in a post on Facebook.
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She wrote: "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 anymore than they were ‘allowed’ to purchase but he just continued.
"Whilst this was happening everybody who were 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."
Holly continued: "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 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."
According to Action Aid, research last year found one in four UK women (26%) have experienced 'period shaming' and 11% have received negative comments from a current or ex-partner. Lidl has since responded to the incident, with a spokesperson saying: "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 re-training is being provided to help ensure that it does not happen again."
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