RTE viewers are all saying the same thing after the airing of a once-off documentary, Secrets from the Middle Aisle, which looked at what it was like to work in Lidl throughout the pandemic.
Film crews visited two very different branches of Lidl, one on Dublin’s Moore Street and the other a new store in Tipperary town.
The documentary looked at the demands faced by staff operating a major supermarket and the pressures they faced after suddenly becoming frontline workers.
Aside from the funny moments dotted throughout the hour-long special, viewers were focusing on one of the ‘worrying’ experiences of women in retail.
One female worker described her regular experiences of abuse on the shop floor and said: “I don’t know, it’s a huge mix of things happening. Sometimes you have nice days where you’re getting lovely customers and everything, and other times you can get eaten alive.
“And sometimes they [customers] are eating each other alive as well.
“Being a woman in that shop is sometimes an absolute disaster. You’re approached by men who try to touch you, they want to talk to you, they want to get your number, and they’ll follow you around the shop.
“It’s something that takes a very long time to get used to, and I still don’t think I’m used to it, to be honest, it drives me mad.”
There were other female employees who talked about their fears of walking home at night, as well as other moments of harassment while on duty, and viewers were shocked.
One wrote: “The female staff’s experience of working in the supermarket and walking home afterward was truly disturbing. Harassment and threats. We are living in a very sick society. #MiddleAisle.”
A second wrote: “Honestly this is not ok. What's wrong with men? What’s wrong with our city? #notok #MiddleAisle”
Another viewer said the documentary “exposed some harsh truths - like how the simple act of going home from work is a terrifying endurance test for women. Racists and misogynists outing themselves online made it a multimedia documentary on Ireland.”
Since the airing of the special, there has been lots of conversation about the everyday experiences of women in retail and one person suggested a temporary fix in some scenarios.
They wrote: “This was horrific to hear rape threats thrown at this woman for not giving them her number!
“They should be locked up, at the very least reported to the Gardaí, barred forever from all @lidl_ireland stores, and please get taxis for staff on late shifts.”
Another person echoed this idea saying: “Poor girl walking out there in that dodgy place on her own, Lidl should pay for her and other employees taxi to safe bus shelter #MiddleAisle.”
A spokesperson for Lidl Ireland told the Irish Mirror: "At Lidl, we have a zero-tolerance policy for abuse of staff and customers.
"Once an event such as this is reported, we investigate the matter and where necessary, appropriate action is taken by removing a person's invitation to shop with us."
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