A young mother has revealed her fury after a Coles self-checkout worker left her “feeling like a criminal”.
carissafrom the Gold Coast, said she had trouble scanning her purchases because the cash registers were closed and her baby cried every time she put him down.
“I was literally carrying my baby in one arm because he refused to be in the pram. The pram was full of stuff from Kmart, it had all the stuff from Coles sitting on the seat,” she said.
Carissa claimed a Coles cashier saw her struggling during the ordeal and refused to help her.
Carissa was then stopped at the exit after security gates would not allow her to leave, and she said the employee checked each purchase on her receipt before she was allowed to leave.
Mum revealed fury after being left ‘feeling like a criminal’ at self-service checkout
The mother was especially offended because there were no other customers at the checkout, so the employee could have helped her with the purchase.
‘I’ve been having difficulty scanning all my items, the Coles checkout operator is watching me and not once has she offered to help me.
‘I get to the end and she’s seen me scan every item and the security doors don’t open for me. She finally comes over and asks me if I have my receipt.
Carissa was quietly fuming at the question as she juggled her fussy baby, shopping, and stroller.
“She looks at it, analyzes everything, and then the floodgates open,” he said.
“I’m struggling, I’m scanning everything, I feel like a criminal, no one is offering to help, this is not right,” the mother added.
The mother shared that a Coles cashier refused to help her
‘Whatever new system Coles has implemented with this, it’s not working. Do better than this, don’t make your customers feel like thieves, especially when they aren’t.
“Open your boxes again, don’t make everyone scan their own items if you’re not going to trust them.”
A Coles spokesperson told FEMAIL: ‘We actively encourage and train our team members to help customers who may need additional help, which may include customers with baby strollers, young children or older customers.
“We are disappointed to learn that this has not occurred in this customer’s experience and we encourage our customers to come to us directly so we can address the issue with our team.”
Other Australian shoppers also shared similar experiences with self-checkouts at supermarkets.
‘I had a bottle of water in my stroller that I bought from another store and the door closed!’ one said. “I had to open my bank app and show that I just bought water for $4.80 20 minutes ago at a machine.”
Another said: ‘A Coles worker shouted at me in front of everyone to scan my large items first after I had scanned some small items. If they want us to use self-service, then let’s scan however we want.’
‘I went to Big W for a drink. He had Woolies diapers. “I was literally about to leave the store and a worker YELLED at me to come back asking to see my diaper receipts and made me stand there waiting,” one mom wrote.
One woman said: “I went to Coles today after shopping at Aldi. They wanted to go through every bag of hers and she made me scan my diapers and toilet paper in front of her.’
‘The Woolworths drive-thru wouldn’t let me scan further until a member of staff checked my stroller which only had my baby in it. “Honestly, this is getting out of control,” one mother said.