24/03/2020
Whilst some people have demonstrated superb community spirit in the face of the pandemic, others have proven just how ugly mankind can be.
My 17 year old daughter works in a retail shop as a till operator and she has seen a significant rise in abuse aimed at her and her colleagues. One individual shouted abuse at her for charging 5p for a carrier bag, and didn't even stop when the next shopper in the queue offered to buy the bag for him.
On another occasion in the last couple of days, a female customer asked an elderly male customer behind her in the queue to step back and respect her space. The man refused, even when the woman got quite agitated. He then deliberately coughed on her and started touching her arms; mocking her request for space.
The store she works in does not have any security staff and it is largely left to the young employees to try and handle difficult customers. She has had to tell customers they should leave the store.
The behaviour of some shoppers over the past couple of weeks has been disgusting.
Panic buying, bulk buying: let's be clear these people are incredibly selfish.
Assuming the shops have CCTV, they should be sharing footage of inconsiderate or abusive customers with other retail establishments and, of course, with the police. When I was younger, I recall 'PubWatch'; an information sharing service between pubs and clubs, aimed at informing publicans of troublesome customers. It seems we now need to consider a similar idea for shops.
We really need to get people to understand that the selfishness and abuse will not be tolerated.
On television this morning, the Chair of the Police Federation was asked about instances of members of the public deliberately coughing and spitting in the faces of police officers. He acknowledged that some 'vile creatures' had been using the coronavirus as a weapon against officers.
This is staggering and the punishment for this needs to be swift and severe.
Our emergency services and NHS are obviously under a huge amount of pressure at the moment and they should not have to deal with abuse.
I really hope that people will now comply with the instructions from the government.
Stay home. Â Only go out if you have to and when you do, maintain social distancing.
Show respect to everyone you come across; whether it is doctors and nurses, police and soldiers, fellow shoppers and shop staff. Show that respect from a distance. Wherever possible, pay for goods using contactless methods.
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