Shopper boycotts Tesco ... for calling her ‘darling’

A SHOPPER is boycotting Tesco in protest at being called ‘darling’ by checkout staff.

Beth Bellamy claims the informal method used by female workers to address her was ‘patronising’ and ‘offensive’.

She told how she was also unhappy about being called ‘sweetheart’ and ‘babe’ at the same shop. She declined to name the store and is not thought to have made a complaint.

But she was one of five members of the public spoken to by the BBC for an article about shoppers who have stopped using companies because of gripes with customer service.

Informal expressions are used by staff in many parts of the country, from ‘duck’ in the East Midlands to ‘pet’ in the North East and ‘love’ in Yorkshire.

But Miss Bellamy said: ‘I was

up with being called sweetheart, darling and babe by checkout operators at my local Tesco. So I told the young checkout lady that I would rather she didn’t call me that as it was patronising, and that I found it offensive.

‘She replied that if I didn’t like it I was free to use a different checkout operator. The checkout operator I chose was one at a completely different and cheaper supermarket.’

Mary Killen, etiquette expert and agony aunt for The Spectator, said: ‘I think this person who complained may have had too much time on her hands.’

Tesco said: ‘If this customer would like to discuss how we handled this situation, we’d ask them to get in touch so we can look into what happened.’

Other gripes include a rail passenger not told of engineering works.

‘Patronising and offensive’