Darling, I will accept any term of endearment

Ashopper is boycotting Tesco in protest at being called “darling” by a member of staff. Beth Bellamy, who was interviewed by the BBC, said that “I was fed 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.”

Now I don’t know about you, but I think there is something rather charming at being called “darling” by a stranger – not that it happens often enough. In a world full of internet trolls and social media rage, it’s touching to see that there are still humans out there who will greet people with terms of endearment.

And let’s face it – “darling” is a whole lot nicer than the words the checkout staff are probably using to describe Ms Bellamy now…