Ex-Woolworths worker sparks fury with checkout gripe: 'Sick of it!'
An ex-Woolworths employee has slammed the grocer on social media, following recurring issues with her groceries at the checkout.
The woman recently addressed a post to Woolworths’s official Facebook page, detailing incidents she has experienced with bag packing at her local store.
“Can you please start training your checkout staff how to pack bags again like we got taught when I worked there?” she said.
“Sick of having squished bread and cleaning products shoved in with my food.”
The woman wrote that she had also recently tried a viral Woolworths TikTok hack, where she separated her groceries on the conveyor belt.
“I even put things in groups on the belt and they still grab items and shove stuff in,” she said.
“If I say something to them nicely about putting things in bags together, I get a filthy look.”
Responding to comments, the ex-staffer has also shed some light on her experience working at Woolworths.
“I know that back when I was working for the company we would have been spoken to about our scanning rates if they were low on reports, and that we were evaluated and watched regularly,” she said.
“Sick of the lax standards now.”
Yahoo News Australia understands that Woolworths representatives have reached out to the customer for further information on her experiences.
‘Beyond angry’: Customers share bagging gripes in comments
The woman's checkout complaint has attracted dozens of comments from Woolworths shoppers.
“The girl packing my bags today was going to put dishwashing detergent in with my strawberries,” wrote one person.
“I’ve had a glass bottle of coconut oil smash when the overpacked bag broke, I was beyond angry,” said another person.
A third Facebook user detailed an incident where she had questioned her local checkout attendant on bag packing.
“One plastic bag had six litres of soft drink and assorted cans, I told the cashier there were too many things in the bags and he shrugged and said he was just fitting them in the bags he had,” they wrote.
“He had bananas at the bottom of one bag and when I pulled them out to pack it better, he said there were only light things on top of them.”
Another previous employee from Woolworths also added a comment to the woman’s post.
“As an ex-cashier at Woolies I get frustrated when they pack things incorrectly and squash things or put toxic chemicals with food items.”
Bag-packing gripes have been commonplace on social media of late, with customers slamming squashed items in online orders and the overuse of plastic bags for packing online shopping orders.
Woolworths clarifies bagging training
Woolworths representatives have left two comments on the woman’s post, seeking further information and clarifying in-store training procedures.
“We’re disappointed to hear about your recent experiences at one of our checkouts and we understand how frustrating it must be,” the representative wrote.
“Our team members are trained to pack your shopping bag in a way that doesn’t affect the integrity of your products, so we’re keen to understand your experiences in greater detail.”
“Customers do have the option of packing their own bags via our self-service checkout,” they wrote.
In response to the representative’s comments, the woman posted a scathing reply, citing changed standards since her employment.
“When I have the time I will reply via private message and note the city we live in as this is a daily occurrence across all of the stores,” she wrote.
“If staff are being trained as you claim, then why are they not implementing it as we used to?”
“I feel your training processes as well as your monitoring processes of staff and their work is severely lacking and has decreased significantly over the years,” she wrote.
“I don’t believe any change will come from this post, but at least I have brought it to your attention.”
Yahoo News Australia has reached out to Woolworths for further comment on bag-packing training for cashiers.
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