Coles customer humiliated by degrading demand at the checkout
A cancer survivor was left shocked after he was forced to show his hernia to a ‘loud’ Coles worker who accused him of shoplifting and hiding groceries under his shirt.
Tony Jones, 39, was left humiliated after being called by staff at Kallangur Coles, north of Brisbane, on Saturday morning.
Mr Jones, who has a hernia on his right side the size of a rockmelon, had gone to pay when he said the middle-aged worker shouted: ‘And what’s under your shirt?’
He explained that his large hernia was the result of an ostomy bag after colon cancer surgery.
“(The Coles employee) walks towards me, in a very accusatory tone as if she was happy she had caught me, loud enough that everyone at the self-checkout knew,” Mr Jones said.
‘I was shocked but wanted to get out of there so I just lifted my shirt to show my ostomy bag and the hernia.
‘I might have argued, but I already hate my body, I hate the stoma and the hernia is causing a lot of pain and I hate the way I look, so I just wanted out.’
Tony Jones has a large hernia (pictured) on his stomach and was accused of shoplifting by a Coles employee on Saturday
Mr Jones said the employee immediately apologized before claiming the store had experienced several thefts in the past.
“It happened quickly, but I’m really shocked that they could take such an accusatory tone and sound so proud of themselves, as if they were waiting to try to catch a thief,” he said. news.com.au.
Mr Jones said he felt ‘violated’ and frustrated by the whole confrontation.
“It was embarrassing to have my hernia and my ostomy bag on display for everyone watching, and I feel very strange now,” he said.
“It feels really wrong.”
The manager of the Coles branch has since apologized to Mr Jones and presented him with a $100 gift card.
“I’ll never go back to that store again, but $100 is two weeks of my food budget, so it certainly makes a big difference,” he said.
Mr Jones theorized that staff could be more alert to theft because the Kallangur store has not yet installed the company’s new anti-theft gates.
The gates, which have been acquired by Coles and Woolworths, open automatically for paying customers and prevent thieves from leaving.
Mr. Jones’ post quickly went viral, with hundreds of commenters outraged by the employee’s accusatory behavior.
“Hopefully you’ve embarrassed her enough that she’ll think twice about doing that to someone else,” one person said.
“Was the apology as loud as the accusation?” asked another.
Mr Jones claims the employee shouted: ‘What about what’s under your shirt?’ while trying to pay at the self-checkout
However, Jones emphasizes that the woman should not be fired because of this ‘mistake’.
‘I don’t think the employee should be fired. “It has upset and shocked me, but I don’t think making one mistake would result in anyone being fired,” he said.
‘Repeated mistakes, yes, but not if it is a one-off, it can be learned.’
A Coles spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia the manager had apologized profusely to Mr Jones for the incident.
“Our goal is to provide helpful and courteous service to our customers every day and ensure they are all treated with respect when shopping in our stores,” they said.
‘We are disappointed to hear about this customer’s experience and yesterday we spoke directly to our customer and apologized for this incident.
“Coles is committed to creating an inclusive environment for our customers and team members and once again apologizes that this did not happen on this occasion.”
About 46,000 Australians live with a stoma.
Mr Jones shared his story online with a social media user, who claimed to work for an ‘ostomy organisation’, and urged the upset customer to ensure Coles head office took his complaint seriously.
“There are so many places where having a bag can become a problem just because they don’t understand it,” they said.
“I’m sure I’m not telling you anything new there, and you’re familiar with the nightmare that airport security can be.
‘We also had to fight for a child who was recently banned from the local swimming pool.
“I sympathize with you and I wish I had something useful to add.”
Mr Jones said he has been using an ostomy bag (above) since having surgery for bowel cancer
Mr Jones thanked the person for his advice but believes he will ‘never accept’ life with a colostomy bag.
‘It’s been several years and I still hate it. “It probably doesn’t help that I had a permanent catheter put in in December because the bowel removal surgery damaged the nerves around my bladder,” he said.
‘I’ve been having some real lows lately as my health doesn’t seem to be getting any better and this (the incident was) a mental setback.’