Oh my goodness, even in the anals (or is it annals?) of Nannyism this story (if it is true) way surpasses the norm for my "Prats of The Week" Award.Hence I am awarding the Co-op and the Cranbrook police my coveted, and rarely awarded, "Twats of The Year" Award.
Please note the caveat "if it is true", because it sounds so absurd that surely it can't be true?
Anyhoo according to The Mirror, Sue Savage (a mum of modest stature) was shopping in her local Co-op in Cranbrook Kent.
Unable to reach the vodka bottles on a high shelf she asked her 15 year old daughter, Tara, (who stands at a commanding 6ft 3in) to reach for them.
Can you guess what allegedly happened next loyal readers?
Yes, that's right, a jobsworth supervisor appeared and told her to put the items back (Nanny thinks that the booze was for Sue's daughter).
Sue left the store and the booze. She then came back alone later, to buy the vodka.
Can you guess what happened next?
Yes, that's right, the store manager appeared (as if by magic) and said the he believed that she was going to supply a minor.
Factoid: it is not illegal for parents to offer their kids booze in their own homes.
Sue "went British" (ie stood up for herself and ignored officialdom), she placed £10 on the counter and walked off with the booze.
The Co-op minions warned her she was breaking the law.
Factoid: she wasn't unless they had proof otherwise.
Then, I guess out of sheer annoyance and fear, she rang police; they came along and told her to return the booze.
The story becomes unclear at this stage. However, the Mirror reports that she was then arrested and given a £80 fixed penalty.
If this is true then, without a doubt, both the Co-op and Cranbrook police are well both deserving of the "Twats of The Year" Award.
I would appreciate hearing from anyone with more information on this story.
In the meantime here is the Co-op's email address, feel free to say "Hi" customer.relations@co-op.co.uk.
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Bit off topic but it's about the police:-
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine was driving in the North York Moors this week when a red subaru impreza went flying past him at a rate of knots, overtaking him in a dangerous place. The subaru then overtook the car in front of my friend on a blind bend. A car came the other way and had to go onto the verge, the car in front of my friend also had to go onto the verge at his side. When my mate got to Pickering the subaru was in a petrol station being filled up by; a copper. The car had no markings on it, no lights had been a-flashing or sirens a-blaring to warn other motorists and the copper was obviously not on the way to an emergency, just to fill up with petrol. The cops; way above the law because they think they are the law.
Sadly, the Co op has swallowed so much of Nanny's nonsense....They have brought wholesale into the whole religion of climate change for example.
ReplyDeleteThe Co op appear to see themselves as a kind of patronising 19th century benefactor who believes they know what is best for everyone else and will do it whether people want them to or not....Does this story illustrate another example of "Retail Lemming syndrome" where a retailler gets big and then tries to destroy itself?....Co op have, after all, been doing well recently and have taken over some of their rivals, have they now developed the same mentality of Tesco, Sainburys and Asda?
I used to go to our local Co op because they weren't one of the silly big players, I shall now have to reconsider using the store and I may have to return my Co op membership card and I fear that I may nolonger be able to confirm I support their policies if this is one of them.
I watched Question Time last night and having heard Messers Hain and the PC PC(retired) Sir(sic) Ian Blair, I can see why the country has plunged so deep into the cesspit we now find ourselves in.
Enjoy being British responsibly.
Tonk, the Co-op *do* see themselves as a kind of patronising 19th century benefactor, because that is exactly how they were set up. Also, don't forget that are institutionally linked to the Labour Party - that's why some MPs call themselves 'Labour and Co-operative'.
ReplyDeleteIf you choose to shop at a branch of the nanny-state, you can't be surprised if they behave like nannies!
We have 2 Co-ops in our village and nothing else except a couple of corner shops.
ReplyDeleteThe larger of the two is not a bad outlet but ever since they started to play the Co-Op radio as muzak they include this constant verbiage about healthy eating and how carbon responsible they are. Fortunately I have learned to switch off and only the very worst of the music (and they do play some truly unusual and often dire stuff amongst the odd memorable ditty) gets through that barrier momentarily.
Their wine tends to be less expensive than the other outlets as well. That helps to offset the background noise.
Fortunately most of the staff are sensible and a few of them I have know since before the days of their Co-op employment.
I do wish the company would quit the preaching though.
Verification word today is "chili" - quite appropriate when discuss a place from which I most just buy food. Spooky.
Archroy:
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info.....I assumed the Co op was set up by a group of ordinary people coming together to make the most of buying and selling in bulk. I did not know they had a connection with Labour, that is certainly something they don't mention in their publicity materials.....I have been a "member" for many years and have never come across it.....I have noticed that over the last few years, the Co op as an organisation has become very political in relation to healthy eating and the new religion of climate change, I assumed they were just jumping on the bandwagon....However in light of what you say, I can see the reason for them being politicised and following Nanny's policies.
When the bumph came through my door regarding the election of new regional representitives, I was struck by how "multi cultural" those put forward were.....More of Nanny's social engineering, who would have thought that a tool of such engineering would have turned out to be a respected retailler....It just shows.
Enjoy thinking responsibly.
Tonk, check this out. It gives you a list of all the Lab-Coop MPs (under 'Political Representation'). If yours is one, maybe you could forward this story to them and get their resonse.
ReplyDeleteMemo to self: engage brain.
ReplyDeleteThis is the link:
http://www.party.coop/
I shop at my local Co Op it is the only truly local store where I live, the rest being the usual out of town biggy supermarkets. I hate the preachy tone of the greenshite in the mag they send out to member card holders (I cash all my rewards in on booze at Christmas) and always fill in their response cards to say how much I think they are full of shit on carbon footprints etc. I also always ask for a plastic bag even for (gasp) one item. If some earnest little twat behind the counter (usually a student working part time) starts to give me a lecture on do you really need it I tell them yes as I have to put all the soot from my carbon belching coal fire in the front room into something before I can throw it in the bin. Love it.
ReplyDeleteArchroy:
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link....Very interesting.....Fortunately, Wokingham is a true blue area and we have a proper Conservative as our MP; John Redwood.
It's Ken I feel sorry for, Brighton has a Co op MP and a Lord!!
I think Sue should petition the co-op to lower the high of the shelves so shorter people (and what about those in wheel chairs?) won't be discriminated against because they can't reach the higher shelves.
ReplyDeleteWould be good for these silly prats not to be allowed a shelf over 4 foot high...
According to the Daily Mirror, the mother was wearing an ankle brace.
ReplyDeleteThe following artcle may be about the same mother and daughter - if so there may be jealousy involved.Also, the mother is not short.
http://www.people.co.uk/news/news/tm_method=full%26objectID=19423598%26siteID=93463-name_page.html from 2007
What irks me is that the parent is being dishonored to the child over a small matter which is none of the government's business. The parents role is being curtailed by governement as its power is increased.
Kindness and helpfulness is being regulated and penalised.
Shop assistants are behaving like policeman. There also is a tendency for them to do what they are told to keep their jobs.
Parents and adults are once again being discouraged from spending time together without government and society interference.
Once more "officials" are watching and accusing people they should not be watching or acusing and without thinking first or asking questions etc.
If the daughter wants to work in the US she may not be able to because they may not ask questions and assume that the daughter was drinking underage.
what really angers me about all such laws and the way thay are eforced is that they are breaking down community - famiily, friends, community and empowering government and community to spy on and police in a sinister way.
The parents are responsible for their child and it does not appear that the child or parent were breaking the law.
It appears that a well mannered child was thoughtfully and kindly helping her parent while shopping together. It appears that the well-mannered child and parent were not robbing the store or shoplifting. It appears that the store were wasting the police's time who could have been investigating a burglary mugging or something else.
If it is true that the mother had a leg brace then it appears that the Coop sotre failed to serve its customer by offering to help and therefore increase sales. Does the government and Coop want parents or those looking after children to leave kids at home in front of the tv or in the carpark? The government and the Coop are also treating the parent and child like criminals. I also note that after having read the few articles available the daughter also appeared to have committed the crime of looking at the bottles and choosing between them - she was a thoughtful shopper and daughter - not the kind of person some in government and the Coop want, but like politeness and helpfulness, just the kinds of traits that used to be encouraged and honoured.
Yes, I watched Question Time too and, in my opinion, the only member of the panel to talk much sense was David Kilroy Silk!
ReplyDeleteI was shopping in the store at the time this incident happened and what has been neglected to be said in the report was that the customer THREW the money at the checkout operator and VERBALLY abused the Duty Manager. I'm sure she would also have been quick to complain to the store if her daughter had been sold alcohol and ended up as another teenage binge drinking case. The staff in supermarkets have a difficult enough job having to worry about selling alcohol to underage people as it is without customers like her wanting her 15 minutes of fame. I think the store should ban her from using the shop anymore for causing upset to the staff in there. She deserves the 'Twat of the Year' award.
ReplyDeleteto anon@10:41pm - I don't know if what you are saying is true or not
ReplyDelete- and what you have written is hearsay/gossip which cannot be veried by the readers of this forum. Given the ISA rules, your uncheckable comment could harm the family, because under ISA hearsay can be used including what is in newspapers (so they may check online with searches). How do I know if you are working on behalf of the Coop or some industry PR firm or whether you have a grudge against the family or some other issue? Yet another reason why the Nanny State is so harmful. Also what is the difference between verbal abuse and losing your temper on a bad day after being treated badly by a shop employee? Is nanny demanding perfection from the "people" while Nanny-officials and their nursery (shop-)assistants have forgetten their childhood lessons about good "boundaries"? Is a shop assistant a policeman? Should government have the right to criminalize people over non-criminal matters? Also, given other current news stories should government have the right to enter private property or look for pre-crime or harass or question people when they have committed no crime and do not reasonably appear to be about to - or fin any excuse including health and safety or the enviroment as a pretext to harass people they dont like or look for pre-crimes? What happened to thinking, intelligent questioning, evidence and probable cause? What happened to concentrating on real crime and ignoring mistakes or small stuff?
Normal people sometimes do things which are obviously normal in context but can't be coded into pre-crime-detection-software or a set of man-made tick-boxes - it would take eternity to code every "normal" scenario in context, thought since none of us are all-wise or all-knowing or 100% unbiased 100% of the time, it could be never done perfectly by a human. For example, someone moves several times over a period of time. Is it an unlucky string of landlords or job losses, are they being stalked, are they a travelling artist or salesman, have they been unlucky in choosing where they rent or buy, have ther been string of genuine family events like births, deaths, divorces,needing to look after relatives,wantng to get a better job? The list could go on.Many normal and healthy choices are not recorded by the state and should not be. Also, it is not a crime to move. The "pre-crime" thinking tends to assume the person is a criminal or precriminal on the run. Non-criminal behavior and circumstances get criminalized if people and "nanny" don't think and mind their own business more. Peoples lives get wrecked by such "unthinking".
My Bible says that if you overcorrect a child, the child will despair or get embittered/angry. The same applies to adults. Parents are responsible for their children, and generally know best how to look after them and if, how and when to discipline them. The government is NOT our parent. The "Nanny" state is behaving like a dynfunctional parent to both adults and children (without our consent) and it appears to be spreading to shops . Do you go to the shops to shop, and expect to get good service, or to be treated like a potential criminal?