Hello!

A Woolworths’ employee has called on shoppers to stop doing something we’re probably all guilty of, saying it’s ‘disgusting’. And it’s prompted an avalanche of responses from retail workers confessing the most disturbing things they’ve had to deal with at work.

The reddit user, who works in replenishment in a Melbourne Woolies, has asked that customers stop leaving unwanted items on random shelves, rather than putting them back where they belong.

“Dear Melbourners please stop doing this I work in replenishment at woolies it is disgusting,” they wrote. The uploaded image showed a juice, which needs to be refrigerated, discarded in the baby aisle.

Woolies random items

The post attracted more stories from supermarket employees, detailing the filthy habits of some shoppers.

Here’s a selection of some of the most disturbing things retail workers have found and seen:

“I did replen for several years at Bunnings. I have faced up my fair share of half eaten snags dumped on shelves.”

“I used to work at Kmart many years ago in the early 2000’s. We found actual human s**t out on the shop floor on three separate occasions that I can think of. One of which was adult-sized turds on the ground in the middle of the footwear department. Don’t ask me how the hell that happened. It was also a common occurrence to find open packs of nappies in the baby section – people would steal a nappy to put on their baby and they’d change the baby right there on the floor, leaving the dirty (often s**t-filled) nappy either on the floor or even worse, they’d hide it amongst the clothes or merchandise. Another thing that happened constantly was people would swap the underwear they were wearing for a ‘free’ new set, leaving the tags and their old grimy undies and bras in the fitting rooms for us to find.”

“One time at the supermarket I heard a ‘pop’. Looked over and someone had opened a jar of jam, gave it a sniff, held it under his friend’s nose for a sniff, put his finger in it for a taste, mustn’t have liked it because he then put the lid back on and put the jar back on the shelf.”

“My first year working at a department store, some kid had the runs, and instead of going to the bathroom in store, his mum dragged him around while she did her shopping. Our first hint was when it started pooling at the register when she paid, we tracked her progress through the store by the brown drips.”

“When I worked in Woolies about 15 years ago, one time we even found diarrhoea under a shelf. No idea how someone managed to have the ability to position themselves to be able to do that.”

“Worked at Coles while I was at Uni. Found both a used nappy and a used pregnancy test on shelves. Both big nopes on a supermarket wage.”

“Oh boy do I have story’s for y’all! Eight years Coles experience worth of ‘em. Highlights include:

  • whole hot roast pork from deli left in freezer to freeze solid
  • woman taking a s**t in the aisle
  • woman changing child’s nappy on milk shelf
  • man throwing up in promotional shelving
  • cheese left in toilet paper shelves
  • bloody knife left on shelf
  • used condom in pet food shelf
  • child who opened all the taps on water casks and flooded half the store”

“We used to own a newsagency. There was one kid who’d discretely grab a porn mag, open it to a full spread of a nude photo and place it in the children’s section. Every school day.”

The thread even prompted the creation of an Instagram account, dedicated to random supermarket shelf discoveries.

Are you guilty of dumping unwanted items on random shelves? Or have you ever found something where it shouldn’t be in the supermarket? Let us know in the comments below.

We may get commissions for purchases made using links in this post. Learn more.
  • I hate seeing cold goods left on the shelves. Firstly because it’s so wasteful, and secondly in case a worker puts it back for itto be sold and we get sick from buying it.

    Reply

  • I see this sort of thing often when going to the supermarket. So rude. lazy and low class

    Reply

  • I see this everytime I go into the supermarket someone has opened the pack of chips and they are half eaten pack just left so bad

    Reply

  • It’s really disappointing that some people seem to think that this is acceptable behaviour.

    Reply

  • Omg some of the examples are just rude and nasty…

    Reply

  • I’ve been in retail for 21 years now and the things we see !!!

    Reply

  • I was in a busy Officeworks store recently, with my daughter. We suddenly starting hearing noises coming over the intercom of what sounded like two people having sex. When I asked one of the staff about it they told me that it was school kids and they hack into the intercom quite often as a joke.

    Reply

  • Worked at coles years ago and thankfully didn’t find half of this

    Reply

  • ???? oh goodness me! Yep Ive worked in retail and have seen my fair share of vomit, pee and poop

    Reply

  • OMG!! How filthy is that. I mean show me humanity if nothing else. Its so sad someone else has to clean your shit. I always put the dishes into each other after eating at a restaurant so the waiter doesn’t have to do that. Simple things in life can make someone else’s day. And if yo uu can make someone’s day at least don’t ruin it.

    Reply

  • I have often seen fridge items left on shelves. I get so angry when I see this. Makes my blood boil.

    Reply

  • This is disgusting. Shouldn’t be abllowed access to the essentials if they’re going to shit all over it

    Reply

  • I am not a retail employee but as a customer, I find these behaviours disgusting and disturbing. Every week, always without fail while doing grocery shopping at Coles, there are dumped freezer/fridge items, open boxes of zip lock freezer bags or items just placed in the wrong spot. Many times, I have taken the dumped items to workers who sigh. Wasted good food.
    Its just sickening that people actually poop in retail shops. That is messed up!

    Reply

  • This is horrible, take your rubbish with you and if you change your mind take it back from where you got it from.

    Reply

  • OMG. That is disgusting. I often see things left on shelves eg. empty coffee cups, smoothie cups, opened things, etc. One, I think there need to be visible bins in supermarkets then at least I could do something with all of that crap. But really, people need to not be so selfish, disgusting and filthy and to have respect for the place they’re shopping and others. It says more about them as people if that’s their behaviour.

    Reply

  • Some people have no respect. It’s rather sad to think they thinks acting like this is OK

    Reply

  • I used to work in David Jones toy dept in the Sydney CBD and parents would open packets of toys for their kids to play with and then leave it there! And the amount of dirty nappies I would find too. They treated our toy dept like their daycare/play centre!

    Reply

  • Having worked at a woolies I have seen a lot of discarded items in store

    Reply

  • I really wish people that do this would get caught doing it. Maybe then, if thy got embaressed, they would stop. Disgusting behavoiur

    Reply

  • People can be so feral. If you decide whilst shopping you have changed your mind on an item/s, either place it back where you got it from, or just take it with you to the register, and the staff will organise it to go back. I understand shopping with kids can be very stressful – but don’t let them run rampant and mess up the stores! Recently there were 2 kids probably between 8 and 12, that were climbing on the shelves and throwing the packets of toilet paper all down the isle. There was at least 20 packets on the ground, shelves all messed up, and no adult to be seen. I did ask them to stop, and said they were making a mess. I did see them with an adult after that during my shop.

    Reply

Post a comment

To post a review/comment please join us or login so we can allocate your points.

↥ Back to top

Thanks For Your Star Rating!

Would you like to add a written rating or just a star rating?

Write A Rating Just A Star Rating
Join