I have so many stories of being very badly treated by managers, cashiers, and produce employees. It…read moreis so pervasive it must come from management setting a tone of contempt towards customers. It is so bad my homecare worker absolutely refuses to do my grocery shopping there (thankfully the IGA is just as close and has better selection as well as infinitely better service.) I have heard horror stories from other clients and a friend who works for the Metro chain said this particular store, Metro Marquis on avenue Cartier, is notorious for complaints and problems.
I will cite only one example among very many bad ones, the worst because it put my safety at risk. I was at the cashier behind a man who had groceries scattered on the rolling mat, but there was enough room at my end. My basket was very heavy and I suffer a great deal of pain and really needed to put my groceries down. So I politely said "Escusez-moi" before reaching for the divider to separate my items from his haphazard spread. This was just before the pandemic so distancing wasn't an issue, and the divider was within my reach without touching or disturbing him or his groceries. The divider was parallel along the middle of the rolling mat, but as his groceries were a little bit over the halfway point, I had to reach over a few of his items, but as I said, without touching. I only said "excuse me" because I'm Canadian. The man instantly became enraged: he was aggressive, physically threatening, and verbally abusive. I told him I had done nothing wrong then ignored him. He yelled at the cashier, insulted her as well because she wasn't punishing me, and insisted she call the manager. I didn't say anything, other than to tell the visibly shaken cashier she should call a manager for help. I was packing my groceries and the man kept yelling "we have to physically restrain her, we can't let her escape before the manager punishes her." His aggression was all the more scary that I weigh 92 pounds (I'm chronically ill) and he weighed at least twice as much as me, I'd say 6'2" and 220 pounds. The manager arrived and he listened to this aggressive man rabidly accusing me of assaulting him and trying to steal his groceries, without once even looking at me. I cut in to say "literally the only thing I did was reach for the divider." The manager angrily told me to shut up still without looking at me. I said "No. I am not going to let this man slander me in front of my neighbours." The aggressive man carried on and demanded "What are you going to do to punish her?" The manager said "We'll take care of it." The aggressive man demanded specifics. I said "I too would like to know how you're going to punish me for reaching for a divider." The manager again shushed me, facing me for the first time so he could make expressions and gestures at me like "shut up so I can just appease the crazy man." My reaction was "I'm not going to be publicly branded an aggressor and thief just so you can get rid of a difficult client." The manager insisted he would deal with me but the aggressive man wasn't satisfied with no specific punishment. So he told me "I will have to punish you myself outside on the streets" and stalked out and waited before the front window. As soon as he was gone the cashier confirmed to the manager what I said was true, all I had done was politely reach for a divider and the man just went ballistic for no reason. She said he had scared her too. I told the manager "Now he's waiting for me outside to punish me himself. Because you played along with him that I was guilty but didn't satisfy his need for retribution, now I'm in danger. Not just now, but at any time I run into him in the neighborhood. At least escort me out so I can get past him." Still without looking at me, the manager angrily said "I'll get an employee to do it" (he seemed very self-important) and stomped off. I waited and waited and waited, but no one ever came. I eventually got more fed up than scared, and when I could no longer see the aggressive man from the windows, I carefully left, looking all around for him, zigzagging so he couldn't follow me home. It was a few weeks before I stopped being scared I'd run into him.
Like I said, this is only one story amongst a very many where I was mistreated at Metro Marquis avenue Cartier. But I think this was the worst, because management aided an aggressive client twice my size in verbally abusing and threatening me and set me up for what could have been a dangerous situation outside the store. Absolutely zero attention was paid to my safety, even after the cashier confirmed his frightening irrational aggression and my innocence. The manager was happy to sacrifice my welfare and reputation for the convenience of getting rid of an obviously deranged customer. This is part of a pattern of Metro's disrespect towards clients. The IGA has always been respectful to me, so despite my difficulty climbing the hill, I will always go there from now on.
