My wife and I have invisible health conditions, but do not come into any of the categories for which supermarkets have set aside priority times. Each of us, on our own, finds shopping difficult, but together we get by, and we try hard not to be a burden on other people or resources. We have therefore followed the supermarkets' advice to leave home delivery for those who can't visit their stores, and have avoided visiting the stores when particular groups are given priority.
We were considerably shocked this morning to be confronted by a supermarket employee who said they now only allowed one member of a household into their store at once, and pointed to a rather scrappy and not very official-looking notice which said the same. She said it was "government policy", which I disputed, and in the end she reluctantly let us in, but said we had to keep 2 metres apart - even though I pointed out that members of the same household were not required to do this.
We had looked at the store's website before setting out to re-check that we would be avoiding their priority times, and there was nothing about this new policy. Doing a search for the phrase/terms I have used as title to this thread brings up a number of stories which suggest it is now fairly widespread, and in more than one supermarket chain. However, there are several reports that single parents have been told they have to go in by themselves and leave young children waiting alone outside.
I can understand that they want to reduce the number of people in their store (though this morning there was no queue and the woman at the door told the customer ahead of us that it was very quiet), but can anyone suggest a way in which my wife and I would be able to continue shopping together, please. I am still very upset at the way we were treated this morning (we were made to feel like criminals), and the only options I can see are (a) further arguments at the door, (b) disclosing personal medical history to the staff and/or in front of other customers, or (c) not eating.
