The SDA does NOT accept the notion that ‘the customer is always right’. This has been the line that retailers and fast food operators have used for decades.
Times have changed.

As reported in the South Australian newspaper ‘The Advertiser’ on Saturday 13 May 2018, KFC workers were confronted with a violent customer who verbally abused them and hurled equipment over the counter.

The newspaper reported that a woman, about 9.30 pm on Friday evening 12 May, picked up various items on the service counter including EFTPOS machines and a receipt printer and hurled them across the store.

The violent woman’s choice of language which was directed towards the staff was filled with expletive after expletive. The workers knew that the ‘customer wasn’t right’ and called the police. The police apprehended the woman and she was eventually charged with a string of offences.

This is another example of the public showing a total lack of respect towards hard-working retail and fast food workers and it is the reason why the SDA launched our national NO One

Deserves a Serve campaign in late 2017.

The SDA has long argued that our members have the right to go to work and return home safe and sound. They don’t deserve to be confronted with abusive and violent customers.

Plastic bag bans

The SDA’s Don’t Bag Retail Staff campaign has received national and international media coverage as we continue to remind customers that abusive and violent behaviour will not be tolerated.

Remember your rights under the new rules. Don’t overload bags at the customer’s request and don’t handle extremely dirty or unhygienic bags.
Customers should not take out their frustrations about paying for a reusable bag and members are strongly advised to report any abusive or violent behaviour from customers to your manager.