Small businesses ‘can’t continue to give NHS staff discounts’
Small business owners say they can’t afford to keep giving NHS staff discounts – as one reveals she was asked to send free booze to a team of 53 ambulance service workers
- Number of small businesses in Scotland say can’t afford to maintain discount
- Cheshire-based digital marketing consultant Caroline Constable says she’s been approached by frontline workers requesting care packages including booze
- Anonymous fish and chip shop owner said nurse argued with them over discount
- Many NHS workers have taken to Twitter saying colleagues shouldn’t demand discounts from independent retailers
By Hayley Richardson For Mailonline
Published: 10:26 EDT, 24 July 2020 | Updated: 16:13 EDT, 24 July 2020
Struggling small business owners are begging NHS workers to stop asking for discounts because they can no longer afford to provide them.
Some food retailers claim to have received up to 100 requests for deductions on bills throughout lockdown, reports the BBC.
And one marketing consultant claims she has been approached by several cheeky frontline workers requesting care packages – including one ambulance service worker who asked for free alcohol for a team of 53 people because ‘the pubs are shut’.
During the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, many retailers have offered discounts and priority shopping times to key workers to ensure they had access to essential items and as a thank you for their hard work on the frontline.
Cheshire-based Caroline Constable, who runs the digital marketing consultancy Clink Creative, revealed she has had ‘numerous requests’ from frontline workers asking for ‘care packages’ and gifts
However, it appears a greedy minority are taking advantage of the situation and the good will of businesses.
Cheshire-based Caroline Constable, who runs the digital marketing consultancy Clink Creative, revealed she has had ‘numerous requests’ from frontline workers asking for ‘care packages’ and gifts.
She tweeted: ‘One PT ambulance service worker asked for alcohol products for his team of 53 (!!!) as the pubs were shut! He even offered to promote the brand on social media.’
Caroline shared screenshots of two emails from frontline staff asking for gift packages, pointing other companies have been ‘helping them’.
Caroline shared screenshots of two emails from frontline staff asking for gift packages, pointing other companies have been ‘helping them’ (pictured)
One read: ‘With the pubs shut and access to the shops difficult it’s hard work to get a decent drink after our shifts have finished. We have a team of 53 staff and anything you could do for us would be massively appreciated.
‘Obviously, as we have done with all of the other brands who have helped us… we will post our appreciation on various social media sites as our thank you to you.’
Another email from a ‘district nurse’ asked one of the brands she works with to send products to her team to ‘boost morale’.
In a follow-up tweet Caroline added: ‘People just wanted to do their bit for the #NHSHeroes no doubt some virtue signalling and/or a marketing strategy by some. No need to take the pee though! We’re all in this together.’
Mohammed Parvez, owner of the Indian restaurant Rannaghor in Edinburgh, told the BBC he gets around four requests a week from NHS workers for discounts, but it’s ‘very hard’ given the situation
Caroline told FEMAIL she was shocked to receive the messages, admitting: ‘It’s one thing voluntarily saying, “Here, have this,” but for somebody to actually get in touch and use emotional blackmail almost to say, “Please send me some freebies,” it’s just so wrong, isn’t it?’
Speaking about the request for alcoholic drinks she added: ‘That was a shocker.
‘You think well come on, one: alcohol to an ambulance driving team, and two: 53 people? That’s taking the mickey.
‘We’re all incredibly grateful to the NHS for the work they do, but you don’t grow a halo just because you work for the NHS.
‘Obviously a lot of people who work for the NHS, it’s a vocation, but it is just a job for some people and some people will take advantage of the situation.’
A number of NHS workers have taken to Twitter in response to Caroline’s tweets to express their embarrassment and urge their colleagues not to request discounts from independent retailers.
Another email from a ‘district nurse’ asked one of the brands she works with to send products to her team to ‘boost morale’
One tweeted: ‘As an NHS worker on one of the lower bands, I find this embarrassing. The only place I claim my discount is the Co-op as I also bank with them. I would NEVER ASK for a discount from a small business that has struggled during Covid. Shame on those who do.’
Another commented: ‘I work for the NHS and I heartily agree. It’s one thing for large chains like Morrisons to offer it, but small businesses feeling the pinch had no need to do it. For any NHS worker to actively solicit a discount or “free stuff” is embarrassing.’
Another wrote: ‘In a card shop, a woman asked if they offered the NHS discount, she stood waiting for the applause of other customers for what was a £5 shopping trip to be discounted. Her discomfort at the silence was interesting.’
And one Twitter user raged: ‘Don’t get me started on people asking for NHS discount in shops, just heard a woman ask for an NHS discount on top of a good deal! Stop using your employer and a pandemic to get s*** cheaper!’
A number of NHS workers have taken to Twitter in response to Caroline’s tweets to express their embarrassment and urge their colleagues not to request discounts from independent retailers
For some independent businesses who have seen trade drop significantly, it’s no longer viable to offer reductions on their goods and services.
A fish and chip shop owner in Edinburgh who wished to remain anonymous told the BBC they received a phone call from a nurse at a hospital asking for a free meal for her five colleagues – which would have cost around £40.
‘I asked her why and she said because it would help with all the stress they were going through at the moment,’ they told the publication.
The owner added that the following week a nurse began arguing when they refused to offer a discount on the basis that the customer was earning a full wage.
‘NHS staff keep asking and it’s not right. It would make our life much easier if they would please stop asking for discounts,’ they added.
Mohammed Parvez, owner of the Indian restaurant Rannaghor in Edinburgh, told the BBC he gets around four requests a week from NHS workers for discounts, but it’s ‘very hard’ given the situation.
‘I’ve just been giving it to them because they have been asking me but the business hasn’t been doing so well so it is very hard to give discounts,’ he said, adding that he’s now asking people support them so aid their survival.
‘The situation is getting worse and worse and I am just a little businessman so it is very hard,’ Parvez admitted.
Restaurant manager Mohammed Alam, of Edinburgh’s Morningside Spice, said business is the worst it’s been for 17 years.
While the eatery has dished out discounts for NHS staff during lockdown when asked for them, he said it’s now become very difficult.
‘Business is not going in the right direction because of the lockdown situation so we can’t keep giving the discounts like we have been doing,’ he said.
‘I’m down to between two to eight people on weekend nights, so business is very much down.’
Posting on Mumsnet, the woman explained supermarket staff have been rude when she tries to jump the queue using her NHS badge
It comes just weeks after an NHS employee sparked online debate over whether healthcare workers should still be able to skip queues at supermarkets – after claiming staff were ‘rude and sharp’ during her most recent attempt.
Writing anonymously on UK-based online forum Mumsnet, the woman explained she has used her NHS badge on a few occasions to avoid waiting in long supermarket queues.
She went on to say that despite signs advertising NHS employees as priority, shop staff have been rude when she asked about queue jumping, while shoppers waiting to go in the store have given her ‘looks.’
But while some took to the comments section to argue that ‘it’s back to normal now’ and to ‘suck it up,’ others agreed that skipping the queue is reasonable considering the nature of the job carried out by such key workers.
