After I had watered my eye sufficiently, and composed myself, I went to the supermarket I should have have gone to begin with - Waitrose. Somehow I don't think they would have meted out the same treatment to me, although I could be wrong - time will tell. Waitrose is a little farther away for me, but not much. Anyway, Safety First!
"I took down a bottle of Tesco Anti Bacterial Cleaning Spray, and the top fell off, spraying me with the contents - at least a third of the bottle went over me, and into my right eye.
I stood there looking for help. A suited staff member, stood in the next aisle, oblivious. I went up to ask for help. He just looked at me. I said I got a chemical into my eyes, and needed to wash it out with water.
He unhurriedly walked towards the rear of the shop, and asked another staff member whether they had some water. He was told there should be some near the staff area, there was a sink and a water bottle. Which he proceeded to retrieve, in the same unhurried, what-makes-you-think-I-care sort of way. He then handed me the bottle so I could bathe my eye, just standing there, not offering any help.
It isn't actually easy to wash one's eye standing up, but no offer of help was forthcoming.
I then said that there should be some sort of health & safety form to fill in? He said that it was all done via telephone now, and asked a colleague about the telephone number, and started the call. Again, as throughout the proceeding, he acted like nothing happened, no big deal, no need to say sorry, nothing.
He then gave the person on the telephone some details about what happened, and passed me on. I offered my address etc, and then left them to it, to walk home and water my eye.
To Summarise:
(a) This was a Tesco-produced, Tesco-sold bottle, full of a chemical liquid, that was not properly screwed shut, which poured all over me, including my eye - surely an apology should have been offered immediately.
(b) This is a Health & Safety issue; staff had no way of knowing whether the chemical in the bottle was dangerous when splashed into eyes, and should have followed whatever procedures were appropriate (eg wash eye out for 10 to 15 minutes, call medical help). Instead they did nothing, until I insisted they get some water.
(c) Tesco's First Aiders - including the Suit-of-little-help who dealt with the incident - need some training. He didn't know where the water was, he didn't know the telephone number of the Health & Safety incident room. Even if he was new or from another store helping out, he should have immediately asked a more experienced staff member to help.
(d) Throughout the proceedings staff behaved as though whatever had happened had nothing to do with them, as though I was just making a nuisance of myself. If I were more hysterically inclined, I could have started to scream and make a scene, until other customers took notice, which could have resulted in a lot of negative publicity."
