A nurse who was subject to snide comments after using her NHS card to avoid a long queue at Aldi after a 13-hour night shift said she '...
A nurse who was subject to snide comments after using her NHS card to avoid a long queue at Aldi after a 13-hour night shift said she 'cried all the way home' from the shop.
The woman, who did not wish to be named, had just finished the lengthy overnight shift at Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool and stopped at a nearby Aldi five minutes before it opened at 8am, on Monday.
The nurse, who has worked at Alder Hey for more than 30 years, said: 'I had just finished work and the girls had said to me Aldi opens at 8am and the NHS don't have to stand in the queue.
People queue outside Aldi in Fazakerley, north Liverpool, where the nurse was subject to snide comments. There is no suggestion anyone pictured was involved
'I got there, got out of my car and there was a big queue. I walked over and there was a security guard standing there. I said 'where do I stand?' and said I was NHS and showed him my card, so he said 'stand here'.
'And then the comments from people in the queue, they started saying "oh yeah, we're all NHS here", and '"so what NHS, that's your job".
'There were about six or seven of them saying things, and I didn't answer back because I thought it would just fuel it.'
The woman, who did not wish to be named, had just finished the lengthy overnight shift at Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool
The nurse said she felt so upset by the incident she rushed around the store and left.
But she was again aware of snide comments as she walked out of the exit, with one woman heard to say: 'There she is, I know the NHS do a good job but so what?'
Aldi announced earlier this week that NHS workers do not need to stand in line to beat the long queues that are now a familiar part of everyday shopping.
The unseemly incident came only days after millions across the nation stepped outside and clapped for the NHS.
People at queue outside Aldi. NHS workers are entitled to enter without queuing
Plastic screens are pictured around tills in an Aldi store in Northwich as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues
The nurse said: 'I couldn't believe it, after feeling so humbled the other night.
'After the clapping for the NHS, to being abused this morning from a few people who haven't a clue what I had endured on my nightshift.
'It's just horrible, people just don't know.'
People queue outsidea central London Sainsbury's Local in Horseferry Road, Westminster, London
The nurse said she 'cried all the way home' after the comments.
She said Aldi staff had been fantastic and she had written to thank them - but the reaction of the customers she described as 'very sad'.
She said: 'I never expected for one minute I would be challenged going in, I was embarrassed to be doing it in the first place. I cried all the way home.'
People queue inside a Sainsbury's supermarket in Watford, March 19, with similar scenes up and down the country
The nurse said members of her extended family have died after contracting coronavirus and other relatives have had the disease.
She said: 'This disease at some point is going to touch a lot of people's lives, whether it is a neighbour, a close family member, it is going to affect each and every one of us.
'But for the NHS staff, it does not feel as if we get the same respect as we used to.'
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