Covid-19 Australia: Aldi shopper issues plea about mental health in lockdown

A mother has issued a plea about Australia’s mental health epidemic after a surprising encounter with a ‘rude’ customer at Aldi.

Sharing her experience in a Facebook community group, the woman said she had been picking up groceries at her local supermarket when she noticed a ‘stern’ man speak ‘quite rudely’ to his wheelchair-bound wife. 

Despite being initially judgmental, she said she rushed to the man’s aid when she noticed him struggling to load his shopping into a trolley.

A brief conversation revealed the exhausted man had been ‘struggling’ to care for his wife during lockdown without any professional support.

The woman said she felt it was a timely reminder for all Australians to remember they ‘just never know how someone is feeling’ or if ‘they are on the edge’. 

A mother has issued a plea about Australia’s mental health epidemic after a surprising encounter with a ‘rude’ customer at Aldi

‘So today did my usual quick shop at Aldi in peace (with) no hubby, no kids. It was bliss!’ she wrote online.

‘I was in the last aisle and a big, tall solid man turned to his wife who was in a wheelchair and said ‘NO’ very sternly and ‘Stop asking for all the things we already have.

‘He did speak to her quite rudely and another customer and I looked at each other under the mask and said “Oh dear, he’s not in a very good mood”.

The woman then saw the man struggling to unload a ‘massive load of groceries’ and two crates of beer into a small trolley. 

‘There was no way that he was getting those groceries back into the trolley,’ she said.

‘I went and offered to go get him a new bigger trolley and said I am more than happy to. He took up the offer and I placed it all back into his trolley.’

After speaking to the man and learning of his hardship, the woman said she realised she had judged him unfairly.

The woman said the encounter was a timely reminder for all Australians to remember they ‘just never know how someone is feeling’ or if ‘they are on the edge’

Shoppers push trolleys outside a supermarket in Melbourne on August 2, two days before the city was plunged into its sixth Covid lockdown

‘I felt awful being a judgmental person back in the aisle,’ she wrote.

‘We had no idea what he was going through. He didn’t look well himself. He was puffed trying to unload it all.’

She said the man told her what she had done for him was the ‘nicest thing anyone’s done in a long time’.

‘He told me his wife is a lot of work and that he doesn’t get all the help now due to COVID,’ she wrote.

‘She is really giving him a hard time and he was struggling himself. So he gets very snappy at her sometimes. He doesn’t mean it.

‘Not here for the accolades, but we just never know how someone is feeling or if they are on the edge.’

The post quickly drew sympathetic responses, with one woman saying those who have never cared for a sick loved one will never understand how isolating it can be.

‘Kudos to him for admitting he is struggling, hopefully he can start getting the extra help he needs ASAP,’ she added.

The sad encounter comes days after Lifeline recorded its busiest day in history.

A woman sits alone on a bench in Sydney’s Centennial Park on August 5, seven weeks after the Harbour City was plunged into lockdown to quash a cluster of cases in the eastern suburbs

The five stages of emotion during lockdown

1. Disbelief: A profound sense of loss will trigger sensations of denial. COVID-19 has caused sudden loss of structure and social life, so the first emotion we experience is often disbelief that this is actually happening.

2. Anger: Just as we feel anger when grieving the death of a loved one, it is normal to feel angry about the loss of normality and sudden upheaval foisted on us by the coronavirus crisis. It’s important to relinquish anger to move on to the acceptance phase of the situation.

3. Sadness: It’s normal to feel sadness and other negative emotions during this time, and we must accept that despair can grip us at any stage in our lockdown journey. Tears should never be seen as a sign of weakness, rather as a natural reaction to shock and change. Notice your emotions, describe them to yourself or those around you, analyse what triggered them and let them go without judgment.

4. Acceptance: When anger dissipates, we accept the reality of our situation and create new routines to give us a sense of energy and purpose.

5. Hope and optimism: The final and most beneficial stage where we develop new skills and develop solutions to the challenges of life under lockdown.

Source: President of the AAPi Anne Marie Collins

The crisis support and suicide prevention service on Monday received 3,345 calls from residents in need, the highest number since the organisation was founded in 1963.

Chairman John Brogden said calls have spiked since the start of Sydney’s latest lockdown, initially intended as a ‘circuit breaker’ to quash a cluster of infections that began in the eastern suburbs on June 16 which has now ballooned to more than 4,000 cases.

‘This has been a tough period for all Australians, and it has pushed many of those already struggling into crisis, but we’re glad they know help is out there,’ Mr Brogden said. 

Mr Brogden said the organisation expects high demand for its services to continue beyond the current shutdown, because these types of events leave a ‘long tail of trauma’ that can cause huge emotional difficulties.

For confidential 24-hour support in Australia call Lifeline on 13 11 14.    

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