Sue Jones has just been promoted to assistant store manager of a large supermarket. Sue reports to Cameron Patel who is the store manager.

They have a total of twenty staff that they must oversee. Sue is scheduled to become a representative of the Occupational Health and Safety Committee with several other staff members. Her training is to commence next week.

A customer is shopping in the fruit section when she slips on a grape and falls. She gets up and notices that there are quite a few grapes on the ground.

The customer walks over to the customer service desk and asks for the store manager to inform them of the incident.

Sue is standing at the customer service desk and informs the customer that she can help her. The customer expresses how angry she is and complains that the grapes should never have been on the ground. Sue has not dealt with a situation like this before and is a bit nervous, she wants to prove to her manager that she is competent and can solve problems. Sue inquires if the customer has sustained any injuries. The customer informs Sue she seems fine but this experience should never have happened and walks off angrily. When the customer gets home she has a very bad pain in her shoulder. She decides to go to her Doctor, who informs her that she has a fracture and will need further medical attention and substantial time off work. She rings the supermarket up, and talks to Cameron the store manager.

Answer the following questions.

1. What do you believe Sue should have done with this complaint?

2. Should she have referred the customer to her manager? Why or why not?

3. What documentation should Sue have filled out? Design a form and fill in the documentation for the customer.

4. How might this accident impact on the organisation?

5. What legal issues are involved in this incident?

6. How would you handle a major complaint in your workplace? Provide two examples.