Aldi customers argue at the checkout - outside the situation escalates

Created: 01/10/2022, 05:31 PM

By: Benjamin Stroka

The trigger for the dispute was an incident at an Aldi cash register (symbol image).

© Sven Simon / Imago

After disputes at an Aldi cash register, a customer in Euskirchen was threatened with a steel rod.

The police had to intervene.

Euskirchen - An everyday situation that almost everyone should have experienced: a customer is standing at a supermarket checkout with a shopping cart full of goods.

Another person is waiting behind with just a handful of items, hoping to be admitted.

Exactly such a situation led to disputes at the cash register in an Aldi in Euskirchen on Friday (January 7th), which later escalated in the parking lot in front of the discounter.

Euskirchen: dispute at Aldi cash register escalated in the parking lot

At around 5:30 p.m., a 32-year-old woman was waiting at the cash desk in the Aldi supermarket “An der Vogelrute” in Euskirchen. A customer stood in front of her with a full shopping cart while she only had a few items with her. As a police spokesman explained when asked, the woman had apparently hoped to be admitted with her small shopping. However, that did not happen. Instead, another woman, who belonged to the customer in front, pushed past the 32-year-old without comment and placed more goods on the belt. The 32-year-old got upset about this, which in turn prompted the customer behind her, a 32-year-old man, to gesticulate to express his displeasure with her behavior.

But it shouldn't stay that way.

"In front of the store, the 32-year-old then confronted the man," explains a police spokesman.

“Then her partner, who had been waiting for the woman in front of the market, approached.

He pulled out a steel rod he was carrying in his fanny pack and threatened the customer with the words 'Now it's your turn!' "

Difference between steel rod and telescopic baton

At first glance, a steel rod can easily be mistaken for a telescopic baton.

Both items are retractable metal weapons.

But: “A steel rod is also flexible.

The force of the slam increases as a result, ”explains a police spokesman.

That makes the steel rod even more dangerous and just carrying it with you becomes a criminal offense.

For comparison: Carrying a telescopic baton is instead an administrative offense.

Before Aldi in Euskirchen: Man threatened with a steel rod

Other customers intervened to defuse the situation.

The woman then urged her significant other to get into the car and drive away.

The threatened man then got into his car, chased the couple and called the police.

The officers parked the car a short time later on Roitzheimer Strasse.

"During the search of the suspect, the officers found the steel rod and secured it," said the police spokesman.

There were now two criminal charges on the 32-year-old accused.

One because of a threat and the other because of a violation of the gun law.

Because: Carrying a steel rod with you is a criminal offense.