"Can you sleep at night?" Frustrated shopper confronts Woolies CEO over price gouging
A frustrated Woolworths shopper has called out the supermarket's CEO in store to demand answers about Woolies' record-breaking profits during the cost of living crisis.
Chief executive Amanda Bardwell was walking around a Woolworths store in Wollongong when the heated exchange took place, with the whole thing captured on camera.
The customer fired off hard-hitting questions to the CEO and other senior staff members, asking, "What do you have to say to the fact that your company is profiting off price gouging during the cost of living crisis?"
Ms Bardwell, looking visibly shocked by the confrontation, replied, "Thank you for reaching out to us, we're doing everything we can to recognise that customers are doing it tough to make sure that they're able to get great prices."
The woman didn't accept her answer, firing back, "I really don't believe that. Millions of people in Australia right now have to skip meals in order to survive, while you continue to make big bucks and working class people suffer. Can you sleep at night knowing that?"
Ms Bardwell replied, "Our team are doing everything that we can to support our customers. We understand that it is an incredibly difficult time right now."
A staff member then intervened, adding, "We have lowered prices and you see that right throughout our store… that's great value for our customers."
Ms Bardwell thanked the customer for sharing her views and said Woolworths was doing "everything we can" to keep prices low for customers, before another staff member chimed in to say "It's actually illegal to film people in NSW without permission, with the CEO walking away.
Social media users were quick to praise the woman for confronting Miss Bardwell, while sharing their own stories of being stung by hefty supermarket prices.
"I'm sick of paying nearly $300 a week on groceries. That's choosing the cheapest products. My fridge still looks half empty when I unpack," one said.
"I'm sure Coles and Woolworth management don't have cost of living crisis as they are getting bigger and bigger bonus year after year," a second wrote.
Others took aim at one particular comment in the video, pointing out, "'It’s illegal to film in NSW without permission', yet Woolworths has how many cameras in every store? Cameras in people’s faces in self serve on every screen. Did they get our permission?"
Another added, "If only their empathy was as big as their prices."
Image credits: TikTok