'Don't say we ruined Christmas!': BIG W employee's urgent plea to parents

If you want to avoid making this festive mistake, listen closely...

For those who prefer to put their children's Christmas presents on layby, a Big W employee has offered some advice on how to avoid spoiling the surprise for the kids.

"Hey everyone," the staff member wrote in a dedicated Facebook group.

"Just a friendly reminder that with Christmas around the corner and the toy sale lay-bys being picked up at the beginning of November, please remember that everything is in clear bags, and has done so for the last 4+ years."

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"Please do not tell them you've ruined Christmas"

"If you do wish to pick up your lay-by with kids present," she continued, "I'd recommend taking your own black bags inside and asking the team member to put them inside for you."

They finished their post by saying, "Please do not abuse the staff and tell them you’ve ruined Christmas."

The OP then provided further context in the comments, saying that a customer had told them earlier that day that they had "ruined Christmas" as they didn't know the layby orders came in clear bags and blamed her.

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"The amount of people I have seen abuse the poor workers is shocking"

Hundreds of people weighed in on the comments, supporting the OP and sharing their own experiences of rude customers. 

"I’m baffled every year at the amount of people who say this and how it’s ruined etc.," said one user. "I don't even layby and I’ve known it’s in clear bags for years now.

"People need to remember to stop abusing retail staff."

Another agreed: "I always take my own bags in there, I also try and make sure I am as polite and patient as possible because I know how stressful it can be for them. The amount of people I have seen abuse the poor workers is shocking."

And this person claimed: "Unfortunately, people still will. It's the same every year. I told off a lady at my local last year because she was screaming and screeching at the workers because of the plastic bags."

Then others shared helpful tips to avoid the issue altogether if you do happen to shop with your kids.

"The classic ‘you’ve ruined Christmas’ line. I’m so sorry it’s started already - my mum always had to take us kids with her to pick up Christmas lay-bys growing up and she’d just tell us that Santa is really busy so she was going to send them to the North Pole to help him out and we believed it," one user shared.

Originally published as 'Don't say we ruined Christmas!': BIG W employee's urgent plea to parents