People are taking their COVID-related anger out on Countdown supermarket staff, says corporate affairs manager Kiri Hannafin.
Last year there were stabbing attacks at two stores, one in Dunedin, and another by a terrorist in Auckland.
Hannafin told RNZ customers are now taking COVID-related anger out on staff.
"It's still shitty, absolutely dreadful - pretty much the behaviour we're seeing in Wellington, we get this throughout our stores every single day and have had that for months, if not two years now," she told Afternoons with Jesse Mulligan.
"People not wearing masks with impunity, abusing our team, swearing, spitting, threatening to kill, every single day still."
Hannafin was amazed Countdown's 22,000 staff kept "trucking on" despite "such absolutely outrageous behaviour by some very small minority".
She said team members "get care parcels" and have "really honest and transparent" conversations, but she is worried about "how our team recover from having a pretty tough few years".
"It's bloody tough when you get called terrible names and spat at and people without masks are just taking risks with our team. It's very, very difficult to keep positive and just take that on the chin."
There are 350 Countdown staff currently isolating with COVID or as close contacts.
Distribution and delivery staff are being RAT tested every time they start a shift.
Hannafin said most deliveries were going out smoothly, but there were some delays and gaps in Dunedin, where students with COVID had not been able to work.
Fresh produce is easily making it to the shelves but Countdown is expecting meat shortages in stores this weekend
"That's disappointing, we're working really hard to have business continuity there but we saw that in Australia as well. Protein was one of the first areas to be impacted."
RNZ
