You Will Not Believe This Bizarre Staff Training Scam

In Mid 2017 a phone call was made to Poundworld in Barnstaple Devon which lead to what can only be described as a most peculiar experience all involved.

Staff were told that they were to close the store for a 'team training exercise' and crucially this was to involve taking two customers to the stockroom. As the only people in the store at the time, mother and daughter Pamela & Naomi Desmond were the ones chosen.

They were told that they must call the manager "beautiful lady" after each request and each time they did they would win £50 - easy money! However the staff were told to refer to them as "Ugly" and "Beast" before they could complain they were told that for taking part in the training exercise they could win £3,000 each and loads of vouchers for various High Street Shops.

The first task was a race, the pair were told to get on their hands and knees, then had string tied behind their ears like reigns. The staff climbed on their backs to ride them up and down the aisles with a running commentary from the store manager into the phone.

Pamela found this extremely difficult with her disability (her arm had been amputated at the shoulder and she wore a prosthetic arm) but after 30 minutes they were done.

Upon return to the stockroom, they were next told to crawl back out to the shop floor and get the staff drinks of water - which was thrown in their faces.

Surely things couldn't get any worse, but they did.

Shoes and socks were removed by the staff and the pair were told to lick the bare feet. Various more humiliations followed including having their faces drawn all over but after 2 hours they were told that the ordeal was over and that they would be in touch. 10-15 minutes later Naomi got a call to tell her the pair had to go back to the store on their hands and knees again, and get there in 10 minutes or they would lose the chance to win.

Upon arrival, they found the store was closed but they were told to crawl on the floor outside. Someone inside came out to tell them to stop as they had called the Head Office and they realised they had been tricked.

The matter has been reported to the police and another very similar incident was reported at an Iceland store - but to date, no one knows who is responsible, or indeed what they gained from the experience.

Both stores have since tightened up procedures and are confident that a scam like this will not be repeated in the future.