A 68-year-old pensioner with arthritis in his knees and shoulders had been asking cashiers at the Migros in St Gallen for years to hand him his items after scanning them. No problem – until that day. That morning, the cashier refused. He insisted. She told him off whilst a queue was forming. And he told her, with great tact and finesse, to shut up. Thirty seconds later, security escorted him to an office and informed him that he was banned from all Migros branches in eastern Switzerland for five years. Plus a fine of 200 francs.
The ‘Hausverbot’ is a perfectly legal concept in Switzerland. Any private establishment may bar a person from entering on the grounds of their behaviour, without judicial intervention and without any minimum or maximum duration set by law. It is neither a threat nor a metaphor: you are made to sign a document, and if you return, they can call the police for trespassing. Migros, Coop, shopping centres and some private public spaces enforce this rule. A Migros membership card does not protect you.
The man considers the penalty “completely disproportionate” and has asked for the case to be reviewed. Migros refuses, arguing that he already had a history of disrespectful behaviour towards staff. And that shifts the focus of the story somewhat, because a five-year ban for a single insult might seem excessive, but if there is a previous record, it’s a different matter. Customers never know what the company has on file.
Some might say that checkout staff deserve respect without exception. And others might say that banning a pensioner with arthritis for five years for telling a cashier to shut up is a disproportionate response. The more than 260 people who commented on the news story on 20min could not agree. And that speaks volumes.