Woolworths shopper ‘shook’ after scoring free $88 grocery haul during IT outage

A Woolworths shopper has praised a worker at her local store for gifting her a $88 grocery haul after a massive global IT outage left supermarkets, banks and airlines in the dark on Friday. The mum from South Australia said the tech issue struck at the “exact moment” she tried to pay for her items at the checkout, leaving her panicked.

“So I’ve gone, collected all my items and then gone to pay, and there’s been a freakin’ nationwide IT cyber attack so my money isn’t going through the EFTPOS machine,” Stephanie said on TikTok, explaining that she only had her phone with her as she — like many other Aussies — no longer carries around cash.

It was then the manager at the Woolworths store walked over and tried to help.

“She said ‘Just try again, I think there’s some IT issues, but, you know, we’ll give it another chance’,” the mum said, adding the second attempt to pay also failed.

Stephanie said she started to worry she would have to “leave all of the groceries”, ask her mother to care for her baby for longer, take out cash and return to Woolies.

“And then the manager goes, ‘Just take it. It’s free. It’s not your problem the computers (are) down. Just go home and take it,’” she said.

The surprising gesture and free $88 shop left her “shook” and “bawling” her eyes out at the register.

“I think that was just a really nice thing for that lady to have done from Woolies. So Woolies, thank you for my free groceries. I’m so thankful,” Stephanie said, tagging the company in the viral post.

Viewers have praised the “beautiful” manager for her “lovely” offer, while some Aussies said the mum’s luck as “absolutely insane”.

Some Woolworths checkouts still affected by IT outage

Supermarkets appear to be operational after reports on Friday point-of-sales systems were impacted, however a Woolworths spokesperson confirmed to Yahoo News some checkouts continue to be affected on Saturday.

“All stores are open and trading as normal for cash and cards. Saturdays are a busy shopping day and we have plenty of stock on hand,” they said. “Some checkouts continue to be affected by the global outage so we thank customers in advance for their patience and treating our team with respect.

“Following some disruption to a small number of orders last night, our online system is operating as normal with our team expected to pick and deliver thousands of orders over the weekend.

“Thanks to all of our team members who have worked tirelessly overnight to ensure our stores could open to serve our customers.”

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