Family Dollar complaint: No employee at checkout

My niece entered the Family Dollar store next to Food Lion in Dunn NC today @ approximately 12:45 to 1pm to purchase a few supplies so as to not have to go to the tractor supply store. She could not find what she was looking for. She went to the front to ask for assistance for the new location of the items because she knew the store carried what she was after.

Instead of finding an employee, she finds a long line of at least 10 elderly people looking confused, waiting with carts at the checkout. There was not an employee within sight of the register nor did she see an employee in the store previously when walking around looking for her items. My niece asked the folks in line if they knew where the cashier/employee was and they stated ‘No they did not know, that they had not seen anyone that they had been waiting for quite sometime She walks up and sees that there is not a note or sign on the counter.

My niece told the elderly customers she would try to find someone to help. She proceeded walking through the store looking for employees saying hello, she never saw anyone in uniform, so she goes to the back and popped her head into the employee only doorway and says hello twice without a response from anyone. She turns around to start back towards the front and sees a lady that appeared to be watching her with an evil eye that was texting on her phone, even though she was not in Family Dollar Uniform attire, she decides to ask her if she worked there. The lady rudely with an attitude says yes and asks why? My niece tells her that she had a long line of customers that had been waiting for sometime that needed her assistance at the check out. She states to my niece that she had to use the restroom and would be there when she got there. She was the only employee in the store and did not bother to leave a note on the register counter.

While we understand the need to use the restroom and being the only employee working the store, She did not have to respond with a rude, disrespectful ,nasty attitude.
My niece just buried her Mom and is a new mom herself. She did not deserve to be disrespected nor does any customer. We know that everyone can have a bad day and that sometimes things beyond our control such as maybe an employee was sick and called in whatever the case may have been it was unacceptable to have an attitude and be disrespectful to anyone. I personally have never been in a Family Dollar Store without at least 2 employees working the floor. I feel there should always be 2 employees in the store for safety reasons and there should be a policy in place for any unexpected situation. I also know customers will not spend their hard earned money where they are treated so poorly and or have to wait for an extended time especially not knowing why. I have never nor has my niece ever had a bad experience in any Family Dollar Stores previously.

I’m writing this because I know that this is not acceptable in Family Dollar Stores eyes nor is it store policy to be rude with an attitude. Every store we have ever been into has the best employees. We know that part of an employees job is greeting customers ,not hiding out texting on their phones. If she was truly using the restroom then she could have left a note or at least told a customer near the front of store she would be right back and went straight back to her register instead of hiding and texting on her device out of uniform. We hope that you will start sending in a secret shoppers and fix this problem immediately. Signing this as Devoted Long Time Customers, Time is money and money is Time!