Hayley Matthews: Young woman who abused me is too precious to lose

I had a really scary incident happen to me during the week and I'm still not quite sure whether a legal high was to blame or if alcohol was involved, but I was genuinely really disturbed and quite upset after seeing such a young female act in such a violent and aggressive manner.
Hayley Matthews was confronted by a young woman she had never met who screamed, shouted and swore at her for no reason. Picture: Getty/iStockphotoHayley Matthews was confronted by a young woman she had never met who screamed, shouted and swore at her for no reason. Picture: Getty/iStockphoto
Hayley Matthews was confronted by a young woman she had never met who screamed, shouted and swore at her for no reason. Picture: Getty/iStockphoto

It was last Sunday night when, in the middle of baking banana bread, I realised the bananas were a bit too black so nipped to the local Morrisons for fresh ones and some extra sugar.

As I was walking to the cashline, a young girl, probably no older than 18, was standing at the cashline facing me. As I walked over, she started screaming at the top of her voice “if anyone f****** looks at me, I’ll knock them right f****** out!” whilst making a head-butting notion.

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There was no one behind me and, being two metres away from her, I assumed it was aimed at me. She walked behind me with her friend and went off into the store. It was all very strange and confusing, I wondered if she was possibly in a bad state so just ignored her and guardedly continued to the cashline then into the store.

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Unfortunately, we met in the butter aisle, where she spotted me and walked towards me leaning in to me in a very hostile way pretending to look at something on the shelf.

I had to swerve round her with my basket, and again she started shouting and swearing at the top of her voice. Not just shouting but screaming. I ignored her. Being six months pregnant, I did not want to get in a fight, especially not in the butter aisle of all places.

Had I not been pregnant, then I wouldn’t have hesitated to retaliate but after feeling like she was going to jump me, I went to find the security. The staff were amazing and the manager, Greig, came over to me very quickly.

Unbeknownst to me, the girl saw me talking to the him and flew over screaming and swearing.

She asked if I had a daughter who wanted to f****** tell her something, so I think she’d mistaken me for someone else and, despite realising, wasn’t backing down.

She was going apoplectic. I’m surprised her head didn’t pop but why was she so aggressive just because I was looking in her general direction on my way to the cashline? How dare I! She continued her performance and was soon asked to leave.

Everyone could see how incredibly aggressive and potentially violent she was. It was utterly terrifying to see such a young girl behave in such a scary way. The manager walked out with me, making sure I was ok as we all feared she’d be outside wanting a square go. Again, I can handle myself but with a baby to protect, I was taking no risks.

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My reason for writing about this is I think it’s so important to highlight the issues we have in society with violence and lack of respect for each other as humans.

It’s completely unacceptable to threaten someone unprovoked. I often wonder if drugs and alcohol are at the root of the problem. Is this the norm that we’ve started to accept nowadays from youngsters?

Surely she should be enjoying the start of her adulthood, not looking out for a fight. I don’t know her situation and have never seen her before, but I genuinely hope she gets some help with her anger – or drugs and alcohol if that’s the problem – because she’s too precious to lose.

This generation depends on her generation to make things better in the future, not worse.