Man proposes in Highland Aldi to partner on shift
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An Inverness Aldi worker received a 'surreal' surprise when she was on shift last night.
Lynne Fuller (50) was working on the checkouts at the Inshes store, when her partner, Mike Durrant (54) decided to propose to her in the middle of her shift.
With a bagpiper on hand, alongside friends and colleagues, Mike dropped to one knee to ask Lynne to be his wife.
Speaking about the moment it happened, Lynne said: "I was on shift, sitting on the til serving my customers, and I just remember hearing the bagpipes and I just looked up from my til and saw the piper and all my work colleagues.
"At first I just thought 'why is there a piper' and just saw everyone looking at me, and then I sort of guessed what was going on when I saw Mike looking at me, and I just burst into tears."
Mike – who also works at Aldi at the Friar's Bridge store – had decided that proposing when Lynne was on shift was the perfect time to have everyone gathered around to share the moment.
He said: "Doing it at work just seemed like the perfect place to do it so we could get everyone together, and I didn’t want it to just be us on our own
"Her boss Raf and our area manager Rebecca were so good about it and we just want to say a massive thank you to them and to Aldi for all they did! They said in their 25 years of working for Aldi, that it's the first time someone has proposed in the store!"
Lynne was allowed to leave her shift early after the proposal, and the pair went home to celebrate with a takeaway and some champagne with close friends.
The now-engaged couple met last year down south in Crawley, when Lynne was working at a petrol station and Mike was one of her customers.
"Lynne was coming back to Scotland, as her parents were getting older, and I just realised I couldn't live without her," explained Mike.
"We video-called for three months, and I then moved to Inverness in March this year, as I knew she was who I wanted to be with."
The pair who are both on shift today, say they are 'walking on air' and have received lots of kind messages on social media from customers congratulating them.
"Thank you to the wonderful bagpiper Dougie Watson! We are going to get him to play at our wedding when we set the date which we hope will be in 2025!," said Mike.
Lynne added: "It's lovely to get messages from customers on Facebook which are all being passed along, so a big thank you to them for all their kindness! And sorry for interrupting your shopping!"
