According to the Australian Retailers Association (ARA), retail workers have experienced an increase in verbal and physical assault just days after the Victorian state government made it mandatory that only those fully vaccinated against COVID-19 can access non-essential retail premises, according to the Australian Retailers Association (ARA). ARA CEO Paul Zahra said that the organisation had received reports of one worker who was beaten up, another worker who was scolded by coffee, and one who had a shopping trolley thrown at them. “Our members have reported thousands of incidences of customer aggression including many acts of significant violence towards retail staff,” Zahra said in an open letter to state Premier Daniel Andrews on Nov. 23. “The reports of customer aggression are coming from a broad range of retailers—from department stores to hardware stores, along with small businesses and even charity shops, many of which have had to put security guards …