I had this happen to one of my customers when I was manager at Borders. Someone on my crew had cleaned a sink in the bathroom with bleach which proceeded to destroy this man's jacket.

So, while I can understand why the initial supervisor in your encounter was confused about how to handle it (I was confused by the situation as well since I'd never run into it before), I can't understand HOW any supervisor, as a "person in charge", could not empathize & say, "Oh my gosh, sorry about that! We'll check the rest of the bleach containers to make sure that doesn't happen again! I am sorry that happened to you." Isn't that the human thing to do?

I ended up having to make the same request of the customer, purchase a new jacket & bring in the receipt, because I had to have that paperwork for the paid out. But I threw in a $20 gift certificate for his trouble.

A small bit of compassion goes a long way & it's sad to read about management who don't grasp that.