narnia Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 (edited) I don't know whether to feel ashamed, or to give myself a hearty round of applause.......you decide! Yesterday,I was in WHSmiths, buying various bits and bobs.....waited patiently in the queue and when i got there, the girl just said, 'wanna bag?' so i said no thanks, i have one.She then bblipped my goods, without another word, not even to take my debit card, so i did that bit myself, waited till it said 'remove card', etc.still no word from assistant,because the whole way through, she had been scribbling 'merry christmas' in bubble writing on a piece of paper.She didn't even look up to give me my goods, or to say thankyou. Now, here's the bit, and I honestly don't know where it came from, but I yelled BOOOOOOOOOO at her, at the top of my voice! Not only did SHE jump, but so did all the other staff and most of the other shoppers in the store She said 'oooo, you made me jump!!' so I snarled back at her.............'good, I am sick to death of rude staff, and I'm thrilled to bits for you that with a huge line of customers waiting, you have nothing better to do than scribble on bits of paper!'...............and then I marched out of the store.I did feel pretty good for a couple of minutes, then mightily embarrassed. My daughter who was with me, thought it was hilarious.......she said, I've never seen so many people jump at the same time......so funny!! Edited December 20, 2009 by narnia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panders Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 priceless, if only I could have seen it. Well done you, I too am fed up with uninterested staff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 A big round of applause from me! I so agree with you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
korkycat Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 Well done Narnia! I've often wished to do something similar. Customer service in this country is often appalling - so bad that people comment when they have had what should be routine good service. My Dad ran a shop and we were taught from an early age always to be polite to customers however rude they were. He always said a reputation that took years to build could be destroyed in a second. korkycat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 My 13 year old son read that and said "That is the best thing I have read all day!" Mind you it is probably the only thing he has read all weekend!! xx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alison Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 LMAO!!!!! I hate that after feeling of "OMG did I really just do that!" but dont feel embarassed, me and my daughter have just had a good laugh at your post I'm sure thats given the staff something to talk about afterwards Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 Well done, maybe we should all be braver at telling stores how uninterested their staff are!!! If they were more helpful then we would be inclined to visit more often and that would surely have an impact on the number of people employed. Sadly our local Sainsbury's topped this on Friday. Now I know we had deep snow but this is just ridiculous. My ex-husband is barely able to walk and finds it very hard to do any shopping so he arranged for his Christmas food shop to be delivered on Friday, he has dialysis most of the coming week so wanted it delivered before the Christmas week. Anyway he got a phone call Friday morning to say due to the weather they had cancelled all deliveries and as they were so busy they could not reschedule. He explained that he is disabled, lives on own etc and they said "Well sorry there is nothing we can do to get your food to you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" He then got crosser and they said "well you could walk to the smaller store and do your shopping there" To which his reply is not printable but you can all imagine the reaction. Yesterday my husband phoned there head office and said my ex-husband was a parisioner who was very distressed at having no food to eat for the next week and explained the whole story. We fully understadn that the weather was not good but this is ridiculous. Eventually they agreed after much arguing on our part that WE could collect his shopping from the store and deliver it to him ourselves. Whilst waiting in the store many other customers were asking similar questions to us and one was a son whose 80 year old mother had been left with bare food cupboards and been told sorry no food deliveries until the New Year. We are seriously considering taking this matter further as where does customer care etc come into the store's behaviour etc. So now ex-husband has cupboards with food so at least he will be ok. Needless to say he is not intending to shop online at Sainsbury's ever again Nicky Sussex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panders Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 It would certainly appear that the big stores had no guidelines to follow in this eventuality so close to Christmas when their delivery schedules are booked out far in advance. I did read that Tescos I think in a situation of a family whose circumstances were very difficult had agreed to put the order into a taxi and have it delivered but only after the customer's circumstances were aired over the local radio. Big stores certainly have a duty to their customers, but it is difficult to see how they can distinguish between customers in true need at a time like this which has exceptional circumstances. They really do need to think through their "What if..... plans" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyMaz Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 Oh narnia you're priceless! It is to your daughter's credit that she didn't slink away red faced and embarrassed - I think together you made a moment that will go down in family history! Nicky that is terrible - every person deserves to be treated with respect and dignity and it sounds to me that Sainsbury fell well short of the mark there. I hope you will take it further - their head office needs to know what a low priority their staff placed on customer service and how they failed your ex-husband. He's lucky to have you all fighting your corner. What really bugs me in shops is when I see customers who carry on their conversations on their mobiles whilst the person on the till does their best to be polite. How rude is that? Nearly as rude as the shop assistants in my local Budgens who insist on continuing with their inane conversations whilst scanning my shopping. Maybe next time I'll remember you, narnia and make my own little protest... Maz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 hi, one solution would have been for the store to actually listen to what he was saying. There could be a box to fill in on their order form where a disabled person could enter their reference number from their blue disabled badge and the delivery person could check this as they deliver the food, once it had been verified like this once surely it would be possible for the store database to include this info for future reference. Nicky Sussex PS Other local stores had their delivery vans out as usual so it appears it was one store who reacted very hastily and did not think of their customers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnyday Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 Narnia - I just love it - 40,000 housepoints from me!!! Reminds me of the time I had stood in line in Comet waiting patiently for my turn ........ when it was my turn.........the checkout assistant just walked off........without a word of explanation! Well she didn't get far.....because I chased her calling........hey you can't do that, I've been waiting ages...........well she was extremely rude, she snapped at me "I'm going to get a pen".........WHAT!!! The upshot was that I made a huge fuss (completely out of character but I was sooooo annoyed) I asked her to get the manager and made a formal complaint. Meanwhile, Mr Sunnyday? Well he was as far away as he could possibly get!!! Chicken!!! Nicky - your experience (or your ex-husbands) is just awful........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 Narnia, I don't think I have EVER lauged so much at a post I have read, I have tears streaming down my face. I was reading the post expecting the girl to get a talking to but BOOOOO!!!! is just priceless. Thank you so much you have made my hangover much more bareable, oh and well done Rapunzel x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 Great Narnia!!! wish it had of been me!! I have festive lights in my window which spell 'BAH HUMBUG'. My mum's milkman must deliver on my street as he told her creepy that he told her and creeper that he knew who I was I'm sure a local corner greengrocer would have delivered whatever the weather. Since large supermarkets have put them out of business and only in the last few years offered delivery then we have to expect an impersonal service from the faceless side of retail. Looking forward to taking down the tree on the 27th and decorating the front room. Can you tell I'm a bit miffed we are not in Portugal as usual where they have it just right-Miminal evidence of Christmas. Shops close Christmas Eve afternoon, everyone goes to church and back for a family meal and presents.Christmas day a walk on the beach and Boxing day back to normal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hali Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 fantastic narnia - well done you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rea Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 Fantastic indeed. I wish I'd read this before I went to Sainsburys earlier. The two silly girls serving at the kiosk were laughing with each other as they served, I dont think one of them noticed who they served. They were leaning into each other and screaming about a boy. That kind of thing makes me really cross, so well done Narnia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valp59 Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 Love it!!! Well Done Narnia!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Upsy Daisy Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 My whole family has been in fits over this. My vote definitely goes to the round of applause. My 12 year old daughter would die of embarrassment if I did something like that so all credit to yours for not giving you a hard time. I hope the the other staff heard what you said to her (apart from the BOO!) so perhaps she'll have an incentive to be a little more attentive in the future. I agree with Maz that customers can be just as bad. I always make an effort to be polite and make eye contact with people who are serving me and I mostly get a pleasant response. That makes it all the more disappointing when I come across people like your WHSmith girl. Thank you so much for sharing this and brightening up our day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dublinbay Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 Oh Narnia, how I wish I had thought of that when I was in Superdrug (Yeah......lets name and shame them!!!) the other day. Two females chatting about what they got up to the night before and me with bags in both hands, red-faced with the heat in the shops and they not even facing me when asking for the money. Blooming cheek! They'd have paid more attention if I tried to walk out without paying. Bah! Humbug! indeed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alison Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 I wonder if they would bother if you did walk out without paying?? the amount of times I've heard the security buzzers go off at the doors and no-one bats and eyelid makes me wonder if they care about any aspect of their jobs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JacquieL Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 On the other side of the coin I went to TESCOs today and the car park was horrendously icy with lots of frozen ridges. I just couldn't get the full trolley to move over them to get my shopping back to the car. Suddenly a member of staff appeared, asked me where my car was, and then between us we pushed and pulled it to the car. I couldn't thank her enough. Well done Wigan TESCOs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue R Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 YAY!! So good to hear both sides Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Upsy Daisy Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 I wonder if they would bother if you did walk out without paying?? the amount of times I've heard the security buzzers go off at the doors and no-one bats and eyelid makes me wonder if they care about any aspect of their jobs? I was in the queue in HMV this morning when the alarms went off on the security system. The community support officer and the staff member who were standing in the doorway didn't even look up from the packet of chewing gum which they were sharing! On the other hand the checkout operator was very polite and cheerful and wished me and my daughter a very merry Christmas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 We were in tesco's last week when 2 young men with those large cardboard packages of beer got fed up of waiting in the long checkout que next to ours and just walked past everyone and out . My dilema was one was an x parent who I could have easily given his name to security or Police. Luckily the checkout operator noticed and alerted security who chased after. As we were leaving the parent I knew was being manhandled back inside the shop. I'm still not sure if I would have given his name or not had he not been caught At the beginning of the same visit to tesco's there was a scuffle when 2 customers came to blows with one 'walling' another man up with a fire extinguisher he'd pulled off the wall. My husband is an x nightclub bouncer (gone to seed a bit).Even he called it Beruit and we now shop at a lovely new Morrison's miles away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redbase Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 (edited) Love it Narnia...it must have been so funny to have seen..am chuckling away at the thought of your loud BOOOOOOO! Redbase Edited December 21, 2009 by redbase Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 Go Narnia! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hali Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 i got help with my trolley at tescos too today - never seen snow like it an car psrk horrendous but staff on hand waiting to help pull trolleys ps - im parting hubby snowed in at work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 22, 2009 Share Posted December 22, 2009 Well done Naria!!! Sounds like she deserved it and this comes from someone who works in Tesco!! I always try to remain polite and cheerful with the customers (although there are some who would definately try the patience of a saint) On the otherside of things, having customers who are angry or stressed or simply void of all emotions does get you down, especially at this time of year when it is so busy! Too cheer myself up (and it usually works with the customers as well) I usually shout all round the garage that if they aren't smiling by the time they get to my till, then I'm not serving them!! It usually gets a laugh and has yet to fail in turning the atmosphere around! Obviously I work in the petrol station, so I dont have to shout too loud! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MaryEMac Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 Well done Narnia. That really made me chuckle and makes me wish that i would have the courage to do something like that. Merry Christmas, ho, ho, ho. Mary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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