cheesysmith Posted November 19, 2015 Share Posted November 19, 2015 If you are going on about the meaningless American speak you get at the tills, what about the automated checkouts so beloved nowadays to reduce the numbers of people employed. 5 seconds after you have finished the transactions, before you have a chance to even pack up anything, (which you can't do before as it upsets the mass sensor used to make sure you ain't steeling) they come out with "remember to take you purchaise". No, REALY? I just bought x amount at your store and am just going to leave it. What it REALY means is "we have got your monies, now off so we can take somebody else's money". Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derekl Posted November 19, 2015 Share Posted November 19, 2015 Offers: worth keeping an eye on, if they are there, is the small print on the shelf label which tells you how much you are paying per unit - sometimes/often the screaming "offer" is more expensive than an equally attractive alternative, often on packet size: the smaller package is on offer, the larger is not on offer but cheaper per unit - but also watch that they are comparing the same "units". (Alternatively, I suppose, just get a life and stop worrying about saving 5p). Dealing with staff - my views on this were not completely overturned but altered (I always try to be polite and, where warranted, friendly) after reading a book by a person who took a job with Sainsbury's in order to do so (sorry I can't remember the name of the book or author). The accounts of customer/staff relationships are such that I see it as important to accept that some of the stuff that gets spouted at you is not only inadequately trained customer speak (as mentioned above) but also monitored by mystery shoppers, who mark the store down badly for failure to comply. So I don't worry too much about it and treat the people as fellow humans doing a job - I don't know, but hope that a smile and pleasant greeting improves their day, however slightly. The idea that it might have done so improves mine. Ever wondered why a staff member asked about the location of a product leaves what they are doing and takes you there? It is, apparently, part of the requirement: if they don't do so for a mystery shopper bad marks for the store. In passing, in Waitrose they sometimes do and sometimes don't: I guess the latter when the individual realises that I am probably intelligent enough to work out that it is "with the specials on that end of the row" means just that. I gather that John Lewis (and thus, presumably, Waitrose) don't use mystery shoppers, which may also have something to do with it. Even more in passing, in South Africa at the check out you are often greeted with "Are you well today?" (which may irritate some of the contributors above): the answer is "I am well, how are you?" (Don't worry, you will only be told that they are also well, not get a list of ailments). You can then get on with the functionality of having the goods scanned and paid for. I was a bit bemused by this, until it occurred to me that the direct translation back of the equivalent of the English greeting of "Hello/Good morning/etc" from Xhosa and Zulu is just that: "Are you well today?" On that note, I trust anybody reading is well today. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brack Posted November 19, 2015 Share Posted November 19, 2015 My current favourite at our local tesco metro is drumstick lollies. 5p each or 12 for £1. There's nothing else in the offer, not sure I've seen a worse one for percentage price increase. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenton Posted November 19, 2015 Share Posted November 19, 2015 I just love special offers: and have been known to clear a shelf of some items on special - things that are to me staple items and have a reasonably long shelf life. I have no store loyalty - but one of my favourites is Costco (meat to fill the freezer). The stores that annoy me are those who invite you in then clutter the place with in-store shopper's trolleys, or with staff that are rude and can't be bothered to inform you where the basic item,s have been rearranged to. I try to give the folk on the checkout the respect they deserve (after all, they may have just had an old cusstomer like me go through before). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butler Henderson Posted November 19, 2015 Share Posted November 19, 2015 Use to like the self service tills in Asda, you could empty all your loose change into them but now they have replaced them by ones that count each coin very slowly that now I use always use the card. I also like Lidl, some good quality groceries at prices equivalent or less than the poorer stuff in the big 4 and the twice weekly special buys are always worth browsing. Lidl / Aldis cheap groceries etc were explained some time back on 5Live by a former Aldi manager; they go to one of the big suppliers and as they only stock the one variety and size of a product rather than the dozens Tesco etc do they can strike up very good deal given the quantity that will be sold. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatB Posted November 19, 2015 Share Posted November 19, 2015 As a very wise man once said, it's better to be told to have a nice day by someone who doesn't mean it than to be told to *k off by someone who does. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockershovel Posted November 20, 2015 Share Posted November 20, 2015 My current favourite at our local tesco metro is drumstick lollies. 5p each or 12 for £1. There's nothing else in the offer, not sure I've seen a worse one for percentage price increase. I hate to think that anyone would want a dozen drumstick lollies, at any price. Diabetes on a stick... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianthesnail96 Posted November 20, 2015 Share Posted November 20, 2015 We used to get the misery (mystery) shoppers, that was part of how we were "marked". We unofficially treated it as a competition between stores in the region, but if we didn't meet the standards our store manager would get a dressing down.This covered things like stock availability and fullness of shelves, tidy appearance (shop and staff; this is where I always let the side down!), dealing with an issue etc. Standard tests were to ask a staff member on the shop floor to find something, to go through a checkout and make sure the till staff followed the correct procedure, then bring an unsatisfactory item back to test the supervisor's ability to deal with a complaint.And yes, merely being polite and friendly was not enough, you had to act out the role as trained to get the marks...As for customers making the effort to be civil, well it made a big difference to me at least. Certainly helps with the monotony of 6 hours on tills if a few folks give you the time of day. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium John M Upton Posted November 20, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 20, 2015 My local Co-Op (the shop with the slowest till queue in the world, I have been queue jumped by a snail and a tectonic plate in there I am certain) had a offer on their packets of biscuits a while back, two for a pound, only thing was the sign was next to the bourbons at 49p a pack.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobM Posted November 20, 2015 Share Posted November 20, 2015 Ho ho ho, Christmas is upon us y'all. And to get us in the festive spirit I thought I'd share this little mathematical blunder from Tesco Direct. Apparently you can save £4 by purchasing a £40 + £15 item together for the great price of £59. NotABargain.jpg Anyone else come across any humdingers recently - do please share if you have! Merry Christmas Everyone Santa's Bad Elf Do The Math? Mathematics or Arithmetic please.... Tut Tut !!! Only Kidding...However .....Just hate creeping Americianisms into everyday (or every day (I never know which is correct either)) English.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozexpatriate Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 .Just hate creeping Americianisms into everyday (or every day (I never know which is correct either)) English.... I suggest that all of us who speak English should be glad that global English is here to stay. Always a magpie, English absorbs words and grammar from every culture with which it interacts. There is nothing like the Académie française for English and, personally, I'm glad of that. It is the real strength of the language and we're all beneficiaries of it being our mother tongue. Just think of all those Chinese people wanting to learn our language. Besides there's little legitimacy for either math v. maths compared to getting upset over programme/program, all the missing 'u's or train station. We're now busy creating what are essentially Newspeak words now like "hangry", "clickbait", "humblebrag" and "bestie". I find them and their ilk much more uncomfortable, but just as inevitable. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Hilux5972 Posted November 21, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 21, 2015 Back to the topic in hand, I have just been to my local model shop here in New Zealand and found the Hornby Tyseley Connection train pack for an astonishing $530. A $200 locomotive, and 3 $50 coaches sat next to the pack, in the form of Rood Ashton Hall and 3 new type main range Mk1's. So where does the extra $180? Packaging? I could buy the stock seperately and then buy new etched nameplates for less that a 1/4 of that extra cost. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold mikes rail Posted November 21, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 21, 2015 local supermarket, foxes mints only £1.00 a pack offer sign. price under mints? 89p a pack Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pacific231G Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 Do The Math? Mathematics or Arithmetic please.... Tut Tut !!! Only Kidding...However .....Just hate creeping Americianisms into everyday (or every day (I never know which is correct either)) English.... Yes. I think we've lost the battle on "train station" though the Americans also seem to have lost their much more evocative "depot" (pronounced deepoh) So far though popular media seem to be holding firm in not replacing good honest traditional British "points" with the American* affectation "turnout" * According to the American Webster's dictionary "turnout" means (in transport) a : a place where something (as a road) turns out or branches off (Which is British Engish would be road junction) b : a space adjacent to a highway in which vehicles may park or pull into to enable others to pass(or lay-by in Brit. Eng.) c : a railroad siding It seems fairly clear that c emerged in American English from a & b. but I've yet to find any reference to "turnout" in British English before the 1920s and in their early railways regulations the Board of Trade made a clear distinction between "switches" meaning the part that actually moves and "points" meaning the whole thing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortliner Posted November 22, 2015 Share Posted November 22, 2015 Ah yes !....... And then we come to the latest More Reasons 4 pint skimmed milk scam - "We are donating 23p of the price to the farmer" charged at £1.18 - right next door to the "ordinary" 4 pint skimmed milk at £0.89p - actually it is YOU ( the customer) that is donating the 23p ( plus a little extra) to the More Reasons coffers!....and surprisingly, if it is after 11.00 am, the 89p stocks are all gone! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium The White Rabbit Posted November 22, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 22, 2015 I'd better not comment on the poor deal farmers get, it'd probably lead to a ban for use of bad language & political comments... I really hope this is a case of 'Arkwright's 'Speciol' spelling ploy': Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pacific231G Posted November 22, 2015 Share Posted November 22, 2015 I'd better not comment on the poor deal farmers get, it'd probably lead to a ban for use of bad language & political comments... I really hope this is a case of 'Arkwright's 'Speciol' spelling ploy': special offer.jpg I like this. It's witty and clever and clearly their fish and chips cost what they cost. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonny777 Posted November 22, 2015 Share Posted November 22, 2015 We used to get the misery (mystery) shoppers, that was part of how we were "marked". We unofficially treated it as a competition between stores in the region, but if we didn't meet the standards our store manager would get a dressing down. This covered things like stock availability and fullness of shelves, tidy appearance (shop and staff; this is where I always let the side down!), dealing with an issue etc. Standard tests were to ask a staff member on the shop floor to find something, to go through a checkout and make sure the till staff followed the correct procedure, then bring an unsatisfactory item back to test the supervisor's ability to deal with a complaint. And yes, merely being polite and friendly was not enough, you had to act out the role as trained to get the marks... As for customers making the effort to be civil, well it made a big difference to me at least. Certainly helps with the monotony of 6 hours on tills if a few folks give you the time of day. I don't have any of these problems. I order my shopping online, and it is delivered by Ocado. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold 30801 Posted November 22, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 22, 2015 I order my shopping online, and it is delivered by Ocado. I like Ocado's 'Man Shopping' button. With a single click it buys all the stuff you normally buy. SWMBO still shouts at you for getting the wrong stuff but it is a lot less bother. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonny777 Posted November 22, 2015 Share Posted November 22, 2015 I like Ocado's 'Man Shopping' button. With a single click it buys all the stuff you normally buy. SWMBO still shouts at you for getting the wrong stuff but it is a lot less bother. Yes, very useful - as is their "Offers On Your Favourites" option, which very helpfully indicates which items are you have bought previously are either half price/bogof/or whatever. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold unravelled Posted November 22, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 22, 2015 This one hardly counts, but WOW. The same deal was available on several sets A similar product, with a correctly calculates negative saving Finally a bad deal at Sainsburys Dave Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 45156 Posted November 23, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 23, 2015 I often find similar "offers" in various outlets, and am not daft enough to fall for them, I hope. I too have opted in the past to try Aldi, but as I am diabetic, and have some specific dietary requirements like lower sugar items like fruit in juice. Not many there, so shopping was becoming a two centre shop as Aldi and Morrisons' are next door to each other locally. When I went into hospital for major surgery, I opened an online account with Morrisons who use Ocado for their fulfilment, and whose online ordering appears similar. The offer guaranteed freshness dates on perishable items, and I have now got the order to a pretty simple and straightforward process. The delivery charge is actually less than the cost of petrol to get to the shop (generally £1 to £2). I also save as I am not tempted by any of the offers, or the come and buy me racks at the end of each aisle. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Tony_S Posted November 23, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 23, 2015 Many many years ago I can remember going to the shops one day with Mum. A shop had a sign outside stating that fish and meat paste were 10d each or three for 2/6. My mother never went to that shop again(and didnt on that day either). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
34theletterbetweenB&D Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 I don't have any of these problems. I order my shopping online, and it is delivered by Ocado. A long time friend works as a delivery driver for Ocado. He says the best aspect of the job is informing the office of customer locations to which it is impossible to deliver. From the grumblings of 'the management' it is his opinion that there will be eventually be a very substantial price increase for these delivery services. At start up the customer base was free-spending, and the delivery process typically unproblematic. His current 'prize event' was stopped behind an ambulance on call out in a London residential street lined with cars both sides. No way forward or backwards, and the street so narrowed by the parked vehicles at that point the side doors of the truck couldn't be opened. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 A long time friend works as a delivery driver for Ocado. He says the best aspect of the job is informing the office of customer locations to which it is impossible to deliver..... Does that include edgy, sink estates? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.