RE: OPEN ALL HOURS - 107

Posted by astoness

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[quote="phil"]Well we managed to get to Hatton Country Village today, besides it being a glorious day weather wise I have to say I was not impressed. It's been a few years since I was last there and the only real changes have been in the prices. £9.95 for children and £8.95 for adults and under 2 free. There again I suppose that is about average these days, but when you look at Birmingham Nature Centre which has many more animals and is laid out better its no contest £3.50 adults, £1 for children under 5 free.

Of course I had to have a row with one of the workers. they had a couple of kiddy rides which of course the grandchildren wanted to go on, but they would only operate one ride at a time because there was only one attendant. This over officious woman said if we wanted our child to use the one ride we would have to wait until she was finished in the other one. To which I replied "excuse me young lady but the price you are charging children to see a couple of sheep and a goat you would think you could pay for more than 1 ride attendant". I followed that up with " you would also think your bosses would be able to afford a bit of tar mac or hard core for the paths so everybody doesn't have to wade through mud everywhere".

By this time the wife was dragging me away, before I got into full rant mode. Anyway we left shortly after and stopped at a country pub where I calmed myself down with a glass of wine and a steak.

Phil

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Kmow how you feel mate. Fort Shopping Centre last week, enter Mothercare (Ha! there's an oxymoron to die for) with little Billybob in pushchair plus granny, to buy some stuff for the little man. Queue to pay out the door. Two tills operating, one stuck with girl and a stacker truck and full pallet of stuff to take back, other woman trying to explain to non English speaking Brummie where to find the toilet . Meanwhile quick check and two hundred other uniformed staff are restocking shelves or chatting at the other Enquiries desk (which is totally devoid of customer activity). Politely ask managerially badged snotty kid if we can get someone else on the vacant paydesks from the shop floor perhaps to speed things up a bit. Billy is heaving to get our of pushchair and create mayhem. Snotty kid gives me facile excuse. Granddad goes from quite cross to extremely miffed. Points out to snotty kid an old adage about breweries and p**** ups. Billy now desperate to escape and granny seeing this and that granddad is getting to 'decking snotty kid anytime soon' phase drops purchases, and we exit left and repair to Boots for tablets and a calming coffee before we are all arrested. No purchases made....Brilliant organisation.

Yes I had a fantastic day, enjoyed myself seeing the grandkids enjoying their selves, had a row with a jobsworth, and finished with a reasonable meal and a passable glass of wine. What more can you ask?

Phil

Winkle

I know exactly what you mean, there are certain supermarkets that I won't enter. No that not quite true, its more I am not allowed to enter ("you can wait in the car dear"). If I see a supermarket with queues at the checkout and half a dozen checkouts closed I will always enquire at customer services why this is so. Believe me they do not want to tell me that they haven't got enough staff. I was told this by one young manager one day who didn't like it when I enquired if he could work a till. They think it's beneath them to do something so menial. If I was the boss of Sainsbury's and I saw customers waiting I'd soon jump on a till.

Phil

Not like me to moan at all, oh dearie me no, but my favourite moan in a Supermarket is when the staff try to usher me through the automatic checkout. I will not use them under any circumstances because they are there specifically to put people out of work. As if these mega rich businesses don't make enough money, now they want to put more people on the dole. Call me old fashioned but these extremely money mad moguls should get a social conscience. SB

So next SB, you'll be telling us you don't plan to stack the stuff onto the shelves before you start shopping.

SB

I agree with you. I won't use them either. Get us all using them and they can cut their staff down by half and it won't make any difference to the prices. The trouble is we all know that is the way things are going to go.

Phil

Posted by Voltman

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So next SB, you'll be telling us you don't plan to stack the stuff onto the shelves before you start shopping.

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VM what are you on about?

Getting a part time unpaid job in a supermarket, you just can't get the voluntary staff these days.

Posted by phil

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SB

I agree with you. I won't use them either. Get us all using them and they can cut their staff down by half and it won't make any difference to the prices. The trouble is we all know that is the way things are going to go.

Phil

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Tesco's have a store in London that they are trialing, all checkouts are automatic, staff level is very low.