TAVERN OF THE SEAS david biggs Labour laws to blame for lazy, rubbish service

IWROTE recently about a friend’s depressing experience in a car showroom where the sales staff were simply not interested in serving him.

I suppose it’s difficult to find the exact balance between being ignored and being overwhelmed by pushy staff.

To make matters even more complicated, I think different customers expect different levels of attention.

Here in the Deep South we have several pharmacies, all of which supply more or less the same variety of pills and potions.

I tend to do my pill shopping at the one where there’s always an assistant at hand to help and advise me, but not to bully me into buying anything I don’t need.

In another chemist’s shop, I am ignored completely, so I seldom go there.

Then there’s one place where I always emerge slightly dazed and clutching a bag of medications I didn’t know I wanted.

If I ask for a particular cough syrup, I am offered a lozenge to clear my throat and an inhaler to clear my nose and a box of antiseptic tissues to prevent my germs spreading. And while I’m there, I should take advantage of the special offer on aspirins as well.

I hope the owners of that pharmacy are aware that their enthusiastic sales staff probably double their turnover.

I go to them only after pay day. I feel they are patting my pockets in case there’s still the odd unspent rand lurking there.

Good salesmanship is a rare skill and many who are employed as sales staff simply don’t have it.

On many occasions I’ve been looking for a particular item and asked whether they have it in a different size or colour only to be dismissed by a bored: “Nah. That’s all we have.”

I often wonder whether the owners or directors ever take the trouble to visit their stores disguised as customers and experience the kind of service we members of the public get.

A friend recently emerged from a newly opened clothing store muttering about the indifferent service she had received from the salesperson, who had barely bothered to look up from her cellphone.

“I’ll bet they’ll close down before the end of the year,” she predicted.

I’ll be watching the shop with interest.

It seems strange to me that our news media is constantly reporting on the high incidence of unemployment in the country, and yet many of those who are lucky enough to have jobs don’t seem to think they’re worth working for.

Could it be that our protective labour laws just make it too difficult to fire incompetent staff ?

Last Laugh

In the run-up to the elections, a local politician was going from house to house asking people to vote for his party.

At one house the owner told him: “I know you are doing a good job, but I’m afraid I’ve already promised my vote to Mr Smith’s party.”

“Oh, come on,” said the canvasser, “this is politics, and you know how little a promise means in politics.”

“Okay,” said the man. “In that case, I promise you my vote.”