Some people

Poppy9

peterbaker wrote:

I would gladly spend an afternoon hunting out a Gelateria where they smiled freely and dispensed with care, irrespective of price!

~~~But would an afternoon be long enough? Good service is now very very thin on the ground. The best place for happy smily people are the older gents working in B&Q. I don't know who laughed more when I asked one which aisle I would find the strippers on. I meant paint strippers of course. The worse place for service now is M&S the seem to have cornered the market on grumpy staff over the last few years.

Smiley_Mum

I was in the local Crabtree and Evelyn shop the other day, my mam's birthday pressie so big splash out for that, credit card melted ;-) The staff were very nice and helpful. The shop is bliss to go into, such nice smells and very nicely laid out with everything. You know how your items are usually just fired into a carrier bag with the receipt. Well, as the item I bought was a gift it was wrapped up all nice with nice paper and bows etc and put in a posh bag, (maybe not the most environmentally friendly store but ok as a treat for a gift). I think most things are wrapped in some nice tissue paper and some little stickers, so not too bad, at least biodegradable unlike the poly bags. It was very nice to go into and have such nice service, albeit the costs of the wrapping etc are more than likely factored into the costs of the goods you are buying. Really pleasant place and staff. Thumbs up.

Our local M&S seems fine to me, the checkout people always stop to say hi and ask how you are etc etc, I think the kids help too as they are always chuckling away about something or the little one plays peekaboo and hides etc so it raises a smile if things are a bit busy and people are frazzled.

fakedave

Sorry if this has already been mentioned but I don't feel up to reading everything. However, I feel holding the door open for anyone approaching should be expected, but any polite polite person shouild be expect to give a sign of appreciation.

I would not be upset if one did not say thank you, but I would assume them to not be very polite anyway.

aliasojo

Al_Mac wrote:

Thanks whoever did it.
:beer:

You're very welcome.

Savvy_Sue

The worst place is Primark! They send all the till staff to have tea just as all the mums with kids in tow hit the store after school. So you wait forever, then when you offer a credit card that takes forever as well. Girl today had time to go down the other end of the counter and sort a problem out on someone else's till while it decided whether I'd got any credit or not - and she didn't say "Do you mind ..." before she disappeared either!

But the worst thing is when till staff mumble. I can't help the fact that I'm going deaf and I'm on the list for a hearing aid so I'm doing my best in the meantime, but if people don't look at me when they say "any cashback?" or "are you collecting the vouchers?" they are going to have to repeat it, possibly several times! Sorry, could you repeat that please? I can't hear what you're saying!

IvanOpinion

Savvy_Sue wrote:

But the worst thing is when till staff mumble. I can't help the fact that I'm going deaf and I'm on the list for a hearing aid so I'm doing my best in the meantime, but if people don't look at me when they say "any cashback?" or "are you collecting the vouchers?" they are going to have to repeat it, possibly several times! Sorry, could you repeat that please? I can't hear what you're saying!

I agree with you on this one. My hearing is pretty poor as well. In particular I can not split conversation out from background noise - so it can be awkward in a busy pub or noisy work environment.

My grand mother used to tell the shop assistants off by saying things like 'Now for goodness sake dear would you learn to speak up', 'Did your mother never tell you how to talk properly' or 'What was that dear, I saw your lips move but nothing came out'. She even used to suggest some of the assitants went for 'electrocution' lessons (and I am pretty sure she was aware of her mispronounciation).

Personally I just turn to the person beside me and ask 'Are they speaking English?'.

Ivan

Spendless

IvanOpinion wrote:

I agree with you on this one. My hearing is pretty poor as well. In particular I can not split conversation out from background noise - so it can be awkward in a busy pub or noisy work environment.

My grand mother used to tell the shop assistants off by saying things like 'Now for goodness sake dear would you learn to speak up', 'Did your mother never tell you how to talk properly' or 'What was that dear, I saw your lips move but nothing came out'. She even used to suggest some of the assitants went for 'electrocution' lessons (and I am pretty sure she was aware of her mispronounciation).

Personally I just turn to the person beside me and ask 'Are they speaking English?'.

Ivan

At least shop assistant have a bit of an excuse not knowing of hearing problems. I have a hearing impediment in one ear and Mr Spendless has a habit of talking with his hand near to his mouth.This makes me want to go

AAAARRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH

sunflower_2

am seething reading this thread

one of my pet hates are RUDE PEOPLE (young or old, male or female)
it costs nothing to be polite/well mannered

as does one of the posters above, I always say "you're welcome".
i cant help it - it comes out before i have time to think

i am one of those people who smile at strangers - at home and at school i was always taught how a simple smile from a stranger can brighten a person's day.
and it has stuck - i do it on autopilot

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

my son asked for a cake from greggs the other day, i gave him the money to go to the counter

the girl that served him was so rude, hardly acknowledged him in the first place until she saw me watching

there was still no please or thank you

i had to raise my voice saying how rude some people where, and my poor little boy said "did u not hear me say thank you"

my heart nearly broke - poor little thing
at least he knows his manners

pug_in_a_bed

i was in tesco car park with my mum, when we spotted her friend carry a big bag of shopping for her own elderly mum.

her phone rang, and thinking it was her mum, she quickly put her shopping down and answered, in the mean time she was beeped by a car as she was a bit close to a parking space, though not in it, she shouted over okay, and put the phone down. driver didnt feel like waitin, ran over her shopping instead.

we ran over, and were very surprised to see a very distinguished elderly lady get out. She refused to acknowledge she'd done anything wrong at first, then offered £5 for a bag of £25 shopping.

at this point my mother took exception asking her how dare she etc, she could see and hear the friend etc. The woman's response was ..... 'I'M 80', which apparently gave her an excuse to deliberatley run over someones shopping in her BMW. it was absolutely on purpose, no question. my mum did chew her ear off though in front of lots and lots of saturday shoppers, she has since accused me of crushing her donuts despite me being at a separate till, i only recognised her when she yelled 'I'M 80', to which i replied at the top of my voice, 'oh you're the woman who ran over so and so's 94 year old mothers shopping and then refused to pay for it!'

yes there's lots of kids who've got no manners, but generally i think there's an equal proprtion from any age range. i had mine bashed down my ear at an early age and i've never forgotten them, even though i was no where near this woman at the time of alledged donut crushing, at first i heard myself saying oh dear, i'll get you some more!!

maggut

Well having just found this thread i have laughed and seethed at it.
I work on checkouts all day and i have to say i have was brought up to be well mannered and polite,as is my son. I have to serve people who refuse to pack their own shopping but will happily watch me struggle to scan and pack,without so much as a little help from them. I quickly learned not to even bother making eye contact with anyone that is on their mobiles when it is their turn,instead i watch out of the corner of my eye trying not to laugh as they flack the carrier around trying to get my attention, when they do eventually turn their attention to me i smile politely and make them feel guilty for holding up the queue.
Customers even say some of us are having far to much fun at work because we are always having a laugh and joke with them. But they always comment on how friendly and approachable i am........just because i smile at them!

It makes a whole lot of difference to us if the customers respond in the same way. I do think though that some folk come into our shop with the intention of having a rude encounter, then they leave making us wonder why we bother, we dont get paid enough for the grief. Yes sometimes we chat to the other staff but we dont ignore our customers, we get them involved in the convo,it makes their boring weekly shop so much better.

I have also come to realise that from watching so many families, how people are very much like their parents, no matter what age. We have two women that come in regular as clockwork on a Tuesday,both of them so rude its untrue, no please or thank you. Also seen a younger family with two young children, smile at them and the kids just stare, then speak to the parents and realise thats why the kids are like that.

As for having a door held open for me, i will always say thank you!