There are some good things about Superdrug, one must be fair. Shopping is okay. Well marked isles…read moreand competitive prices.
But when it comes to "buying" at Superdrug, it is an experience I never look forward to.
I was brought up in a time when the saying ran; "the customer is always right". In other words, the shop and the staff would bend over backwards to make your time with them so pleasant that you would not only be pleased with your purchases, but you'd definitely return for more goods and the genuine warmth of their personality... PLUS... you wouldn't hesitate to tell your friends what a lovely place to shop at.
However, at Superdrug I always feel as though I'm left pummelled when I "eventually" get myself and my purchases out that front door. Last week was no exception, and the main reason I decided - once and for all, to write about my HORRIBLE time.
After lengthy queueing, and when you finally get to the till with your chosen items, your eyes, ears and brain are immediately assaulted by a barrage of offers from the assistant who tries desperately to entice you into buying further goods that "just happen" to be left "floating around on top of the counter".
Each time you say, "no thank you, I have what I want", still undeterred he/she goes prattling away with more sales pitch patter as if so totally brainwashed by their spiel, the fact you're still standing there seems to be of little consequence to them. They must at all costs finish their monologue. Something all staff have been told to do by "management" I'm sure - the same is done in Poundland.
But in the end the staff are merely recorded voice boxes sprouting out the store's discounted offers. All of which is neither enchanting or appreciated when you've simply gone there on a particular mission. So, instead of contentment, you feel like you're being hammered into financial submission.
My fun time is when it comes to pay. ALWAYS. Assistant: "Have you nothing smaller?" (I'm positive these people never want to go to the bank for change) ME: "If I had smaller I would surely give it to you. Sorry, I haven't been to the bank today, but I'm on my way". Assistant: "BUT I DON'T HAVE ANY CHANGE". ME: "Staff here always say this to me, and funny thing, when eventually they open their tills, miraculously change appears. Anyway... this is what I have, and as my purchase comes to £15... which isn't a meagre amount. SO... do you think you could check with your other operator's tills to see whether there's change in those, or... at least CHECK in your own". Assistant: "You're rude". ME: "Excuse me... I'm being rude? I thought you were here to assist?"
By this time the Store Manager sees what's going on and tries to be of service. (I must emphasise; BE OF SERVICE - something I thought was a prerequisite for working in this field of work - but I'm often wrong).
She maintained that it was the store's policy to ALWAYS ask people if they had something smaller. I pointed out that my purchase was not a small one and that surely if people had smaller they would give it over from the get go - albeit, in days gone by sometimes shoppers wanted change. Obviously THOSE days are long gone. However, is this not ALL part of the service? And then, of course, the store manager opens the till and FINDS change for my note I'd passed over. SIMPLE!
SUMMARY:
It bemuses me how a shop like this doesn't want to give it. Maybe they don't want to send someone on a Bank errand. It also amazes me how they have the gonads to want shoppers to do their work for them, when it used to be the other way around. It also riles me how shoppers are treated like "stain-clothed children", like we don't know what we want to buy, and how we want to pay for it. And if we so much as have the audacity to hand out a couple of solutions to a problem with a touch of common sense - or so much as HINT to staff to DO THEIR JOB... you get slapped in the face and called rude.
This shop assistant forgot the actual MEANING of her title, "assistant". She forgot what her main aim as an "assistant" was. Not to have an almighty chip on her shoulder because someone buying something from her had the temerity to ask her to CHECK whether she had change or not. But somehow even though this lass' attitude was worthy of having her sent to the factory floor to stack shelves and forget about dealing with the public, I feel this is really the problem with management.
They are programming their staff with spiels. Scripts for every eventuality, from selling more stock to pushing bags onto people who clearly have some in their hands. They've taken common sense off the shopping floor, and if by chance a shopper like me requests something that's not part of their regular format, a spanner is thrown into the works and they go on the defensive, and then, as I experienced become offensive. The best mode of defence is not always attack, especially if you are serving someone, and ESPECIALLY when you are caught out in a lie.
