I am a huge fan of Poundland because unlike other pound shops in the UK you know you're buying good quality products for an excellent price, and this store is one of the largest I've seen with a good array of products and some fantastic bargains.
However, a store is only as good as its staff and the staff in this particular store are about as bad as it gets. During the past few months I've visited the store on four occasions and on each occasion I have been disappointed in the standard of customer service.
On my first visit a staff member appeared to be going to extraordinary lengths to keep a customer happy - she had her tongue firmly embedded in his throat in one of the aisles. It's not the public display of affection that aggravated me so much as the attitude I got from the pair when I asked if they could step aside so I could access a product on the shelf they were blocking.
On my second visit I went in to buy an annual my wife had requested and there were only two copies remaining. As I reached for one copy a member of staff nudged me out of the way and took it for another customer, who then proceeded to fondle it aggressively, tearing the cover, before the staff member put it back on the shelf replacing it with the only remaining perfect copy.
On my third visit two staff members were talking at the back of the store. Now, I have no problem with staff in shops taking a break to chat and I'm hardly prudish when it comes to bad language, but I certainly feel loud profanity in the presence of children is inappropriate and when I called them on it I was instructed to mind my own business or leave.
My fourth and final visit, however, has convinced me never to set foot in the store again. Anyone who visits a Poundland store knows that in spite of the multiple checkouts at the front of the store there are rarely more than two or three manned at any one time, so the queues are quite long. On this particular occasion there were three tills open, but one was accepting cash only not because the credit card machine wasn't working but because the staff member in question hadn't been trained in their use - a fact he noisily broadcasted.
After queuing for several minutes I was still third in line, with four people behind me, when the staff member in question finished serving a customer, stepped out from behind the till and announced he was going for a cigarette. So those of us who had been queuing were left to rejoin the long queues at another till while he sauntered off towards the back of the shop without calling for someone to take over from him.
If you're a psychologist interested in studying displays of ignorance and general incompetence or you have the patience of a saint, I'm sure you'll be fine in this store. If, however, you don't enjoy being abused, ignored or subjected to semi-pornographic displays in the aisles, steer clear of this branch. There are plenty of other Poundlands in the city - no need to inflict this place on yourself. read more