COUNTERBLAST – From the other Side of the Counter

New Zealand Listener, Volume 11, Issue 264, 14 July 1944, Page 16

COUNTERBLAST – From the other

Side of the Counter

Two weeks ago, we gave one side of a story which we called "The Customer is Always Wrong," in which we printed the complaint of the wartime customer against the person on the other side of the counter: the complaint of the’ shopper who sees himself as the victim of endiess’snubs and humiliations. This week we have given the. people behind the counter the opportunity to put their side of the story. Most of those we saw were women, and we invited them to. give their answers to those who say that shopkeepers ‘ate tude where they used to be polite and obstructive where they used to be helptul. We asked them also whether they thought the customers themselves were ruder than they used to be. This is what they said: x% ;

TOBACCONIST "RAUDER? They’re impossible!"" said "the woman behind a tobacconist’s counter. "Sometimes I’d like to change places for a while and see some of the customers .over on this side, It’s just when you're getting towards the end that it gets bad." "Towards the end of your day?" "No. The delivery. Our stocks do get low you know, and we actually do sell out, and then we get people going hostile and telling us to look under the counter. I’d like to give them five minutes on this side. It’s a strain, you know, to have to be refusing people all the time, and we’re the ones that lose by it in the end. . . Yes sir, something for you?

_DEPARTMENT. STORE "ON the whole, the customers’ are pretty good," said an assistant in a department store. "There are always the snags who will swear black and blue that the stockings we have brought up from under the counter are not as good as the ones on display, or who give~you a 10/- note and then declare that it was £1. It’s funny how people will always send a child back if they think they have na given the wrong changeyou can’t argue with a child." "Do you have much bother with the coupon question?" we asked." . | "Not a great deal. Some customers will say in a very surprised voice, ‘Do

you need coupons for these?’ and now and again a customer will appear to be getting her coupon-book out of her purse and when you have rung up the amount and turn to give her the change, she exclaims, ‘Oh, I have forgotten my coupons!’ "Shoppers thoughtlessly toss about the goods on display on the counters, and sometimes indignant customers demand an article at the price marked above it, ignoring completely the fact that it obviously belongs in the next bin. Two days ago, a woman wanted a frock that had got shifted from the 27/6 rack to the 15/11 rack-and she insisted, too. (continued on next page)

(continued from previous page) "But I have a theory of my own-if I am prepared to be nice to the customers, they will respond, and you don’t have to bother. And it works, because if I come to work feeling out of sorts and tired and can’t be bothered going out of my way for anyone, I find the customers all seem to be in the same mood, You’d be surprised what a difference it makes." CHEMIST "THE worst customers we have to put up with are the ones who have a day to fill in, and spend it walking the town asking for all the rationed or unprocurable articles imaginable." This was the opinion of a chemist who said he was utterly fed up with having to inform people that since the war started he was no longer getting his normal supply of films, and so on. "It’s the same old story," he said, "if a person knows that something is scarce, the acquisition of it becomes an obsession. "And then there is the dear old lady who wants a tin of the talcum powder she has used for years-longer than she can remember. After it has all been explained to her, she says with a hurt expression, ‘I thought you would have had an odd tin hidden away.’ We did have an odd tin about three years ago. "We spend much of our time trying gently to persuade people that it is useless to expect to find ‘just one’ hot water bag this winter, and "informing them that even without import restrictions, stocks of that eau-de-Cologne | would not be available because . the enemy factory that produced it has been bombed out of existence by the Allied Air Forces." POST OFFICE CLERK "WHAT do I think of the General Public? I don’t; it’s the only way to keep sane. I had no idea people could be so thick-headed and woolly till I started serving behind this counter; now my opinion of human nature is very low." "What irritates you in particular?" "Well, all the people who come in all the time for a twopenny stamp and hand over a £1 note; all the people who write telegrams and forget to put their name on the back; all the people who think that only their business is important, and glare at me across the counter when I’m rushing to catch the mail with the registered letters; all the people who come in every day after mail has closed and ask if the mail has closed and then add, couldn’t I just squeeze in their little letter; all the people who never seem to understand how to fill in a form, however many times we explain it to them; all the people who never know anything about anything, and hold up a queue of 10 or 15 people while they haggle over some silly little question; all the people, .. ." At this stage we felt it was time to leave, for quite a considerable queue had formed up behind us. MUSIC SHOP "you probably won’t believe me," said one assistant, "when I tell you that people come in here, with all this music displayed on the counters and in the racks, and ask if we sell music! And some of those who don’t, are just about as bad. They can’t understand why there should be any shortage of music. The other (continued on next page)

FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COUNTER

(continued from previous page) day we had a woman in who complained because she couldn’t get Beethoven’s Sonatas, We told her they were out of print for the duration. ‘But why?’ she asked. ‘It’s terrible!’ After I had explained all about the shortage of paper and the bombing raids in England when the plates often get destroyed, and about import and shipping difficulties, she waved her hand at the racks of popular music and said ‘But why do you import all this rubbish?’ I told her that _ it is printed here. ‘Then why don’t you print Beethoven’s sonatas here?’ I took a deep breath and told her that we sell such a limited number of copies of Beethoven’s sonatas each year that the cost of printing them in New Zealand would make the price soar to several pounds. I didn’t ask her if she would pay that price for each copy of classical ‘music she wanted, "Then there are the people who expect us to be walking encyclopedias. Some of them come in and hum a few bars of a tune and expect us to find the piece for them, and others say ‘I

want a piece’ of music called Serenade. . . . No, I don’t know who it is by.’ The majority of our customers are very good, but there are always the ones who arrive when there are crowds in the shop waiting to be served and get you to play over piles of music and then walk out without buying any. The trouble with most people is that they don’t think we have anything to do except serve at the counter." STREET PHOTOGRAPHER E gently broached the subject of customers at the depot of a street photographer. "Just look at this," we were told. It was a letter written to see if they still had the proofs of some photos taken last

September. There was no number enclosed, but the writer had given a description of herself that ran something like this--"I am a blonde, with my hair done in a roll. I wore a black -fur coat and a blue frock, with three rows of pink pearls." And she would be obliged if they could send her some more copies! "The street photographer has a lot to put up with," said one assistant, "especially when mother wants her small son photographed, and after the cameraman has placed him and told him to look in one direction, his mother tries to distract his attention, with the result that in the end, the child bursts into tears." "Customers aren’t intentionally rude in the shop," added one of the others, "they’re just thoughtless. You’d be surprised at the number of people, who, when you've given them their receipt and told them they can collect the photo on Tuesday, will say ‘Thank you. And when will it be ready?’ "But we do have some characters in here. The other day a man came in and said that about three years ago we had taken a photo of his small daughter, and it was so good that he would like some more copies of it. It took quite a time tc convince him that as he had lost the number of the photo, little Jane was irrevocably buried under thousands of similar snaps." MANTLE SHOWROOM HE attendant in the mantle showroom laughed. "If I were to tell you my opinion of customers, this building would catch alight. But they’re being educated slowly," she said. "A few years ago, some of the women who come in here would hardly carry a pocket. (continued on next page)

(continued from previous page) handkerchief home, and now they carry their bundles out without a murmur. You know the saying ‘Every dog has his day,’ well, now it’s the shop assistant’s turn, and the customer is having to take a little of what she used to give so generously before. Some used to ask in a very superior tone for this, that, and the other frock to be sent up on approval. Now they have to try the frocks on in the shop. At first they rhade a fuss but, as I said, they are getting educated slowly. "Some of the assistants, I'll admit, are inclined to be short-tempered, but you’ve no idea what it’s like to be treated as absolutely insignificant instead of a human being. And on Friday night we’re expected to be just as fresh and bright and smiling as if we weren’t ready to drop after being on our feet for 12 hours. ... And, of course, we have to face all the usual excuses: after we have brought out the entire range of stock in a certain colour, the customer decides that she will bring her suit in to get the exact shade, or she has an appointment and will come back in 20 minutes — and, of course, we never see her again." = © ‘ LIBRARIAN ' Scene: The desk in the circulating _ department. ; Woman: I had:a travel book out four years ago and I'd like to borrow it again. ' Librarian: Yes; madam, what was it called?" 4 ea * Woman: Well, I can’t remember what it was called, but it was about someone travelling through Europe, I think. Librarian: Can you remember the author?.

Woman: Well, no, not exactly, but it was by a man. ® Librarian (under her breath): Madam, we have at least 5000 books on travel in this library, and most of them are by men. Woman: It was a small book with illustrations. ....- Librarian (under her breath): Madam, out: of the 4000-odd books on travel written by men, at least 2000 are small, illustrated volumes. Woman: It was a green book, I'm S086. os eee!