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Shops - Downturn (OT)

Got that Tee Shirt, sadly.

Reply to
Clot
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Why are british retail staff so bad? Because you cant fire them for being bad. Simple as that. I'm glad to see a few retail companies at least have figured out how to get staff motivated and clueful.

NT

Reply to
meow2222

Being an old-fashioned git, however good they might be is largely nullified when they stand there chewing gum with open mouths. (And if they were bad it merely confirms the opinion.)

(Possibly because in my gum chewing childhood days, doing so was an act of insolence on my behalf. So I tend to attribute that attitude to anyone doing it. Unfair prejudice - almost certainly. :-) )

Reply to
Rod

I believe some major changes are being trialled - e.g. paperless prescriptions (them being sent directly to a pharmacy by email (or other electronic means). So it certainly depends on where you live at the moment. (Speaking for England only here.) There is quite a bit some where within *.nhs.uk!

But there are problems - such as what happens when a pharmacy is out of stock, especially on a multi-item prescription. Because you cannot then simply take it to the next pharmacy for fulfilment. And special instructions (e.g. as mentioned in another post, being willing to accept only one 'brand' of a generic) - which cannot be specified on an electronic prescription.

Reply to
Rod

On the contrary, their employers *can* fire them.

But they don't get fired, because no-one who is available to replace them would be any better.

Reply to
Bruce

However the implications of that - and its just the same in Cambridge, with many cambridge residents feeling as you do - is that overall the sort of shops that make a market town a market town, have all closed.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

We can do ours online and being remote & rural collect from the surgery/cottage hospital pharmacy rather than the one in town. If given a prescription in a consultation with the Doc, it'll sent over the surgery's network to the pharmacist and it'll be ready in 5 to 10 mins, sometimes by the time you've said your thankyous and byes and walked down the corridor.

I have a problem with the inabilty to see your Doctor in less than 6 hrs M-F but then when I want to see my doctor it's generally because I am really ill, not just have a cold or a cut finger.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

Tough shit. Perhaps the local council should have thought of that.

Reply to
Huge

Really? And your evidence is?

Reply to
F

Huge coughed up some electrons that declared:

Council... Think...

Where do you get these absurd notions?

;->

Happy New Year!

Reply to
Tim S

Actually, he didn't, I did.

But he did write that.

Precisely.

Reply to
Huge

LOL

Same to you, and everyone else!

Reply to
Huge

I do need to make routine appointments, and that's the best way. But (for example) the week before Christmas I decided I needed to see my GP ASAP; I booked online at 10 p.m. Thursday and got an appointment for 9 a.m. Friday.

Reply to
Bob Eager

I suspect that *not* trying to see the quack ASAP (when I call and make an appointment, but I don't much care when it is - for a medication review or somesuch) affects their targets. The fact that I don't mind waiting 2 weeks counts against them ...

Reply to
Huge

But the pharmacy should then be able to do a live stock enquiry of all the other local pharmacies :-) and electronically forward the order.

I really wonder why the public sector lags so far behind. If Argos / Tesco / Amazon can do it, why can't gov.uk?

Oh. Maybe someone will invent a "notes" field some time soon.

Owain

Reply to
Owain

In article , Tim S scribeth thus

Well In Cambridge the Lion yard and the much vaunted Grande arcade are right in the middle of Cambridge where its difficult to access by bus and car, as is the Grafton centre..

And they have another error called Newmarket road which is a very busy road in and out of Cambridge that has a large Tescos and a large number of retails on retail parks off that and most times its just grid locked..

Course what Cambridge never had and prolly will never now get is a proper ring road system, which was prevented by the greenwash element, with the large shopping centres and retail parks built -outside- the centre which is now sodded up with traffic which wouldn't be there if the shopping wasn't there to attract it.

In fact its still a superb world class city and is well worth visiting but as to the traffic .. no that won't be sorted as long as they have holes up their a**es as me old dad used to utter sometime in 1960 and it was bad then;!...

Yes.. Don't they just come and go too quickly as you get older;!..

Reply to
tony sayer

If that were true, all store staff would be hopeless. But theyre not, some are perfectly ok, some are downright good. (I tend to gravitate toward those shops.) And it seems to be true at all quality levels of retail stores from cheapie to fancy.

Managers often share the defeatist attitude that no-one else will be any better, and the result is tolerance of ongoing incompetence & work at a snail's pace. And since most minimum wagers have no motivation to ever do better, they just cba to do anything more than they really must. Its a bad cycle, those who repeatedly piss customers off and waste time need to be sacked. Let them look for jobs in an industry sector where its less of an issue. Retail does require some people skills, at all levels, and one of those is to not talk out of your rear to the customer and waste half their day by not having a clue what youre doing.

We know why it happens of course, it takes management time to sort out bad staff and give them all the info they ought to have in order to provide competent service. Thats usually seen as an unnecessary cost, but in reality its quite the opposite. Watch any incompetent staff member and you'll pull your hair out over the amount of time (& thus money) they waste through not knowing what theyre doing. It really is better to give them a clue and weed out the time wasters, of which yes there are many. Make the business's position on this clear at job interview time and many of the worst wasters will be put off and go off to competitors.

And its not hard, just pair the staff up, making one responsible for coaching the other. Anyone who knows the basics of their job can do that sort of coaching, just being there to answer a persons's questions when needed. It saves more time than it consumes, and you get happy cutomers.

You always need a last stand backup, and in this case it has to be firing. If staff keep acting against the interests of the business, good bye. The purpose of staff is to help a business flourish, to act for the business instead of just for themselvse, and for that they get paid.

NT

Reply to
meow2222

I'd rather stores did check the goods, repack and resell. Most are returned not really faulty. The goods are just as good, and it results in lower retail prices as its one less expense for them.

NT

Reply to
meow2222

Custard is 7p (seven pence) in asda and its quite nice.

Reply to
dennis

O I do agree! But the problem with "notes" is that there is no point at which the patient has access. (The GP would not do this - it is just a courtesy that some pharmacists will go the extra mile to ensure same brand.)

But even the main on-line companies do have bad points. I can't help contrasting Toolstation's dynamic stock check at a specific branch with Screwfix's 'if you really care, ring us'.

If anyone is interested, there is quite a lot of info here:

Reply to
Rod

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