I wrote recently about the outcry around the Baby P case. It was good to hear this week that the people at the top of the London Borough of Haringay are to lose their jobs. However, the news reports have also included material about some of the more mawkish British behavior: families making pilgrimages to Islington Crematorium to leave floral tributes, teddy-bears, toys, and other tributes along with messages of a sentimentality that is both gushing and embarrassing. There does seem to be some peculiar trait that comes through at times like this - just as it did with the death of Princess Diana - that some parts of the population feel almost obliged to take on a mantle of collective mourning for those who they never knew and that somehow a bunch of flowers from the corner shop, or a similar object, will cleanse and salve the national conscience. It was bad enough with Diana, let alone the repeated behavior that has been marked when children have died in tragic circumstances … let us all hope that this trend starts to reverse rather than grow, as I for one am left feeling a bit cold about the whole thing.
On a different subject, one of the most irritating things in many shops is their obsession with moving things around; changing the long-established locations of certain items and discontinuing what you thought were popular lines on, seemingly, a peculiar whim all of their own! At one time, Marks and Spencer were the supreme culprits at this. Now, other retailers seem to be muscling in on the act with equal relish.
Wearing a marketing hat, I can understand some of the logic surrounding this, as obviously the shops want to let customers see new lines and discover products that they might not have tried before. But, of course, they risk the ire of customers who simply want to pop in quickly and get the item that always lives on a particular shelf! It is bad enough when you can see – imagine how much more difficult it is for people, like me, who cannot see very much!
As it’s coming up to Christmas, all the supermarkets are gradually making spaces on their shelves for special Christmas stock. Life is becoming increasingly difficult as I search for familiar items in vain only to find that they have been moved to somewhere obscure, or worse still, temporarily gone out of stock to make way for mountains of mince pies, jumbo packs of chocolates and biscuits, and all the other seasonal lines that seem to clog up the supermarket aisles in the countdown to the festive period. Retailers seem to believe that we all want to gorge ourselves on a highly calorific diet throughout December rather than just have those treats as treats! I remember a few years ago, some of the Virgin stores declared themselves to be Christmas-free zones … it was wonderful!
My local branch of Sainsbury’s - being a small one - uses the Post Office style of queuing, with recorded announcements for “cashier number one, please” and so on. This, of course, is a boon if you cannot see where the gaps are. I find myself waging a bit of a battle with unthinking staff that forget to use the announcements and just wave at the queue - or unhelpfully call out: “Next please!”
I tend not to use my white stick unless I’m in crowded places. I find that waving it around seems to increase staff comprehension about why the announcements about which cashier to go to make such a difference to me - as does their telling me when to put my PIN number into the machine. Otherwise, I stand there - finger poised - until they realise that they might need to give me a bit of assistance!
On a different subject, one of the most irritating things in many shops is their obsession with moving things around; changing the long-established locations of certain items and discontinuing what you thought were popular lines on, seemingly, a peculiar whim all of their own! At one time, Marks and Spencer were the supreme culprits at this. Now, other retailers seem to be muscling in on the act with equal relish.
Wearing a marketing hat, I can understand some of the logic surrounding this, as obviously the shops want to let customers see new lines and discover products that they might not have tried before. But, of course, they risk the ire of customers who simply want to pop in quickly and get the item that always lives on a particular shelf! It is bad enough when you can see – imagine how much more difficult it is for people, like me, who cannot see very much!
As it’s coming up to Christmas, all the supermarkets are gradually making spaces on their shelves for special Christmas stock. Life is becoming increasingly difficult as I search for familiar items in vain only to find that they have been moved to somewhere obscure, or worse still, temporarily gone out of stock to make way for mountains of mince pies, jumbo packs of chocolates and biscuits, and all the other seasonal lines that seem to clog up the supermarket aisles in the countdown to the festive period. Retailers seem to believe that we all want to gorge ourselves on a highly calorific diet throughout December rather than just have those treats as treats! I remember a few years ago, some of the Virgin stores declared themselves to be Christmas-free zones … it was wonderful!
My local branch of Sainsbury’s - being a small one - uses the Post Office style of queuing, with recorded announcements for “cashier number one, please” and so on. This, of course, is a boon if you cannot see where the gaps are. I find myself waging a bit of a battle with unthinking staff that forget to use the announcements and just wave at the queue - or unhelpfully call out: “Next please!”
I tend not to use my white stick unless I’m in crowded places. I find that waving it around seems to increase staff comprehension about why the announcements about which cashier to go to make such a difference to me - as does their telling me when to put my PIN number into the machine. Otherwise, I stand there - finger poised - until they realise that they might need to give me a bit of assistance!
Progress indeed!
No comments:
Post a Comment