We’re seeing many out of state shoppers with people on the move for their Christmas holidays. It’s fun watching and listening to them. Often I pick up tips, especially the things they like. These non-regular customers are a delight.
On the weekend a mum and her 10+ daughter were shopping with us and asked to buy an instant scratch ticket. I said we don’t have them. What newsagency doesn’t have lottery tickets? the mum asked. I explained there was a kiosk nearby. What’s a kiosk? the mum asked. The young girl pulled away from a surprised mum and ran to a group waiting outside yelling they don’t have lottery tickets they don’t have lottery tickets. I stood there looking for the hidden camera.
I love the ones on holidays they are normally the ones that will complimant your shop on how good it looks or what lovely cards or gifts etc , where as locals just want to cut you down eg gees you don;t have much of a card range where as 5 min earlier someone will say how good the card range is .
Just had a lady winge at me because i didn’t have her sratchit ticket that she normally gets (we have been hammerd on scratchit tickets the last few days ) i said instead of being negative could you say gees you must have been busy this week and sold out .
By the way golden casket and theeir scratchit ordering process sucks ,one week turn around is rediculous
I love the holiday visitors too, they often have a whinge about the newsagency back home ! Wonder what my customers say about us !
The foreign land may be coming our way :
From the DailyMail (UK )
M&S faces boycott as it lets Muslim staff refuse to sell alcohol or pork
• Marks & Spencer’s policy applies to Muslim staff in more than 700 stores
• Shoppers are being asked to wait to pay for certain items at different till
• Highlights divide among mainstream food retailers over religious workers
Furious M&S customers threatened to boycott the store last night for allowing Muslim checkout staff to refuse to serve customers who want to pay for alcohol or pork.
Managers at a London store told the workers they could ask any shoppers trying to buy the items to wait until a different till was available, it emerged yesterday.
One shopper said: ‘I had one bottle of champagne, and the lady, who was wearing a headscarf, was very apologetic but said she could not serve me. She told me to wait until another member of staff was available.
get over it h,
Religion is not foreign. Many Aussies follow many religions.
Respect for all and we will move on. Disrepect and down the gurgler we all go.
Unity
h,
I believe this was a relatively isolated incident and that M&S usually assign people with particular religious beliefs to departments which don’t conflict with such preferences.
This could be considered a smart business decision by M&S. However, I wonder if they would be so accommodating with all employee preferences (religious or not) – say a person who don’t like smoking refusing to sell tobacco products, or a vegan refusing to sell any animal-based products, or a racist refusing to serve black people. While I usually abhor a slippery slope argument, in this case I think it has some validity.
An employee’s religious beliefs should have zero impact on their work (as should an employer’s). The moment it does the flood gates are open.
Unity,
Respect is a two way street. Just as one should respect the right of someone to hold a belief, that person should respect the right of another to not hold it.
If a customer must respect the right of a Muslim cashier to not believe people should consume pork, then that cashier should also respect the right of the customer to legally purchase such a product.