I’m up in Scotland on business once again. Tons moving. Lots of exciting things.
I resolved to find the nearest store to my hotel and opted for the one in Paisley. I called them to check when they closed. 5.30pm. No trouble.
I hopped in a cab and, well, the pace of life in Scotland is a little slower than in London, so the taxi driver took a … bit… of….a… while…. to …. get…. there. I arrived outside the Paisley shopping centre at 5.25pm. Again, no biggie.
All I wanted to do was peer briefly at the new Windows Mobile T-Mobile Ameo and also look more closely at the N95… and maybe, just maybe, be upsold to it. Maybe. I reckoned the dying moments of the day’s trading would be the best time to do this.
The taxi driver took a few minutes to sort out my receipt and find some change. Minutes ticked by.
I walked, with no small amount of haste, into the Paisley Centre and hunted for the T-Mobile store.
At 5.29pm I found it! I raced along the corridor and, ……. oh…..
The shop was already well and truly closed. Properly closed. My E61’s clock turned 5.30pm just as I arrived to stare, woefully, through the security barriers.
I took the above picture to record my annoyance. When I phoned them up and asked ‘When do you close?’ I should have been advised that they CLOSED at 5.20pm. Look in the picture! The store was DESERTED at 5.29pm/5.30pm and the security barriers were already pulled down.
What an arse.
What a total arse.
When someone tells me that they’re open to 5.30pm, I assume that they are able, ready and willing to transact business UP until 5.30pm and then they commence closure, then the security barriers are pulled down — and so on.
So that wound me up a little bit.
I walked along to the Three store and found it had only just begun closing. Good stuff! I could have still walked in and said, ‘HOLD THE TILLS, GET ME YOUR NEAREST N73…’
As I sauntered back toward the exit, I saw the T-Mobile shop barriers raise. Interesting. I whipped out the N93, and the E61 for the foreground time — and snapped this one:
So the store is TOTALLY closed at 5.30pm. They must have really commenced closure much earlier — then the staff are out the door at 5.34pm. Fair enough, they’ve got an Easter break they want to enjoy and a nice summer evening outside. But woe is me. Or woe was me.
I’m not going back there.
Instead, I’m off to the Clydebank store today for a few minutes. I might return with an N95. I might return with nothing. I could even return with an Ameo, although I wouldn’t put money on that.
i work in retail and seriously you need to slap yourself in the face! the worst customers are the 1s that decide to stroll in at the death… people that work in shops have a life outside work so why should they wait for a plonker like yourself to come swawnning in at 5.29 and waste an extra half hour-forty-five minutes of their lives, because believe it or not thats how long it could take to demo a phone and also get the tariff sorted for you… t-mobile isnt a sweety shop or a shoe shop where you go and pick something and then instantly walk out with it…it takes time and effort to sort out and it has to be done properly! why would they not want to shut a few minutes before time after probably having no customers for the last half an hour before close so that they can get to see some daylight and enjoy their lives!
to me and probably everyone else with a conscience it is just bad manners to come in at that time and expect people who probably dont get paid the over-time in this current climate to sit in an extra 45 min wasting their prescious time while you decide wheather to buy a phone or not!
next time get in earlier and show some manners!
i work in retail and seriously you need to slap yourself in the face! the worst customers are the 1s that decide to stroll in at the death… people that work in shops have a life outside work so why should they wait for a plonker like yourself to come swawnning in at 5.29 and waste an extra half hour-forty-five minutes of their lives, because believe it or not thats how long it could take to demo a phone and also get the tariff sorted for you… t-mobile isnt a sweety shop or a shoe shop where you go and pick something and then instantly walk out with it…it takes time and effort to sort out and it has to be done properly! why would they not want to shut a few minutes before time after probably having no customers for the last half an hour before close so that they can get to see some daylight and enjoy their lives!
to me and probably everyone else with a conscience it is just bad manners to come in at that time and expect people who probably dont get paid the over-time in this current climate to sit in an extra 45 min wasting their prescious time while you decide wheather to buy a phone or not!
next time get in earlier and show some manners!
Nonsense, it's the other way round. I'm a geek and a high value customer. It would have taken an absolute minimum amount of time to service my request. I knew exactly what I wanted, I could answer all your questions immediately and correctly — the only time would be waiting for your computer system to advance to the next page.
I shop in the T-mobile shop all the time, the staff are the best.
Can you 100% confirm that your watch is syncronised with the atomic clock in Rugby, I am sure that the shops tilling system and CCTV will be syncronised to a time server linked to this.
Stores in the Paisley Centre, as with all major shopping centres, will face finacial penalties if they close early, which would put employee's jobs at risk should there employers receive such a fine. Do you think they would close early with such a threat above them. I dont think so!
Clearly you have turned up late, you are looking for a scape goat and are picking on the defensless staff. You have stalked them, no doubt photographed them against there wishes (did you seak the Paisley Centre's owner permission before you started to photograph in their property. You can take pictures in public but as the Paisley Centre is infact private property consent should have been sought), and you no doubt hurrled abuse at them as emerged from the shutter.
Let me tell you why the shutter is completly closed, it closed because ARSES like yourself turn up at the end of working day, 1 minute before the staff member stops getting paid, actually LIMBO under the shutter and PISS about.
Get a grip.
Lets do it ya chewit
I don't have a watch, I use my mobile for time — synchronised with T-Mobile's network timestamp.
Heh. It's fantastic reading your brilliantly wrong assumptions.
i work in retail and seriously you need to slap yourself in the face! the worst customers are the 1s that decide to stroll in at the death… people that work in shops have a life outside work so why should they wait for a plonker like yourself to come swawnning in at 5.29 and waste an extra half hour-forty-five minutes of their lives, because believe it or not thats how long it could take to demo a phone and also get the tariff sorted for you… t-mobile isnt a sweety shop or a shoe shop where you go and pick something and then instantly walk out with it…it takes time and effort to sort out and it has to be done properly! why would they not want to shut a few minutes before time after probably having no customers for the last half an hour before close so that they can get to see some daylight and enjoy their lives!
to me and probably everyone else with a conscience it is just bad manners to come in at that time and expect people who probably dont get paid the over-time in this current climate to sit in an extra 45 min wasting their prescious time while you decide wheather to buy a phone or not!
next time get in earlier and show some manners!
Ewan ignore the fuds comments above, they obviously not intelligent enough to understand the phrase 'the customer is king' and will no doubt spend the rest of their life in retail wondering why they're on a crummy wage.
Sayrfc you may not know this but lots of people work during the day until at least 5pm so by the time they get to the shop it's usually 5:20ish. If the shops stated opening hours are until 5:30 then so what if someone turns up at 5:29?!? Awww poor Sayrfc has to work until the big bad hour of 6pm…part timer!
Ewan ignore the fuds comments above, they obviously not intelligent enough to understand the phrase 'the customer is king' and will no doubt spend the rest of their life in retail wondering why they're on a crummy wage.
Sayrfc you may not know this but lots of people work during the day until at least 5pm so by the time they get to the shop it's usually 5:20ish. If the shops stated opening hours are until 5:30 then so what if someone turns up at 5:29?!? Awww poor Sayrfc has to work until the big bad hour of 6pm…part timer!
I could rant about how it’s silly to leave yourself less than 60 seconds to check out a phone, but let’s be honest, the only issue anyone should have with this is the failed update on closing time.
the time closing time which had clearly not been updated on the website, as it was actually closed at 5.20pm. The only issue here is the website’s failure to mention it closed 10 minutes earlier, that’s who you should be mad at.
Let’s be honest, this is pathetic.
Anyone who works in retail will tell you that if you want to be able to do your shopping, turn up with more than 60 seconds until the place closes.
“My E61′s clock turned 5.30pm just as I arrived to stare, woefully, through the security barriers.”
… So it was closed at 5.30pm. You arrived at 5.30pm and it was closed.
“When someone tells me that they’re open to 5.30pm, I assume that they
are able, ready and willing to transact business UP until 5.30pm and
then they commence closure, then the security barriers are pulled down —
and so on.”
… You assumed wrongly? Shops generally give a 5-10 minute warning for customers to have time to take purchases to tills to allow time to put through transactions, whilst someone stands at the door telling people the shop is closing. If they kept open until 5.30pm and tried to rush the doors as the time passed, customers who entered with 30 seconds to spare would be racing around and be told to leave as if they’d not done their shopping quickly enough.
I think the moral of this story is that it’s silly to be so pernickety and leave yourself with enough time to shop without causing yourself stress.