Are Good Manners a thing of the past?

[sydney]

Then f****** leave Sydney you winging Pommie b*****d before we show you what rude is.

i rest my case.....you inbred , convict mong.....

 

[Return of the Rev]

You may have problems at the new Waitrose by the Dogs. They have kept on a number of staff recruited by the Coop management.

kept nearly all coop staff on

 

[Goldstone1976]

You may have problems at the new Waitrose by the Dogs. They have kept on a number of staff recruited by the Coop management.

That's probably because they're an ethical employer who have a stated policy of keeping on staff when they take over a store (I assume that's what you mean?). However, they have a very strict standard of conduct that all staff are expected to abide by, including courteousness. Retained staff are trained in the standards required and if they do what they're supposed to do, they are retained permanently. If they do not, they are dismissed.

It seems reasonable enough to me - they are basically saying "we know that you were recruited by someone else, who may have different standards than us. Here are our standards; here is some training; here is enough time to adapt to our way of working. Please do it, or please find a different job".

As an aside, M&S used to be the gold standard for customer service. For about the last decade they've slipped and slipped and John Lewis/Waitrose have assumed leadership.

As an example: About three years ago I bought a coffee grinder from the local John Lewis. It had a 2 year guarantee (the second year added for free by JL). After about 6 months, it stopped working. I was going to return it, but couldn't find the receipt, so it sat on my kitchen worktop unused for 2.5 years. I've just done a spring clean and the receipt turned up. So I took it back to John Lewis and explained the situation, not really expecting them to do anything about it, but the shop assistant (who didn't call a manager) just said "that's ok - here's a new one". It was a fiver extra and I offered to pay that, but she said "nope - no need. I'm sorry that the original only worked for 6 months".

This is astonishing customer service.

1) She believed my story
2) She is empowered to make those sorts of decisions herself

Consequences?

1) I left the shop delighted
2) Guess where I'll be buying from in future?
3) I've told you lot - free marketing
4) The girl probably feels good that she's empowered to satisfy customers without having to call a supervisor/manager.

Win, win, win.

 

[Zebedee]

Quite often when out walking the dog, I step to one side to allow women (or men) to pass with their prams and kids where a car is parked on the pavement and space is at a premium. Usually, they just walk on without a word or even any kind of recognition that I did anything. I've now resorted to shouting thank you afterwards in a loud voice. Some then respond with a sorry and a thank you but most just look round, scowl at me and continue walking. And to think I went to charm school?

 

[portlock seagull]

So, during a transaction which presents just one opportunity to say please (that'll be X pounds please, thank you) and possibly not even that if you use a card before being asked (would you... oh, ok... Thank you), I'm intrigued as to what you were expecting.

Having not met that expectation, you respond by being extremely patronising. Dead f*cking polite. The till assistant when crimson, embarrassed by how rude some customers are.

I'm assuming of course your patronising comment was on the back of repeated efforts to engage the cashier in friendly conversation. You'd already asked how their day was, apologised for the heavy box of beers they'd had to man-handle over the scanner, thanked them for facilitating your shopping experience late in the evening or at the weekend so that it was convenient for you.

Manners go both ways during that transaction and in my experience most customers (and I'm guilty of doing it myself at times) ignore the cashier completely and are equally if not more guilty of disrespect.

Blimey! Someone got out of bed on the wrong side! What a lovely ironic post for this thread. Says it all, better than the OP even!!!

 

[father_and_son]

Blimey! Someone got out of bed on the wrong side! What a lovely ironic post for this thread. Says it all, better than the OP even!!!

Perfect side of the bed!

Late start, early finish, football.

I am sooo looking forward to the day!!

(I just find that patronising "I'll say thank you for you" even worse than generally rudeness!

 

[tinx]

I can't stand when people order things at restaurants etc witht he phrase "CAn I get....." rather than "please may I have..." or similar. I've noticed it even in pubs. Rathan than "Pint of harveys please landlord" its "Can I get a Harveys"

I would love the repsonse to be "No you can't get one, you can ask me to serve you one though".

 

[knocky1]

That's probably because they're an ethical employer who have a stated policy of keeping on staff when they take over a store (I assume that's what you mean?). However, they have a very strict standard of conduct that all staff are expected to abide by, including courteousness. Retained staff are trained in the standards required and if they do what they're supposed to do, they are retained permanently. If they do not, they are dismissed.

The most important factor is that they are not employees, as such, but Partners. The annual profit share is incredible. Visiting John Lewis in Oxford Street the day bonuses are paid is like joinig a Xmas Party. Smiles and laughter everywhere.

My Mum was a Partner and aside from the bonus, got a 25% discount card for John Lewis, 17.5% discount for Waitrose and at her death, well after her retirement, someone at Head Office rang me up to ask if the family would like flowers sent to the service or a donation to a Charity. We duly chose the Martlets Hospice.

Shame I cannot buy shares in them.

 

[CheeseRolls]

I like it when people are courteous and try to treat other people in the same way. I can't help but feeling though, that people who make a point of picking other people up on their manners are just as bad as those who show no courtesy at all.

We also all have blind spots, bad days and distractions. Having spent years commuting, manners are suspended 5 minutes before until 5 minutes after a train has departed the station. Faced with two trains an hour, the time needed for a polite excuse me to every tourist dawdling across Victoria Station, would actually shorten your life.

 

[MattBackHome]

FWIW when I was working in a customer facing role it was ALWAYS the OLD people who wouldn't say "please". They then used to get really bolshy when I'd either ask them what the magic word was, or pretend that I couldn't hear them.

 

[knocky1]

FWIW when I was working in a customer facing role it was ALWAYS the OLD people who wouldn't say "please". They then used to get really bolshy when I'd either ask them what the magic word was, or pretend that I couldn't hear them.

Anyone using FWIW and 'customer facing role' is bound to be a rude ageist.

 

[Brian Fantana]

If I arrive at a doorway/entrance/escalator at the same time as someone else, I will always let them go in front of me. 90% of the time they won't thank or acknowledge me.

 

[Ludensian Gull]

My humblest apologies sir.

 

[Munkfish]

So many saying please and thank you on here, I wonder why I hear the staff at the AMEX being spoken to like shit time and time again then. Odd.

 

[MattBackHome]

Anyone using FWIW and 'customer facing role' is bound to be a rude ageist.

Please **** right off. Thanks.

(P.S. You coming tonight? x)

 

[John Bumlick]

politeness gets you nowhere.

hitony, please stop being a moderator.

see? won't happen.....

 

[Nibble]

Children who are taught to say please and thank you all the time grow up to be the people you see waiting for 10 mins on the motorway slip road.

 

[W.C.]

That's because most of them are from Eastern Europe

 

[Nibble]

Manners are good. Over politeness is a bore though. In a supermarket I couldn't give a tinker's **** what the till jockey is like as long as they're not outright rude. In a restaurant or pub I expect a more polite, cheery disposition from the help but it doesn't ruin my day if I don't get it.

As we used to be taught: Courtesy Causes Crashes.

 

[Meade's Ball]

I was at the checkout in Sainsbury's once and the assistant hadn't said please or thank you all the way through scanning my shopping. At the end I said to him "Don't you know the words please and thank you?" He grunted "whaatt?" I repeated what I had said at which point a supervisor came over and asked if I had a problem. I said that I was trying to ask the assistant whether he knew the words please or thank you as he didn't use them often. She didn't seem impressed by my asking which says it all really, but the till assistant had gone a strange shade of crimson.

I am always polite, and get annoyed when others are rude.

Not sure if someone has already replied to this in the same way, but i am unsure if i don't actually prefer rudeness or disinterest to a phony sense of friendship. I am more unnerved by being asked how i am and what i might be up to for the rest of the day by some achingly low-paid spotty green-blazered teen who obviously doesn't and shouldn't care. Of course it's better if someone behind a till looks like they don't want to kill themselves, or you, but, as i say, it's the pretend friends i get bothered by most.