The Convenience Store - the corner shop. Everyone's got one, quite local to them, usually on the corner of the road. Always there, always open, except when you run out of milk at 2am or the cat's just come in and wants feeding, then they're closed. We take them for granted, and then moan when they close down because the new supermarket that opened recently that's about 2 miles away, has taken all the custom, and they can't afford to compete and stay open.
It's not easy to run a little corner shop - ask anyone who's tried it, and they'll tell you all about it. I know, I manage one. Let me give you an example of a typical working day. Do I hear you say "That's boring"? Not likely. Just try this for size. The shop opens from 7am until 10pm at night, every day, seven days a week, all year round. There's no rest for the wicked - just that I'd like the opportunity to be wicked once in a while.:-)
I've recovered from my little excersion to Blackpool. They were very pleased to see me back at work. We have gained a new member of staff who used to work at the store some years before, and wished to return in a part-time capacity, as she had enjoyed the work. She also had a day-time job at the local hospital, and worked in the store a few evenings a week just for extra money. After the last girl had left, she decided she liked working at the store so much, offered to cover that girl's shifts and handed in her notice at the hospital! It's nice to know that our little team and store is so comfortable to work in. This staff member will do very well, I think. She has found things have changed over the past few years, but obviously for the better. By now, this magazine will have been read by her family, so she should recognise herself.
Whilst she and I were on duty one evening, we were discussing the difference between daytime and evening customers. She had noted that the customer's attitudes hadn't changed that much in five years, and I was explaining that daytime customers were far easier going and less exacting than evening customers, when she discovered the classic type.
These are the ones we find most annoying. He came in and wandered around the store, before settling on the product he wanted to purchase. Proudly carrying two sets of beer over to the counter and setting them down. Beer can usually be bought separately by the can, but, as they come in the cases linked by the plastic loops in sets of four, we keep them that way to enable customers to pick up the set of four easily. Most beers in our store are sold that way, but, if customers just want to buy one, they release the can from the loop and take the amount they need.
However, this customer it appeared, couldn't quite grasp this simple notion. He picked up two different sets of four cans from the shelf and set them down on the counter. The cans were scanned in the normal fashion - quantity 4 and scan the barcode from one can. He looked absolutely staggered at the amount on the till display, and began to argue that the price was wrong. The assistant called me over to check the price, and it was correct.
"I'm not paying that!" he exclaimed.
"What's the problem?" I asked, "The price is correct"
"No." he said, "It's £1.12"
"Yes. That's what I said" I was getting puzzled by this time. He was agreeing that the price was correct, but still maintaining it was wrong. He took me to the shelf and pointed at the label which clearly stated £1.12. Then he picked up the next set of four cans from the shelf and said he wanted enough cans to make it up to £5.
"But if you add another can, it will take you above £5" I said, still puzzled.
"No. I want all of them"
"For £5?" I asked, eyebrows reaching the hairline.
"That's what it says." he said, "They're in fours, and I can't get one."
"Yes you can." I reply, "Just take one out of the pack", and demonstrated, removing just one from the set of four, and scanned it. "Now, how many would you like?"
He stood and looked, first at me, then at the beers, then the waiting assistant, and finally back at me. He then shrugged, turned around and said "Forget it. I won't bother. I still don't understand." Then he walked out of the door.
Eventually we understood what he thought he was getting. He thought the price of £1.12 was for all four of the cans, not individual prices, and couldn't understand why he had been charged £4.48. He must have thought I was totally bonkers when I removed just one can from the set of four, scanned that and showed him the price was £1.12 for just the one.
I just wonder where he's been for the past few years? Beer has not been priced at 56p per pint for ages. If he's still managing to buy some at that price, I'd love to know where. Then we'll all go out and get drunk for not-very-much.
Daytime customers are usually housewives with children and the elderly, and, at this time of year, augmented by children on their summer holiday from school. Children can be funny and exasperating in turns - amusing for their underestimation of how far their (or their parents)
money will stretch, and exasperating by having to constantly change items until it reaches the correct amount. For each alteration of sale, a supervisor or the manager has to be called, as refunds or deletion of items have to be countersigned, causing queues to grow, and these things nearly always occur as a delivery arrives leaving staff in a quandry as to whether to answer the call from the shop floor, or the warehouse door at the rear of the shop. Difficult when there is a shortage of staff due to it also being the holiday season.
Deliveries have caused a problem recently. We are situated on the junction of a main road and side street, with other shops opposite. We are lucky enough to have the only carpark in the area, albeit a very small one, which tends to be used by everyone shopping in the area, and not always shopping in our store, despite signs to the contrary.
Most of our deliveries are by lorry, either small 7.5 ton ones or larger articulated lorries from the main warehouse. Most of the usual drivers know access is easier for them if they park on the road and off-load, pushing the loads across the carpark into the warehouse, but occasionally we get new or obstinate drivers who wish to drive into the carpark to offload. Recently we have had two incidents leaving us helpless with laughter, caused by car driver's lack of thought or stupidity depending on your point of view.
Both incidents involved articulated units holding our main delivery which were much needed, as we had had very good sales leaving the store very low on stock. The first we usually know about the arrival of the lorry is as it appears on the opposite side of the road outside the front of the store. Then the driver waits for a suitable gap in traffic and starts to reverse the lorry into the side street, temporarily blocking the main road as it straddles both lanes. Usually this manoeuvre proceeds without incident, the driver parks up and checks we are waiting with the warehouse doors open, ready to receive the load, offloads, etc. Not on this occasion, unfortunately.
The driver was new to our town, having been reassigned to cover holidays, and had not been prior warned on access difficulties by the regular drivers. He had just started reversing up the side street, having blocked the main road, when he noticed a car coming behind him. His colleague had been guiding him in, and indicated he had to stop, whilst he spoke to the driver of the car requesting that they back up a little way so the lorry could park.
Sounded reasonable to everyone around, except the occupants of the car, who were smartly dressed elderly ladies with attitude! No, they weren't prepared to back up, as they were there first, and insisted the lorry move out and go round the block before trying again, allowing them time to proceed!
Despite objections and the size of the lorry, they steadfastly refused to concede, which left the driver, already in a difficult position, no choice but to drive out again, and drive off round the block (about 1 mile), before returning to start all over again. Smugly, the ladies continued their journey, having won the battle, without a care in the world, leaving the poor lorry driver extremely irritable and frustrated. Poor guys needed a cuppa to calm down before continuing, and complained the whole time to all and everyone in earshot!
That incident was discussed and laughed about all week, until the next delivery, which was worse! Yet another main delivery, on a 40 foot trailer, wishing to make the same manoeuvre, different driver and a slightly different problem.
This particular driver is well known for his stubborn-ness amongst his colleagues and us. He had delivered to us before, so knew the difficulties regarding access, but also, he had been told to offload directly into the warehouse from the back of the lorry to prevent stock loss during transfer. He knew he could back into the carpark and the vehicle could be observed continually during transfer of stock, but in doing so, he would block the entrance/exit to the carpark, a risk he was prepared to take.
Unfortunately, the side street is narrow and these vehicles need all the room to swing round whilst reversing. Opposite the carpark entrance there is a 6 foot brick wall alongside a narrow pavement which gave little room for error. This manoeuvre can be done with care, provided there is no traffic or parked vehicles nearby, including the vehicles in the carpark. However, this was not the case on this occasion.
The street seemed to have attracted a multitude of vehicles, all parked in just the wrong place, and we had the job of finding the owners and asking them to move. Not all of the owners were shopping in our store, of course, leaving 15 other shops to chose from. This had two members of staff and the driver tracking down the culprits, which took twenty minutes. Most were located and moved their vehicles including one which was causing the biggest problem, parked just beyond the carpark entrance.
Whilst the lorry driver was searching for him, he returned and drove off, leaving the road clear. We waited for our delivery driver to return, and was preparing a drink for him in the meantime. As he returned to the front of the store, we told him all was clear at the back and he could start to reverse into the carpark. Pleased, he returned to his lorry to find that, whilst our backs had been turned, another driver had parked in exactly the same place, thus blocking the entrance again. Pleased, he was not.
He was not prepared to off load the lorry where it was, as he felt it would be insecure, also he felt he would be causing an obstruction with the lorry there. His blood pressure must have reached critical levels by this time, plus he was making noises about taking the load back to the depot as he was unable to deliver it.
He went yet again in search of another thoughtless motorist, whilst we waited. Luckily, we spotted the owner dawdling along the road before he did and managed to persuade him to move before he received a tirade from the lorry driver. When the lorry driver returned, everything was clear and at last we could receive our delivery. Before he left, he phoned the warehouse to complain about the difficulties in delivering the load, requesting that something be done about the problem for the future.
I don't suppose anything will, of course, but the whole incident caused much merriment and continues to do so when related to subsequent delivery drivers despairing about lack of access, particularly last week's driver who ripped off a few branches of a tree when reversing. When we mention who it was, they sympathise with us as they are well aware of that particular driver's temperament. Not a day we would wish to repeat in a hurry. Usually the whole delivery takes just 20 minutes, not over an hour and a half!
Sometimes the problem with the delivery is not the offloading, but, rather the content of the delivery. The order is made electronically with a hand held device, which scans items. As the main PC knows how many of each item we hold (supposedly), we scan the barcode and enter the amount we wish to increase stock by. For instance, if there are only 15 chocolate bars on the shelf, we scan the barcode, and the PC should confirm that we only have 15 in stock. Sometimes, if someone has taken one without payment, the stock figure will be higher, but usually the figure is correct.
We enter 1 to add a whole box (usually 20 bars), but occasionally we can accidentally hit a 4, sometimes with the 1, making 14 or 41!! Imagine our surprise when 41 x 15 x 1 kilo bags of sugar arrived! It took two weeks to be able to return those to the main warehouse, which we had stripped of sugar!
Since then, we have had 33 boxes of multipack crisps, 72 bottles of the same wine, and 14 packs of 1 litre pop. Once entered in error, there seems to be no way of correcting the mistake - stupid machines, and equally stupid people at the other end, who blindly accept these figures without checking. Still, it gives us a laugh.
Who says running a store is dull and boring? Not me. See you next time, if I can find a way through all the stock.
Liz
