Perth is renowned for its legendary customer service, especially in the hospitality trade. Now retail is catching up.
I don’t get to sample the retail sector that much. As our shops are only open during business hours, and I don’t shop on Saturday, I seldom get the chance to go to shopping, but yesterday I did end up in a supermarket.
I went to the fish section, seeking some smoked salmon (as any self respecting Jewish boy with a bag of bagels is inclined to do). There was some loose leaf salmon sandwiched between the prawns and the squid, and it did not look too fresh. So I asked the man at the counter if they had any sealed packs of smoked salmon. The conversation, after waiting 10 minutes to be served, went something like this:
“Hi, do you have any smoked salmon in packets?”;
“I’m not sure, Sir”;
“Could you check out the back?”;
“No, there’s nothing at the back”;
“Well, would it be on the shelf anywhere?”;
“It could be in the fridge, next to the fish”;
“Do you mean the fish section?”;
“Yes, but I’m not certain”;
“This is the fish section, isn’t it?”;
“Yes”;
“you mean to tell me that the fish section doesn’t know if it has smoked salmon?”;
“Oh, we’re not responsible for that”;
“Say what?”;
“You need to speak to the dairy section.”;
“Are you telling me that the fish section can’t help me find fish?;”
“It’s not my job Sir, you need to go and find the Dairy Manager”.
Thank you Woolworths for a spectacularly seamless and satisfying shopping expereince.
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