It is rare to meet with discourtesy when dealing with staff in shops or public service offices in Italy. The Post Office may be slow and the Water Office inefficient, but nobody in either office is rude. In Modica's Lidl, however, finding myself without a euro in change for the stupid trolley deposit, I just had the following exchange:
Me to cashier: Excuse me, could you change these 2 fifty centesimi for a euro for the trolley?
Cashier: No, there aren't any euros. [Not , "I'm so sorry, signora, but I don't have any change.]
Me: Well, can you suggest something?
Cashier: What can I do, if I haven't got any, I haven't got any!
Me: Well, can you call someone?
Cashier: Who can I call, signora?
Why didn't I say, "the bloody manager"?!
By now, I'm extremely angry as a male customer is just standing by agreeing with the cashier.
Cashier: Take a couple of carrier-bags and put your purchases in those, signora.
Me: I can't carry everything round the store!
Cashier: Oh, there are some customers outside, now. Ask them, signora.
So I go outside and change my centesimi-pieces there. I think there are two factors at play here, the first being that there is still enough of the Brit in me to remember service in British supermarkets, a sector with so much competition that staff will do anything to retain customers [except for Marks & Spencer, who are extraordinarily stingy with carrier bags]. The second is that Italians always prefer to ask anyone other than a member of staff or an official for help.
OK, now I'm armed with a trolley and I complete my purchases. I go to the check-out and it's the same guy again:
Cashier [pointing to the end of the counter]: Put the trolley there and put everything in it.
I avoid saluting and clicking my heels to attention and follow orders. I put a few things in a carrier before putting them in the trolley.
Cashier: In the trolley first, signora.
Now at last I lose my temper:
Me: I'm not stealing things, you know. Why are you being so rude to me this afternoon?
This brings cringing apologies, which I accept.
I did think of ringing Lidl HQ as soon as I got home and possibly losing the young man his job, but I seem to have become Sicilian enough not to do that. A rant here will suffice.
One thing everyone who deals with the public in their job should learn is this: A little discourtesy can ruin someone's day, just as a little courtesy can make it.
6 comments:
We can get a lot of rudeness in our supermarkets too! And everywhere charges for bags even Marks and Spencers and WH Smiths,,
One's blog is an ideal place to have a quiet rant.
LIDL?
I'm assuming it's a a supermarket or such.
Rudeness never helps with anything.
That was pretty rude service. Definitely not acceptble
Yes, Anne, but Tesco, for instance, has great customer relations, doesn't it? I don't mind paying for carrier bags, but I do mind when some smug woman cashier - who never has to carry anything home on foot or by public transport - moans when I ask for another one! These bags advertise their store, after all.
Hi, LindyLouMac and welcome back. you are right.
Hi, lakeviewer. Yes, a German chain. I don't use it much but it does stock doggy treats!
Hi, jams. Yes, very rude.
Way to tell them. Ranting is good! I do it often.
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