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Last September (I think) I wrote on this board about how a supposed supervisor at my local Hobbycraft was horribly rude to me, so I wrote a letter of complaint and recieved £30 in gift vouchers for my troubles. Now, I tend to buy my art supplies to last and I've not had much reason to go in recently (around Halloween I bought some frabric to make costume bits). I had just under £25 left in vouchers, and needed some new art pens and cheap mechanical pencils for work, so I figured I'd drop in today...
I have a feeling once my vouchers are used up, I will be avoiding Hobbycraft altogether.
First of all I went and got my pens, and then started hunting for mechanical pencils. I never bother with the "posh" ones...I just get a 10 pack of Bic disposable ones...they all do the same job just fine, but just like Bic and Biro pens, are way cheaper. Couldn't find them. Hobbycraft sells just about everything craft or art related (even packs of cheap Bic biro pens <.< ) but I couldn't find the pencils.
(Btw the reason why I prefer them is that the lead is less likely to break inside the pencil, which makes sharpening a pain, and...you don't have to sharpen! :P you just turn the end and you get more lead. And if you need a nice sharp bit, you snap a tiny bit of lead off effortlessly!
).
Couldn't find them! How naff is that! Certain I was just missing them somewhere, I started hunting for a member of staff. Its a big store, with two levels, and the only staff I had seen so far were on the tills...hmm...ok so maybe they were understaffed. Still, it just didn't seem like a good idea to have such a large shop being staffed by so few, at least that were apparent...
Eventually, I do find a staff member, striding out of a door, probably from the stockroom or something. I turned towards her and said "Excuse me-"
"I'm already with a customer!" she said in a very hurried voice, and rushed past me. She didn't snap, but didn't even break stride and obviously didn't want to be acosted by another customer.
I blinked. Ok, not as rude as the bitch who I complained about, but rude nonetheless. If she had said "I'm sorry, I'm with a customer right now, I'll come to you in a moment/find another member of staff to help you" that would not have only been just perfectly fine but also the ideal thing to say in such a scenario, right?
She and the other customer were nearby. From what I can tell, the customer needed a type of pen, and the Huffy Sales Assistant (HSA) was suggesting perhaps something like a Sharpie. I decided I would hang around in this general area (which was also nearby a Faber-Castell art pen display...I had just selected 2 art pens there myself) and wait for HSA to get done. Then she starts towards the Faber-Castell display trying to find a Sharpie for this customer.
Here is where I was a bit of a dick
See, having just been hunting fruitlessly for mecha-pencils, and having just perused the Faber-Castell pen display myself, I knew full well that the Sharpie pens were not located in this aisle at all, and I knew exactly where they were, having viewed them shortly before trying to speak to HSA. HSA was struggling to figure out where the Sharpies were, and I knew I could have spoken up, but decided not to. I had a naughty feeling it would be interesting to let HSA struggle.
(I was going to suggest a Faber Castell pen, but I wasn't entirely sure what the customer needed it for).
Well, they went off in search of Sharpie's elsewhere, while I browsed the other pens and things while waiting for HSA to get back to me...you know...being as there appeared to be no other staff members around! >.< But after about 10 minutes, I was getting bored. Surely she's not still looking for bloody sharpies, I thought, and went a-hunting once more.
Looking up aisles as I went, I saw no sign of her- and neithe she nor the previous customer were at the Sharpie section. Annoyed, I started towards the tills when I saw another sales assistant, a young girl walking towards me.
I said "Oh excuse me, but do you sell mechanical pencils?"
She was already raising a hand. "Yes, they're in the art section near the pens, they are at the back-"
Yes, seriously, she was only going to give me directions. I had already been in the art section (where I found the FC pens) and I didn't see them, but I just thought, dammit woman, are you so lazy? I mean, don't get me wrong, I don't escort every customer to every department etc whenever they want something found. But if they want to know where a specific item is, and it is clearly not in sight, I will take a moment to lead them directly to said item.
So I interrupted. "Can you show me please, I was just in the art section and I couldn't see them."
Now she was happy enough to show me, but her general laziness rubbed me up the wrong way.
And then it transpired that bloody Hobbycraft does not sell cheap mecha pencils- all of them were the reall expensive refill type. I'd rather save my vouchers for something a little more cost affective!
And I go to pay for my Faber Castell pens....
And there is HSA faffing around behind the till, NOT serving customers, despite the fact there is a queue, only 2 people serving and a bell continuously ringing for someone else to jump on to serve...
(I got cheap mecha pencils in Tesco. 10 for something like £4. That might not have even got me one refillable one.)
I have a feeling once my vouchers are used up, I will be avoiding Hobbycraft altogether.
First of all I went and got my pens, and then started hunting for mechanical pencils. I never bother with the "posh" ones...I just get a 10 pack of Bic disposable ones...they all do the same job just fine, but just like Bic and Biro pens, are way cheaper. Couldn't find them. Hobbycraft sells just about everything craft or art related (even packs of cheap Bic biro pens <.< ) but I couldn't find the pencils.
(Btw the reason why I prefer them is that the lead is less likely to break inside the pencil, which makes sharpening a pain, and...you don't have to sharpen! :P you just turn the end and you get more lead. And if you need a nice sharp bit, you snap a tiny bit of lead off effortlessly!
). Couldn't find them! How naff is that! Certain I was just missing them somewhere, I started hunting for a member of staff. Its a big store, with two levels, and the only staff I had seen so far were on the tills...hmm...ok so maybe they were understaffed. Still, it just didn't seem like a good idea to have such a large shop being staffed by so few, at least that were apparent...
Eventually, I do find a staff member, striding out of a door, probably from the stockroom or something. I turned towards her and said "Excuse me-"
"I'm already with a customer!" she said in a very hurried voice, and rushed past me. She didn't snap, but didn't even break stride and obviously didn't want to be acosted by another customer.
I blinked. Ok, not as rude as the bitch who I complained about, but rude nonetheless. If she had said "I'm sorry, I'm with a customer right now, I'll come to you in a moment/find another member of staff to help you" that would not have only been just perfectly fine but also the ideal thing to say in such a scenario, right?
She and the other customer were nearby. From what I can tell, the customer needed a type of pen, and the Huffy Sales Assistant (HSA) was suggesting perhaps something like a Sharpie. I decided I would hang around in this general area (which was also nearby a Faber-Castell art pen display...I had just selected 2 art pens there myself) and wait for HSA to get done. Then she starts towards the Faber-Castell display trying to find a Sharpie for this customer.
Here is where I was a bit of a dick
See, having just been hunting fruitlessly for mecha-pencils, and having just perused the Faber-Castell pen display myself, I knew full well that the Sharpie pens were not located in this aisle at all, and I knew exactly where they were, having viewed them shortly before trying to speak to HSA. HSA was struggling to figure out where the Sharpies were, and I knew I could have spoken up, but decided not to. I had a naughty feeling it would be interesting to let HSA struggle. (I was going to suggest a Faber Castell pen, but I wasn't entirely sure what the customer needed it for).
Well, they went off in search of Sharpie's elsewhere, while I browsed the other pens and things while waiting for HSA to get back to me...you know...being as there appeared to be no other staff members around! >.< But after about 10 minutes, I was getting bored. Surely she's not still looking for bloody sharpies, I thought, and went a-hunting once more.
Looking up aisles as I went, I saw no sign of her- and neithe she nor the previous customer were at the Sharpie section. Annoyed, I started towards the tills when I saw another sales assistant, a young girl walking towards me.
I said "Oh excuse me, but do you sell mechanical pencils?"
She was already raising a hand. "Yes, they're in the art section near the pens, they are at the back-"
Yes, seriously, she was only going to give me directions. I had already been in the art section (where I found the FC pens) and I didn't see them, but I just thought, dammit woman, are you so lazy? I mean, don't get me wrong, I don't escort every customer to every department etc whenever they want something found. But if they want to know where a specific item is, and it is clearly not in sight, I will take a moment to lead them directly to said item.
So I interrupted. "Can you show me please, I was just in the art section and I couldn't see them."
Now she was happy enough to show me, but her general laziness rubbed me up the wrong way.
And then it transpired that bloody Hobbycraft does not sell cheap mecha pencils- all of them were the reall expensive refill type. I'd rather save my vouchers for something a little more cost affective!
And I go to pay for my Faber Castell pens....
And there is HSA faffing around behind the till, NOT serving customers, despite the fact there is a queue, only 2 people serving and a bell continuously ringing for someone else to jump on to serve...
(I got cheap mecha pencils in Tesco. 10 for something like £4. That might not have even got me one refillable one.)
(they almost never break) 
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