Scotmid-What's it like?

by **mehitabel** » 14 Mar 2005, 23:01

fairly new to Porty but suppose I can compare our Scotmid with a number of 'oldfashioned' Coops I've met in the last decade. Musselburgh for instance (-our one is positively 21st century with a cosmopolitan range of foods compared with that one) and in Nairn in the Highlands where my Mother shops ( no room to pack your own bags or offers of help there either).
My main impression of our Scotmid in recent weeks, (though the range of foods is pretty good for a shop of its size) is of being totally ignored by staff and of Sunday afternoons with no staff on the main tills and one poor lassie left to serve a growing queue of shoppers juggling heavy baskets at the fag till - while two other staff ignore the crowd and count the leftover newspapers..very slowly..... Customer service it ain't.
No idea what Head Office policy is - if there is one - with the threat of a larger competitor on the horizon- but I'm pretty sure that the staff have not been trained to be this disinterested - more likely a combination of low pay and zero motivation.
Most interesting and relevant to Porty would be the Coop where I used to shop in the village of Aboyne, Aberdeenshire where old fashioned tills and inaccessible aisles were replaced 5 years back by a newbuild by the Coop. The team of friendly local staff were moved en masse to the new bigger and better premises(about the size of our store) after a lengthy 'shop local' campaign by local businesses which ensured the new store was not allowed to have an in house butcher or baker so as not to compete directly with other village stores. Different geography/economy from Porty I know, with nearest larger store(Tesco) 14 miles away in next town, and superstores 30 miles away in Aberdeen, but the new store proved to be a successful community led compromise as local shops have stayed open (mostly) though a definite shift away from food/essential supplies to upmarket specialist shops, delis and cafes catering for tourists and locals who turn up in cars from a few miles away as well as on foot. (a bit like Bruntsfield has changed over the years- and it makes me wonder whether that is what we are evolving towards in Porty if we are to keep all the smaller shops 'going' ?- and if so where on earth are the 'visiting' shoppers going to park if they want to spend their money in Porty? They can't all come on the number 26 - or perhaps we even need a special Portybus to entice more shoppers/tourists to the seaside from the City Centre on weekends.
Change is the only certainty here but I'm glad that the community here is gaining an effective voice to influence how public and private money is invested in the local area and gain enough control to ensure it doesn't have to be a change for the worse.

by **mehitabel** » 14 Mar 2005, 23:09

Blah, people. Blah.

by **Porty** » 15 Mar 2005, 14:04

by DG » 15 Mar 2005, 14:52

by **Mimpty** » 16 Mar 2005, 14:24

by **mehitabel** » 16 Mar 2005, 17:18

just to explain that mysterious blah blah entry - that was my 12 year old resident computer expert testing the mehitabel avatar...!

by **mr magnolia** » 16 Mar 2005, 22:52

by **mr magnolia** » 16 Mar 2005, 22:54

by **foxy** » 17 Mar 2005, 12:20

by **Epykat** » 17 Mar 2005, 17:56

[quote="mehitabel"]and one poor lassie left to serve a growing queue of shoppers juggling heavy baskets at the fag till [quote]

And that poor lassie was none other than our very own Check Out Chick :evil:

To say she was a tad unhappy when she came home was an understatement!

Mimpty - she's now going off to become Canine Kid - a full timer at the Dog and Cat Home

by **teddygirl** » 17 Mar 2005, 18:11

Congratulations to COC, she'll be much more suited to working at the Dog and Cat home.
Maybe Freddie will have a new girlfriend soon then ?

by **bearcub** » 17 Mar 2005, 22:03

Congratulations too COC, I'm sure that will be a much more rewarding job......no offence, Scotmid :wink:

by **Epykat** » 17 Mar 2005, 22:07

by **Poppy** » 17 Mar 2005, 22:08

by **Mimpty** » 18 Mar 2005, 14:52

by **Sandra** » 18 Mar 2005, 17:52

by **CatzVP** » 18 Mar 2005, 21:29

by **mr magnolia** » 18 Mar 2005, 22:19

by **Sandra** » 19 Mar 2005, 21:45

by **Epykat** » 20 Mar 2005, 22:48

Just what her Dad's afraid of Sandra! Unfortunately I'd have to give up work before that'll happen :cry:

by **bouncie_kiwi** » 04 Apr 2005, 15:26

by **Epykat** » 04 Apr 2005, 17:18

by **Pal of Porty** » 05 Apr 2005, 16:26

by **bouncie_kiwi** » 05 Apr 2005, 18:33

by **Poppy** » 05 Apr 2005, 18:46

B_K, your work sounds a lot more exciting than RoS!!

[except the other week when we had a French Connection type incident involving a small time drug courier or somesuch speeding into our carpark purused by cop car.... and hitting a wall. No-one hurt and the baddie caught by the polis!!]

by **ecm** » 05 Apr 2005, 19:09

Great story, b_k. It's the way you tell 'em. :wink:

It's nice to see you have such a good sense of humour when you have eejits like that to put up with.

Hopefully, you won't get too many like that.

Scotmid-What's it like?

Coops I have known

Re: Coops I have known

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