WDB
Full Member
Posts: 7,356 
|
Post by WDB on Jul 10, 2020 6:30:01 GMT
My first attempt to get back to a pub was rained off but yesterday a separate plan came together in spite of the dreary weather.
Wednesday’s plan was to meet another cyclist friend for a handmade pizza in the garden of a pub located between us. It has a big tenty cover for diners but they rang me in the afternoon to say it was too wet to run the pizza oven, so we pushed our plan to another day.
Last night was necessarily outdoors again, because we were from four separate households, and the weather was dreary at best. But the pub gave us a big table under an even bigger umbrella and we stayed dry. So I had my first meal since March that was neither prepared nor eaten at home. Chicken and mushroom pie, one of my pub favourites.
That was good. Less so was that on a Thursday evening we were the only mixed party of diners, and we saw only one couple eating inside, plus a table of four drinkers. The staff were delightful but outnumbering the customers can’t go on indefinitely. Let’s hope brighter weather over the weekend is good for business.
|
|
|
|
Post by Humph on Jul 10, 2020 7:32:43 GMT
A pie you say? Are you quite sure that was wise? Given, well, your um, circumstances...
😉
|
|
WDB
Full Member
Posts: 7,356
|
Post by WDB on Jul 10, 2020 7:57:49 GMT
Are you confusing circumstances with circumference, Humph? The former have been trying but the latter leaves scope for the occasional pie.
And it’s stopped raining ... don’tcha know, it’s a beautiful new day. So I’ll be doing at least a pie’s worth on the bike later.
|
|
Rob
Full Member
Posts: 2,723
|
Post by Rob on Jul 10, 2020 8:12:05 GMT
The weather was not great last weekend so we thought we'd pop to the Trafford Centre and were surprised how quiet it was. That can't continue either.
|
|
|
|
Post by dixinormus on Jul 10, 2020 9:47:46 GMT
Coincidentally I left town for the first time in 4 months yesterday and went to a bustling metropolis 100 miles away for the day. Shopping centre didn’t seem overly busy (even though it’s school hols here), but 2 aspects surprised me more:
- relatively low stocks of goods in many stores (one electronics emporium had huge swathes of empty shelves)
- utter indifference from any sales staff who showed no interest whatsoever in offering any help or trying to make a sale.
Not much to be done about the first point if shipping/logistics are all messed up post-Covid I guess. But surely no excuse for the second observation, when the economy is allegedly about to tank and people need jobs and businesses need revenue?
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jul 10, 2020 14:31:38 GMT
While not an excuse for rudeness, can you imagine working somewhere where the customer's ask 'Do you have an x'
You check stock either by eyesight, terminal or wander off into the big, empty, storage area and have to return with 'No, I'm sorry, we don't have any x'. I have no idea when we'll get any x's, we usually get deliveries on ...day though truth be told we've had no deliveries for n weeks, we may not get any more x's until Octembruary.
For the above work you spent four years in Uni.
I'm not saying this is always the case though they are out there and possibly more frequent in remote places where people may jump on a big bird and fly for more experience before returning to setup a business.
|
|
|
|
Post by dixinormus on Jul 10, 2020 22:08:07 GMT
I’m not a big “shopper”, so I guess I am not a typical mall rat. I buy most of what I want online. But when I am walking round a store ostensibly looking for something to spend my cash on I would expect staff to show a bit of interest? It’s an easy sell!
Hard to feel sorry for High St retailers who bleat about high rent, rates, utilities etc and yet can’t make the most of every punter who walks in. They must have it too easy.
One national chain here is complaining that their online sales rose 55% during lockdown, but those sales aren’t as profitable as in-store ones! Seems odd to me!
|
|
|
|
Post by Humph on Jul 11, 2020 7:25:54 GMT
One of the hidden downsides of on line retailing of clothing and footwear in particular, is that about a third of it comes back. "Doesn't fit", "changed my mind" etc. Packaging is often damaged and needs to be reprocessed. And of course, while its away, it can't be sold to someone else.
My wife is serial offender at this and will often order multiple items to try on and only keep a few of them.
|
|
|
|
Post by tyrednexited on Jul 11, 2020 7:40:46 GMT
One of the hidden downsides of on line retailing of clothing and footwear in particular, is that about a third of it comes back....... .....the day after the wedding invite. |
|
|
|
Post by Humph on Jul 11, 2020 8:12:30 GMT
Yes indeed, a lot of that and variations on that theme too.
|
|
|
|
Post by dixinormus on Jul 11, 2020 21:16:43 GMT
I guess that’s par for the course when dealing with the general public 🤮. Still think retailing is a stuffed-up industry when they have to double or triple the wholesale purchase price of an item in order to sell it for a profit allegedly?!
|
|
|
|
Post by tyrednexited on Jul 12, 2020 19:06:33 GMT
I’m not a big “shopper”, so I guess I am not a typical mall rat. I buy most of what I want online. But when I am walking round a store ostensibly looking for something to spend my cash on I would expect staff to show a bit of interest? It’s an easy sell! I had quite a pleasant experience yesterday. I've been meaning to replace the 'van TV for some time. It doesn't get used a lot (mainly news, and the odd other program on long Winter nights; and it never goes abroad with us) but it doubles-up when we're at home as the kitchen TV. 12V TVs (usable off hook-up) are relatively expensive, and ones that have the things I want most certainly aren't cheap, even though small by house standards. I had the choice of one from my trusted brand with a DVD player included (never used one in the 'van since the kids were small) or a fully smart TV sans DVD, same size and same price. Now the Smart TV is about as much use as a crocheted condom in the 'van, but might well get use at home, so I plumped for that one. I'd have ordered one on-line, but the pictures had me a bit concerned about the bracket mounting location, as the "travel" position in the 'van is locked upwards, and quite high, making me wonder about clearance. So, as the local large motorhome dealer had them in the accessory shop, I decided to go look-see. They had a unit on display, but the biggest (rather than smallest) screen size, so measurement was invalid. I waited until the assistant was free, explained the potential issue, and he happily got me a boxed one from the stores, unpacked it and let me measure - there was no problem so, as their price was the same as the best I could get online, I said I'd take it. Re-packed, he then asked me if my 'van had come from them (they run a discount scheme). "Not the current one, I said, but over the years I've had six!". Never mind he said, you still get a discount. Now 5% would have been nice, 10% would have been really nice.........the 20% I actually got meant it was a full £70 cheaper than I could get it online. I'm pretty glad I decided I had to measure it now.  |
|
|
|
Post by Humph on Jul 12, 2020 19:09:51 GMT
Proper retailer there. Everyone happy.
|
|
|
|
Post by dixinormus on Jul 14, 2020 8:13:55 GMT
Yeah, but they are few and far between these days Humph!
|
|
|
|
Post by dixinormus on Jul 15, 2020 3:54:48 GMT
VAT being cut to 5% for hospitality! Watch the masses besiege Maccas and KFC and help to spread the virus! And fuel obesity!
Ya really couldn’t make it up 😩
|
|
