Posted on April 2nd, 2009 at 9:43 am by 
It’s Saturday and my man and I are exploring the back streets of a bijou town. The sun disappears and the rain comes suddenly, but oh joy, the doorway we choose to dive into happens to belong to one very delicious jewellery shop. An assistant inside is looking at a computer screen. Hello I say, and smile. Hello she says, and continues looking at her screen. No smile.
My heart quickens – the treasure within is silver and bright and sensual with definite edge – very cool but the sort of pieces designed to warm your soul. By now, my heart had broken into a canter. I spotted a cuff in a lone glass cabinet. A label said ‘Tiffany design, but our price’. I pointed it out to my man. ‘Mmm’ he said. I pointed it out again, this time in a louder voice so the assistant could hear. No response from the assistant, still looking at her screen. She’s bound to leap up and immediately suggest I try it, I thought – mistakenly. By this time my man is creaking in his shoe leather, silently praying for sun and a hasty escape from a credit card crisis.
Flustered by the excitement of a possible retail opportunity and numbed by the unbelievable response from the assistant, I searched in my brain for some excuse to buy – Anniversary, Birthday, Christmas??? All too distant and nothing to justify such expense on impluse, I begrudgingly gave up my heavy hinting and, saved by the sun, we emerged into the street.
As we left the shop, I turned and said ‘Goodbye’ to the assistant. No response, no upward glance.
The moral of this tale? For goodness sake Britain, where is our customer service??? We’re going through the worst financial situation alot of us can remember, and who knows when we will emerge, yet rather than go the ‘extra mile’ for customers, shops, restaurants, hotels – you name it – still let us down. We may blame America for the mortgage market bringing down our economy, but at least they give you good service.
And I bet they sell my dream cuff there in Tiffany’s!
marigold x
