What the Shop do you want?

There has been extensive debate in the local London commuter rags about London retail staff being as rude as Sarah Palin's face.

What sparked the at times controversial dispute by us sullen bored and tired tube travellers was an opinion piece in the freebie london paper. It was written by a compatriot Australian ex-pat living in London. Our dear Aussie friend wrote a discussion piece on the lack of customer service by staff in London's shops, bars and restaurants.

Her major gripe (other than the bad weather [reverse whinging pom] seriously why did you come here, who ever said London had good weather?) was that retail and serving staff in London are rude, bitter and not on-par with what she misses from Australia.

She conceded that the minimum wage paid to most London shopworkers is very low, and that resentment is the reason they probably don't smile when they hand you your change - but come on when she said that every customer service experience at any store/restaurant/bar/service centre she has dealt with in London has been bad that has got to be overstated.

In the 2 years that I have been living in this global city, I've certainly had my fair share of rude shop assistants, bad waiters and awful call centre people - but that happens anywhere!

What I don't miss about Australian customer service is the people following you around in stores checking that 'everything is ok' and if they 'can help you with anything else?' What is worse is when they start coming into your changing room to see if 'everything is fine' Seriously? No thanks!

Can I elp you? Dere.

On other notes - according to Blankshooting there are 5 reasons that Sarah Palin should not be in the White House - but I think that the 6th reason is because she is as dumb as dog doo doo.