Thanks jimjam, what a nice man!!

And no not Julie’s or Websters, it wasn’t actually in Leicester

There’s no excuse for poor customer service if you work in any retail environment. If you asked for the job, knowing full well what the wages & conditions are, you do what’s expected of you. Simple.

I was paid £3 an hour only 14yrs ago in a music shop full time and I always gave the best service. No excuse for it. I did 12 years in retail and wouldn’t accept poor service from my staff. No excuses.
If I get rubbish or even indifferent service from a shop I just don’t buy anything at all, no matter how cheap it is.

Many moons ago I worked in a ski and climbing shop, first part time and then for 18 months I was full time. I won’t pretend I was perfect 100% of the time (is anyone?) but the fact of the matter was that I loved talking about the gear we were selling. The fact I was earning a pittance was neither here nor there because I got to talk to like-minded individuals day-in-day-out. I loved it and it was probably the happiest time of my working life.

There’s no excuse for poor customer service if you work in any retail environment

This may be true, but the reality is that there is far too much poor service in retail. We are a service-industry nation aren’t we? Sometimes I wonder.

My (eventual) point is that it’s sad that any bike shop can have unenthusiastic and unhelpful staff, because there must be no shortage of keen cyclists who would love that job.

I used to turn up at my LBS every xmas with a crate of beer.

For the next year after that, I was pretty much guaranteed a worthwhile discount on everything I bought, not to mention priority service when I just rocked up off the street.

Dropping off a large supply of jaffa cakes while they fixed my numpty maintenance failures also helped too.

Have never had a bad experience in a bike shop. While me and the staff don’t exactly hold hands and skip off into the sunset, I am going in to buy something or get something sorted, not start a war.

Just chill FFS and leave the attitude at the door.