Monday 14 May 2012

Just A Rant - Because I can

Shopping for a new laptop (well anything really) can be stressful.
The weighing up of products, prices, online/in store, then there's which store to go to, can add up, to make a simple shopping trip hectic.

So it was too be on Saturday, when my Mum and I went shopping for a new laptop.  

With a big sale on, Harvey Norman was already going to be busy. But add to that, Mother’s Day was the following day.

As you can probably guess: it was busy as all hell.  

But that was Ok – we took a quick look at the laptops, we had a price range in mind, but above that, we stumbled on the perfect laptop.
It was a part of Harvey Norman’s half-price laptops deal – and it was the perfect laptop for me.

Unfortunately, it was the perfect laptop for everyone else too.

No joke, there were always at least three or more people standing around it; admiring it’s large screen size, all its functions and gizmo’s – but on top of everything, people loved the new price.  

Mum and I were terrified they would run out of stock before we could buy one.

But with our minds set, all we had to do was get a sales person to go get us one, and we’d be on our way. HA!

Like it was going to be that simple!

Yes ok, it was busy, but regardless of an abundance of staff, no one was around when we needed them.

So we stood around, hoping one of their friendly staff would ask two, kind ladies (who, let’s face it, know nothing about computers) if they need any assistance.  

But no – so we waited…and waited, and waited some more, until finally Mum had enough.

She tracked down a staff member, and asked for assistance.

Though of course, he was in the middle of serving someone, so naturally he looked around for someone to help us. Of course everyone was busy. 

So he left, and Mum was fuming.

I don’t know how long it had been, but Mum then tracked down (or maybe hunt would be more fitting) another assistant.
He too was busy, but managed to find someone who was able to help us.  

When he came over, a group of people flocked around us, also in need of his assistance.
But (and I’m only guessing here) he had strict instructions to serve us – otherwise Dragon Lady would hunt again.

*I’d like to point out how much I’ve down played this event. We really did wait for ages – no really, and my Mother, really did hunt down multiple staff members.
We also paced the laptop section, bumping into other shoppers, while they too, tried to catch an unseeing staff assistant.

So it was; we ended up getting the laptop after all. – “Naw” I can hear you all say, as you realise this story has a happy ending.

But why the blog post?
Ok, so you can rant on here all you like, but why bother with that?  

Well, there is a side story to this – or was mine the side story? Hmm.  

The other night I was watching Today Tonight, where they had Mr Harvey (Yes that’s right, the Harvey of Harvey Norman) watch his employees through camera equipped, secret shoppers.

It didn’t go well.

Multiple staff members ignored shoppers waiting around, one guy wasn’t wearing uniform and most of the shoppers were left standing there.

Of course this wasn’t always the case – one lady in particular was amazing at her job. She even helped a “secret shopper” while she was already serving someone else.

And there were others who knew and cared for what they were selling.  

But of course, when I was in Harvey Norman on Saturday, I couldn’t help but wish I was one of those camera equipped shoppers. Because I don’t think Mr. Harvey would have been pleased with what he saw.

As a said before, they were busy – but they should have had more staff on hand to help the ones that were already, tiredly working.

*Also, sorry to any Harvey Norman workers out there – I’m sure you do an amazing job. And I’m not referring to any of you.

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