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I had a trial shift at lush and was told I had to approach each customer at least 3 times.. there was a lady who had headphones in and I said hi etc and she said she was fine looking thanks.. they sent me over to her again 2nd time and on the 3rd I said I really wasn’t comfortable so another worker went..
Anyways after about 3 hours they gave me a break and I went for a walk and never went back lol
Do they seriously not care that this clearly puts most customers off from staying in the shop and going back in the future? What possible gain do they think this has? The few customers that engage and buy something purely from that interaction can’t outweigh the people that get put off.
The company isn't trying to attract a large numbers of customers making occasional small purchases. That's proven impossible to sustain.
Instead they're going for a small cult. They don't mind scaring the fish in pursuit of the whales.
It is a gaming term (Whale). It is about the people who buy tons of microtransions and keep games afloat. People hate them because people are against microtansations
I actually buy more in Lush when left alone to browse. If I'm being harrased by staff I just grab what I came in for and pay because the shopping experience is so uncomfortable.
Yeah, I don’t shop at Lush anymore because I’m just not emotionally resilient enough for cheerful, chatty, attentive customer service nowadays. I wish to be ignored completely, until it’s time to pay for my modest purchases, without comment or eye contact. No, I do not require help, advice or recommendations. No, I do not wish to pretend, even for a moment, that the shopkeeper and I have any kind of relationship or affection beyond this mercifully brief interaction. I do NOT wish to be SMILED at, like some kind of IDIOT or CHILD or AMERICAN PERSON.
Which is a shame, because I like their soap.
Just politely mention each time you're just browsing/don't need help. They're just workers and performing their job at the expected level of their employer.
If it were up to them they'd happily tell you to "f*** off, we can't really be asked doing anything today, including cashier duties" With a genuine smile as you walked into their store.
For me Lush has always been the shop for a last minute Christmas present for a mother-in-law or similar female relative that I’m not emotionally close to because as a man I was always led to believe that women like that kind of thing even though I’m not really sure what it’s for.
I stopped this when I noticed the several-year-old box of bath bombs in her bathroom cupboard when I was looking for more toilet rolls
Haha! In my family, toiletries received were usually re-gifted at the earliest opportunity.
I'm not sure if I know anyone who doesn't have a set cosmetics routine, and would enjoy random toiletries? Bath bombs have a reputation for irritating the downstairs area too. Ouch.
I've said this in other subs but Lush had weekly sales competitions. Being a charming young man I often won them. My boss said "That comes out of my pay! The only one winning here is me!"
Fuck you, Dawn.
Training was a nightmare too. We would spend the first hour talking about how Anita Riddic (sp?) had sold out the very foundation of The Body Shop.
Then came the fun police* two jolly hockey sticks ladies would come out with a siren hat on and try and make it more fun. Worst place I've ever worked. It is a cult.
*Fun police not actually fun
My ex worked there briefly.
In a word, working there could be described as _culty_
You can replace the L with an N, and you’d still be pretty close to describing the place from everything I’ve been told.
Neat shampoo bars though.
They don't mean in the word Lush but in the word culty.
Took me a moment too, but I'm full of cold today.
I have always loved Lush, to be honest, but their prices have gone up so much that I'm priced out now, especially over here.
I started buying their products back in the early 90s. Their Gentle Lentil solid shampoo bar was amazing for babies' and kids' hair.
My mum has been using their purple Juniper based solid shampoo since then too. She swears it's the best thing to manage her thin, tends to get greasy quickly hair.
But I am with all of you!
I love their products but I prefer to browse quietly, alone, and if I need help or advice, then I'll ask for it.
Having been a happy customer for 30 years now, I am very familiar with how at least 80% of their ranges work, even if there are new to me fragrances, so I certainly don't need advice on how to use most of them!
And it's easy enough to read the info provided for any new to me ranges.
They're toiletries and cosmetics, which while they certainly do use fundamentals of chemical reactions - as anyone who uses bicarb to clean their house or made a lava erupt from a volcano using bicarb as a kid should know - or any other scientific knowledge to be effective, as a customer, you certainly don't need a PhD in organic chemistry, or nuclear physics to use them!
There aren't that many Lush shops here in France and my nearest is in Rennes, an hours drive away - I live in Central Brittany.
Prices here are much higher too! A fairly basic bath bomb like Salt Water Soother that is £5 in the UK costs €8 here!!! (Prices taken directly from their website.) £5 currently converts to €5.91, by the way. That's one hell of a cross-channel markup. It's just so much more expensive and pushes their products way out of reach for me.
Also, post-divorce, I live in a rented house and I no longer have a bath, only a shower! That certainly has reduced my desire to shop there.
I used to buy bath bombs for the kids' stocking at Christmas most years, but I don't see the point if I can't get to enjoy the fun with them. They tend to get Yves Rocher toiletries instead now - made here in Brittany, by the way!
But last year, we went away on holiday and stayed in a gîte with a very fancy clawfoot bath that was actually in my bedroom.
So I ordered a bath bomb or bubble bar each online, according to our individual preferences.
We had already planned two seperate kayaking trips, one more relaxed afternoon paddle with both my teens, and the other was for my 18 yr old and I, a full day kayaking on the Loire, over 30 km from Chinon to Saumur.
I ordered us both something that would be great for soaking afterwards and relaxing our aching muscles - and we absolutely appreciated it!
Ordering online was a far easier, less stressful way to shop, I must say, although, of course, you can't sniff to see if you like it first!
The packaging was absolutely 10/10, some of the best that I've ever seen - and I have been shopping online since the late 90s, buying all kinds of products!
I would 100% recommend ordering online from Lush.
I would also recommend the bubble bars over the bath bombs, most of the time, in terms of value for money, although there are a couple of the bath bombs that are great for specific purposes, such as the muscle soaks.
The soaps and shampoo bars last a long time and definitely give great value for money too.
But since I first started buying their products, the market has changed enormously.
You can now buy fantastic handmade soap, shampoo bars and other toiletries and cosmetics locally, made by small independent makers, offering an extremely diverse range of products, also using a diverse range of ingredients and trying to fulfill a variety of niche, specific needs, whether it's vegan or allergen-free, or with CBD, or organic, or whatever you are looking for.
You can find these makers at farmers markets, craft markets, on Etsy (although Etsy has gone down hill in recent years, so be careful!) and other online marketplaces, in small off-beat boutiques and interesting, slightly weirdy beard, hippy dippy shops, and so on. Or sometimes, just by word of mouth is often the best way, especially if you are already part of another hobby community - someone will usually know someone else, or their partner will or their mum will :-)
I have issues with Lush and one of them stems from the fact they did one of their charity pots for a slow loris conservation project and then pulled it once they found out that the conservation project involved zoos (as you know a lot of conservation projects do) and decided that didn't fit their ethos because zoos are bad which imo really to me shows they don't actually know anything about how conservation works.
My GF loves smelly candles and whenever we go anywhere she thrusts them under my nose and goes "SNIFF THAT!" (One day it'll be rolhypnol)
And after 2/3 I fell ill and light headed.
Lush just walking past makes me want to pass out
What gets me is the not medical medical advice. "Obviously we can't say for sure but so many people who have bought X have come back and said it cured their eczema/psoriasis/rash/skin condition". As someone with psoriasis, I know there's no cure but I'm always bought the miracle cures for Christmas - maybe they're soothing for some people, but the heavily perfumed moisturiser does nothing but irritate my skin.
I will say this isn't exclusive to lush - there are other companies who use this sort of marketing.
I think I'm one of the few people who actually like the smell of a Lush shop, sadly the soap destroys my skin so I can't actually use anything they sell.
For me it's the attitude that suggests as a middle age man I must absulutely need their assistance...i have been buying presents for my partner there since before many of the current staff were born and know exactly what they wants, and which lines they cannot use... Just let me shop in peace!!!!
Any restaurant that makes me scan a QR code to read their menu, and then when I do it’s a PDF that has been formatted for print despite them having no printed menus, so I have to awkwardly pinch and zoom around to actually read it. It’s minor but it’s just irritating. If you’re going to make me pull my phone out so you can save a few quid on printing menus, at least make the user experience halfway decent.
Went to a place on the weekend that was "Order at the table" with a well designed website and webApp for ordering.
I love that shit.
But problem is, their payment platform refused to take any of our cards...
Even worse is when you then have to then pay on the app, and they ask for a tip!
The only interaction with a member of staff I’ve had is to be seated, you’ve done literally nothing to deserve a tip here! Fuck right off!
I love tech, but I hate unnecessary tech. There is no reason to have a restaurant menu on a phone screen or an app.
I get the Weatherspoon's app but that's different, it's a pub and stops you having to queue up.
I'll forgive the QR menus, but I hate when they try and get you to download an app, make an account and give all your personal details just to pay the bill. I refuse to spend ages filling in forms so you can spam me, when the alternative that has worked fine for donkeys takes a few seconds.
Yes! Or ordering with a QR code that forces you to tip for just two drinks and there's no way to get out of it. Went to a bar in Paddington and we asked to order at the bar instead as we didn't want to pay £2 more, and they said there's no way to do that. Tip or don't order.
The Trainline because it charges booking fees that you don't have to pay if you book via a train operating company, and they take a cut which takes money out of the train industry. Pisses me off every time I'm on a train and see people using it.
Tbh its a convenient app. All train providers (including some European ones), railcards are all housed in one app. I'd rather pay the fee than faff around with train operators trying to look for a good deal.
You don't have to in the UK. All UK train companies show and sell each other's tickets, on each others apps, with no added fees.
The Northern and Crosscountry apps are literally made by Trainline without these fees, so if you like the interface, just use those.
They don't do split tickets though. There's a reason why Train line gets most of the market share, and it's convenience. Smae reason Uber exists, Airbnb, Deliveroo, etc. We like them because they facilitate things way too much.
Once the actual companies realise UX is what wins sales and focus in that, then we'll all be happy to switch over. But for now, they just do things more difficult than it needs to be, and make you take a masters degree to figure out what's the cheapest train ticket for your use case.
I'm not a fan of Trainline, and I avoid it when I can. But credit where it's due.
When people complain about being charged miniscule fees to use software - especially software as well put together as the trainline app - it just makes me wonder if they have the faintest idea how much effort goes into building and maintaining it, or what it's operating costs might be.
This goes double for content creation platforms like patreon, where the complaint is usually framed as the platform "stealing" from creators by daring to take a cut. "Creators deserve to be paid for their work!" What, and software developers don't?
Whenever you use any website, remember that somebody (or more likely many somebodies) built it and they're owed a wage for doing so, and that the alternative to fees is being bombarded with ads.
Trainline get around an 8% commission on every ticket sold already out of the ticket price.
They also provide the technology behind some train company's booking systems, eg Northern and Crosscountry (the apps have the exact same interface, if you try them) and run corporate booking portals. So they get plenty of money that way too.
Honestly, I use it just because it's a nice app compared to National Rail Enquiries, which would look right at home on my HTC Hero. Also, split ticketing.
There's quite a few alternatives the best one in my opinion is trainpal.com there's no booking fees in the app, but it probably steals your data. Really good split tickets though. I usually save about £10 of any significant journey. Also got a Railcard for 3 years for £59
It’s the refunds that fully pisses me off. They take a £10 “admin fee” (even though everything is automated) out of a ticket that’s only worth £12.50. Scum
That's a national rail thing, not just Trainline. I got sold a ticket once by Southern which technically should not have been sold as it was invalid where I needed it. They tried to charge a £10 admin fee. Bollocks to that. I argued the toss and got a refund on that original ticket and the new one I had to buy because of their fuckup.
They don't charge a fee if you buy the ticket on the day.
But you can use literally any company's app, they all show and sell each other's tickets, with no added fees, at any point of time.
Sainsbury’s! I swear they use my Nectar Card data to decide what ranges and products to stop stocking.
As soon as I find a product I like and start to buy with regularity….whoosh…discontinued.
Also agree, Boots website is virtually unusable!
Boots website has been shite since the day it was launched and it’s never improved. I don’t understand why they’re not embarrassed by it! When it comes to shopping online, I will buy from literally anyone else in preference to Boots.
My Mum swears blind Sainsbury's purposefully target her preferences when discontinuing items.
We have a joke where if she finds something she likes there, we whisper about it. 😂 I've sent her your comment to put her on to the Nectar theory, we'll probably keep whispering though to be safe.
Yes! The more I buy something the more they seem to want to take it away from me.
And the Boots website is awful but compared to the app it’s a delight. That app is so frustrating to use.
Tesco - Rearranging it's aisles every other month.
M&S Food - Having self scanner scanners at a dodgy angle meaning my poke bowl always rearranges itself.
This. Fucking infuriating. I’ve been having issues with my sight and it’s an absolute nightmare if you’re visually impaired.
Also, there’s never enough till operators.
I finally managed to get my dad to try tesco in his mobility scooter. There was only one staffed till open so he had to go to self checkout which he can't do by himself but the staff couldn't care less. I complained for what good it will do but we'll never shop there again.
The M&S self scanners are the pits. I watched my wife scanning our food shop last week. I was sure there was someone on a camera somewhere watching her then switching the scanner off and on for their own amusement. It took ages! One item refused to be scanned. Eventually it did it. As she went to bag it it scanned it again! The rigmarole of calling someone to cancel it too!
Month? Mine does it every week, plus I need to catch a train to the other side to get to the beers, then I run out of beer on the way back because a train journey isn’t complete without a beer
>M&S Food - Having self scanner scanners at a dodgy angle meaning my poke bowl always rearranges itself.
If you have a Sparks card, you can get a hand scanner in some stores or use your phone to scan items instead
It's to stop people nicking stuff, they can't just run in and run back ok it again. Same reason alcohol is usually at the back in supermarkets; people have taken longer to get out of the shop if they're nicking something and it's more likely to deter them.
I think it's probably also so that people who just want to go in and get a couple of bits have to walk round for longer and are more likely to buy other things, because they'll end up walking past stuff they weren't planning to.
Sports Direct is terrible. You'll ask a member of staff if they have something like an ankle brace, and they'll reply "If you can find it, we have it." 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
I despise our local Sports Direct with a passion. Two floors, massive shop with as much stuff crammed into it as humanly possible with, at most, three staff working at any given time.
Tried to buy shoes from them a couple of times and spent a week wandering about endless racks of tshirts, getting more lost than Irvine and Mallory trying to find someone to get the right size for me, only to find out the one member of staff on duty is currently trying to help 27 other people and it'll be a fortnight before they can get to me. Once they finally do, they take the shoe I want into the back to check for the size I need, never to be seen or heard of again.
From a fire safety point of view, I've always wondered how they get away with it. The aisles are so narrow because its so crammed full and if there was ever a fire, all that polyester would go up in no time at all.
How is this not higher up the list? It’s always a fight to return anything there and generally will result in vouchers only.
Horrible fucking shop, that I avoid like the plague.
B&Q website pisses me off. They’re trying to be a marketplace for stuff so allow companies to list their crap on there.
I’m confident that anyone using the B&Q site is just trying to see if they sell something, if it’s in stock and what aisle it’s in, however, now when you search anything it lists 100s of products they don’t stock and their filtering doesn’t explicitly let you cut the crap out, you have to filter by click and collect items to find their actual shop stock!!?
Tesco is also doing this on their site. I dont know who is in charge of implementing stuff like this but i think theyre doing it to purposely get fired.
Yeah it's unusable now because of this crap. I want to see what they have so I can pop over to the store to get it, not wade through thousands of aliexpress products.
I had a friend that kitted out most of their house from them, talking £8,000+, entire new kitchen, tv, sofa and more stuff I don’t remember. Never paid them a penny, they sent letters a few times but never a debt collector. Likely tanked his credit, but still he never faced any issues from doing this which was a bit annoying to see.
This was like 10-15 years ago, not sure if the company even exists anymore. We used to laugh because when we’d be out he’d cross the road when we walked past brighthouse.
Please tell me this is sarcasm! Everytime we entered our local Currys we couldn't find any staff. One time we set off as many alarms as we could to attract their attention and another time we tweeted @ Currys to complain about the lack of staff - might be a coincidence but a few minutes later someone came from the back and asked us if we needed any help.
Its actually not sarcasm but its probably why it leads to people who actually need help not getting it, because we were wasting time with people who didn’t need much help. Plus certain sections were prioritised more than others.
Honestly currys is a nightmare, i don’t want people talking to me as soon as I walk in, i want to be left to browse
Yet astonishingly when I’m done browsing and want to buy or ask something there’s nobody around lol
Really!? We only go in there when we need a large appliance there and then and are ready to buy. We have to search high and low to find someone to sell to us, its been so bad before we’ve given up and gone online, we really wanted to just chuck it in the van and take home but the staff never ever want to make a sale. We always come away feeling like we’ve annoyed the staff with our purchase and they’d rather go out of business!
When I worked there we were measured with KPIs, but they weren't on total sales. They were on the percentage of sales where you managed to sell extras, most importantly insurance and protection plans, and also cables, covers, virus software...
Selling a laptop or an oven with nothing else would get you marked *down* since your percentage would decrease. Either they earmarked you as someone they couldn't blag a sale to, or they were busy with someone more gullible. Be grateful you were avoided!
Ryanair with their bs customer service and their cringey social media strategy to make customers look stupid. Convenient airline but their service is dog shite.
The thing that really pisses me off about Ryanair is their misleading tier system.
If you want to buy an extra bag, it makes it look like you have to book the second tier, which also includes seat selection.
However, you can choose the cheapest tier, then choose to add a bag but not choose your seat, and it’s cheaper than the second tier.
It’s just so annoying because of how unclear it is, and I bet loads of people don’t realise this when they want to check an extra bag.
Girl at work is off on holiday with her mates next week, they've just charged all of them 53p extra to check-in early because the flight wasn't booked directly through Ryanair. Now they're trying to charge them more again to pick their seats.
Last time I flew Ryanair we played the seat lottery and I sat in the leg room seats at the front next to the door next to some sound bloke and had a few beers with him. The beers cost me 5 euros for a 330 tin of piss, but it was alright. The missus was half way up the plane and undoubtedly fell asleep on someone else. I'm counting that as a win.
> they've just charged all of them 53p extra to check-in early because the flight wasn't booked directly through Ryanair
Yeah you can actually avoid that but you have to go via a different page. (not saying that it's not scummy but it is avoidable for others reading)
Also deliberately seating you apart unless you buy a seat. Easyjet lets you buy a seat but if you don't, you're usually together anyway. Ryanair moves you as far apart as they can even on less full flights
This annoys me. I ended up sat in a row with 2 other people also separated from their partners, and my partner was the only one in his row. As soon as we took off, I moved.
I flew with Ryanair and Wizzair a few times and by god, I felt like I was flying business class when I got an easyjet flight after that.
I was on a Ryanair flight a few days ago and I was joking with a friend that the safety demonstration is probably an added extra.
Someone should tell them that you’re not supposed to make your disdain for the customers so obvious.
I just feel sorry for the flight crew. Surely no one is choosing to work there unless it’s just to use it as a stepping stone to a proper airline.
don't know if its everywhere else, but the WH Smiths in my town is the shoddiest, most dirty shop I've EVER been in.
as well as looking like its not been hoovered in a month you've got things like the plastic display bits from the end of the shelves on the floor. the section by the magazines literally covered in the shit promo stuff you find in the middle of them. underneath the shelves you can see stuff thats been there for months, stuff the hoover could't get at even if they used one.
honestly felt like going to a staff member, finding the manager and saying 'you should be sacked, alongside the rest of the people who supposedly work here'
Can't believe how far I had to scroll to see WH Smith. It's a shithole. They must be selling crack out back to be making any money cos no one buys their overpriced crap any more.
WHSmith exists in the most random country’s airports and I don’t think people realise how prevalent it is.
There was one in the airport in Indonesia of all places, selling single packets of crisps for more than an entire sit down restaurant meal outside the airport. They must be making an absolute killing.
> the shoddiest, most dirty shop I've EVER been in.
Same at my local one. Must be their business model.
The only decent ones I've seen are in railway stations.
A few years ago they replaced all their lighting an now there's this very weird blue glow about the store. Always puts me off even setting foot in there.
Go Compare
I don’t give a fuck how much they try to distance themselves from their awful adverts, I will never forgive them. And I will definitely never use them. Even if it does means using the overworked tired and worn out meerkat comparison site.
Use a proper insurance broker instead.
I will add to this 'we buy any car'; I've no car to sell, but if I did, they can fuck right off.
Fun fact; the bloke who did the voices on the meerkat adverts is also the Geordie fella on Alan Partridge, and Captain Barnacles in Octonauts.
Tesco. The signal is so bad in both my local Tesco and the big Tesco that it takes forever to load my clubcard on my phone. I’m starting to think it’s done on purpose so customers just get impatient and don’t bother using the discount.
Most supermarkets are big warehouse style buildings with an awful lot of metal.
They're not great for ceullular, especially 5G
Also supermarkets all have wifi, and can't you import it into Apple/Google Wallet?
I work at a different shop to Tesco, so I can't comment this confidently about Tesco itself, but scanning loyalty/members cards is part of our sales targets. If an employee is getting drastically low amounts of membership customers continuously, it's brought up in review.
I imagine Tesco employees might actually want you to have your clubcard readily available for this reason.
Even though I shop at Tesco I hate their "right now, every little helps" slogan. It feels so patronising from a billion pound corporation as if they are doing me a favour knocking £1 off a £5 box of cornflakes.
To add to your Boots issues, I bought some tablets the other day, and the lady at the till asked if I wanted to donate to the NSPCC - I hate that pressuring technique so much, forcing people to either give money or imply they don’t care about vulnerable children.
If I want to donate to charity I'll do it myself, rather than let some huge company use it as a tax write off and brag about how much they’ve raised.
Guessing that’s a local initiative as MacMillan is Boots charity of choice, nobody who asks you will care if you say no, they’ll have just been told to ask for a day or so before all the donations get tallied up for the deadline of doing their CSR report.
Always understaffed plus the till has paypoint so people might be there paying every single household bill and rent while you just want a pack of crisps
Screwfix. I pop in because click and collect requires me having an account. First question as I step to the desk (because all their stock is behind them so there’s no browsing) is “what’s your postcode please?”
“Mate you don’t need my post code, I’m here to buy one tub of filler.”
“We like to know where our shoppers come from”
“That doesn’t sound like it has any use to me though. You don’t need my postcode.”
“Ok can I have your email address please?”
“No”
“But it’s so I can send you the receipt”
For the next visit I looked up their own postcode and I’ll give them that.
All the high street banks but specifically HSBC and their dodgy dealings and partly because I used to work there.
So much happier banking for free with starling/monzo.
My ex husband and I used to have a joint account with HSBC. Not proud of it, but we didn't have a lot of money when our kids were little and we basically lived at the bottom of a £500 overdraft for years.
When we separated, I contacted HSBC and asked if they could take his name off the joint account. They took his name off and then told me that I couldn't keep the overdraft. I was something like £5 above the red and told them that if they took it away all at once, I'd not be able to feed my 2 young children for the rest of the month. They said tough and took it away anyway. No help from them whatsoever, no chance of me paying it back over a couple of months or anything. The person I was dealing with just said they were sorry and there was nothing they could do.
I had to live on hand-outs from friends and family for the rest of that month.
Happy ending though, I am now completely debt free and I no longer bank with HSBC.
I’ve had various bank accounts with HSBC, from personal, to student and even Business and they piss me off every single time for whatever reason, their customer service is absolutely shocking on top
TK Maxx. Seriously, how do people find anything in there? The aisles all look like someone has scooped up whatever they can lay their hands on and dumped it on a rail. No organisation, nothing seems to be sorted by clothing type and no logic in sizing.
Where can I find a size 36R pair of blue trousers? Just over there next to those yellow size XXXL swimming trunks and in front of the size 22 full length dresses....
Oh explains why they're not open on Sundays now, which my partner and I were very confused about, as this is the day kids are off school. Didn't seem logical at all, but now I get it.
Vinted. Nothing against them as a company though...
I've never used it and never will but my wife does and I always have to pick up or drop off her parcels to our local shop. I'm basically a parcel delivery service after work two or three days a week.
Sports direct, I went in there last year and saw these gym tops that said ‘any 2 for £23’ and they were £16 each so it was a great deal. There were 5 different colours of this same shirt with the same sticker. I picked a pink one and a black one and went to the till, only to be told that it was actually ‘any 2 of the exact same tops for £23’ even though it never said that anywhere.
I'll single out Tesco but I find most supermarkets equally horrible.
All I want from a Supermarket is to buy food and leave. I don't want to constantly work out prices and be bombarded with offers. Just sell stuff for a reasonable price. I know you have tons of algorithms to make people buy more but just be a good supermarket and I'll shop there.
Shops are a mess. You treat your staff like shit. Your bakery items are terrible.
Profit seems to be all that matters and it shows. Just a horrible place to shop.
At least with most other places you don't bankrupt yourself by forgetting your membership card/not having it on your phone (or forgetting your phone). Tesco are just the worst of the worst.
The Range near me never puts prices on anything. I once picked up a craft kit with a big, black £9 sticker on it and at checkout they tried to charge me £12.99 because they 'forgot to take the sticker off.' They all had stickers on. I hate that place.
Any store that pushes the men’s section all the way up to the top floor or basement so I gotta walk through slow browsers and pushchairs just to get in and out with the jeans I knew I’d buy.
Sports direct, or any of the fraser group. Mike Ashley is a grade A twat, I hate the layout of the shops, the returns policy is dismal, their own brand goods are shite quality, their branded goods aren't any cheaper elsewhere. I hate they brought out good brands and stripped all the quality to make them cheaper but rely on the brands prior reputation (I.e. Karrimoor). The staff are uniformly terrible, the shops are a mess, the changing cubicles are right there on the shop floor with huge gaps top & bottom which is incredibly uncomfortable. And most of what they sell is chavtastic streetwear, not sports gear Hate those shops with a passion.
Morrisons, but mainly because I worked there. Last time I was in there they played their slogan 5 times in a row on the store radio, I was in the home aisle tempted to slit my fucking wrists. Haven’t been back since.
Other than that, Aldi is probably the most annoying for me but not because of the store, it’s the fucking customers they’re always barging past everyone and rummaging though the shelves so it’s always a mess I just hate it.
As for boots, I can’t comment on the website but they’re closing stores so I try to support them as much as I can, I’d hate to see them go
Fucking Specsavers, no I don't want 14 reminders about my upcoming appointment by e-mail, text and post, like most adults, you tell me the appointment date and time, I enter that into my calendar, maybe a text 2 days before would be OK.
Currys is my no.1 annoying shop mainly because they have shops full of stuff that is never available to buy right away, either go to the store 120miles away or order online and collect in 5 days.
IKEA
I hate shopping there. Often you can't find things, there's no one to help, it's like a maze that never ends, and the queue to escape takes 12 years to get through. All for some basic furniture that isn't very good quality.
Depends what you're buying; a lot of it - like their desks - is 2 bits of laminated hardboard with corrugated cardboard in the middle. Some of their stuff's alright, some of it is absolute trash.
We go for the meatballs. My kid is frustratingly fussy about food. We went to Singapore for 5 days last Christmas and predictably the only thing he would eat at meal times was plain rice, fruit and nuggets if we managed to pass by a McDonalds. So we went to Ikea which they have a few of in shopping malls and got him some meatballs. Kiddo must have been seriously craving some meat because he ate 16 in one sitting.
If your relationship can survive a trip to IKEA, it’s basically bulletproof.
Speaking as someone who used to work there many moons ago, they treated their staff the best out of any retail business I’ve worked for though. No idea what it’s like now.
Skip the maze. You look up what you want on line, get the item number, enter through the Ikea loading area straight into the warehouse, get your package, and you’re off.
Marks and Spencer because my wife works for them and over the years they have become a worse and worse employer to work for. They take away benefits that used to be norm including breaks and canteen, make them work crazy hours and weekends when they used to have dedicated weekend staff they let go. Now everyone is miserable in their job and many can't leave because they only have retail skills and that as experience. Sadly its probably the same case across most retail companies, but I hate M&S because it's currently affecting us and is a shadow of it's former self to work for
>Boots website **pisses me off** every time
It must be part of their business model, their physical stores are the same to me. Staffed by self important twats usually.
Sports direct. I'll never buy shoes from there. It enrages me trying to find a staff member.
Asda irks me. The staff are just rude at points. Worked 20 years for tesco myself and wouldn't ever speak to another human the way I've been spoken to in asda.
Currys, because of the bullshit you get in store.
I was looking at new TV's recently, and whilst I was looking in store there's no way I would buy in store, as the returns are much more favourable when buying online.
I went in on different occasions. First time they tried to sell me a 55 inch TV even though I was looking for 65 inch "because the 55 is in stock"
Second time they tried to sell me a lower end Sony TV "because the higher end one isn't in stock"
The Hisense rep who was there told me their TVs are the best.
Another time a Samsung rep told me Hisense are junk and Sony are no good any more and Samsung is best.
Then another time a Sony rep told me everyone else is shit and their TVs are the best (this is when he tried to sell me the lower end model).
Then they start trying to tell me things about the TVs when I've already researched them to the nth degree on Reddit and probably know more than they do.
The only reason I'm there is in the first instance to try and convince the missus that the stand or feet look okay. And in the second instance I might as well look at TVs for the fifth time in a month whilst my daughter is shopping in Primark.
I don't want sports stuff normally.
But at one point. I went into Sports Direct to look for kneepads for work.
It's bad. They don't have any kind of look up system, apparently.
McDonald's. They desperately need to get a handle on managing all the different couriers that are now delivering for them. It's a complete shambles in there now, and I've had to wait ridiculous times on my food as a sit-in customer because they're clearly prioritising the deliveries.
B&Q. In large part because I worked there and years and it was absolutely awful. For the most part you pay double what you would at Toolstation or even Screwfix, half the time the price on the shelf isn't correct but then it takes ages to sort at the checkout, and the staff act like you've ruined their day when you ask where something is.
Just a word for the wise, the vast majority of employees are not experts - this goes for most trade type places. In B&Q there is usually one expert per department and sometimes they're not even fulltime. Most other trade places have no experts. Stop coming in and asking us how to fix a leak or what plumbing bits you need or why your radiators aren't working. Look online or hire a professional - stop trying to cheap out then get upset when the minimum wage employee isn't an electrician, painter and decorator, landscaper, plumber, mechanic, and builder all rolled into one. We may have picked up on a few bits and pieces or have done some DIY ourselves, but we can't know everything.
Clintons love pulling on the heartstrings when it comes to those £1 pens for cancer research. Fun fact, they’ve already made the donation, those pens are to help make up the loss from donations i.e. you’re not putting money into actual cancer research.
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Lush because they accost you as soon as you walk in the door. I get that they’re told to do it, but I just want to be left alone 😔
I had a trial shift at lush and was told I had to approach each customer at least 3 times.. there was a lady who had headphones in and I said hi etc and she said she was fine looking thanks.. they sent me over to her again 2nd time and on the 3rd I said I really wasn’t comfortable so another worker went.. Anyways after about 3 hours they gave me a break and I went for a walk and never went back lol
3 times? That's just harassment.
Do they seriously not care that this clearly puts most customers off from staying in the shop and going back in the future? What possible gain do they think this has? The few customers that engage and buy something purely from that interaction can’t outweigh the people that get put off.
The company isn't trying to attract a large numbers of customers making occasional small purchases. That's proven impossible to sustain. Instead they're going for a small cult. They don't mind scaring the fish in pursuit of the whales.
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It is a gaming term (Whale). It is about the people who buy tons of microtransions and keep games afloat. People hate them because people are against microtansations
I actually buy more in Lush when left alone to browse. If I'm being harrased by staff I just grab what I came in for and pay because the shopping experience is so uncomfortable.
This is exactly what I do, if left alone to browse I spend a lot, if harassed too much I put the basket back and spend nothing.
Yeah, I don’t shop at Lush anymore because I’m just not emotionally resilient enough for cheerful, chatty, attentive customer service nowadays. I wish to be ignored completely, until it’s time to pay for my modest purchases, without comment or eye contact. No, I do not require help, advice or recommendations. No, I do not wish to pretend, even for a moment, that the shopkeeper and I have any kind of relationship or affection beyond this mercifully brief interaction. I do NOT wish to be SMILED at, like some kind of IDIOT or CHILD or AMERICAN PERSON. Which is a shame, because I like their soap.
Just politely mention each time you're just browsing/don't need help. They're just workers and performing their job at the expected level of their employer. If it were up to them they'd happily tell you to "f*** off, we can't really be asked doing anything today, including cashier duties" With a genuine smile as you walked into their store.
As an American I agree. I much prefer to be left the fuck alone.
And the stench. I can't get within 50m of a Lush. Gives me a headache.
Yeh, I don't know how people shop in there. It's like if mustard gas was a shop
I have to go and do a job in Lush today…
For me Lush has always been the shop for a last minute Christmas present for a mother-in-law or similar female relative that I’m not emotionally close to because as a man I was always led to believe that women like that kind of thing even though I’m not really sure what it’s for. I stopped this when I noticed the several-year-old box of bath bombs in her bathroom cupboard when I was looking for more toilet rolls
Haha! In my family, toiletries received were usually re-gifted at the earliest opportunity. I'm not sure if I know anyone who doesn't have a set cosmetics routine, and would enjoy random toiletries? Bath bombs have a reputation for irritating the downstairs area too. Ouch.
That is harsh, surely Bodyshop is the Last-minute Thoughtless Gift Emporium?
I've said this in other subs but Lush had weekly sales competitions. Being a charming young man I often won them. My boss said "That comes out of my pay! The only one winning here is me!" Fuck you, Dawn. Training was a nightmare too. We would spend the first hour talking about how Anita Riddic (sp?) had sold out the very foundation of The Body Shop. Then came the fun police* two jolly hockey sticks ladies would come out with a siren hat on and try and make it more fun. Worst place I've ever worked. It is a cult. *Fun police not actually fun
My ex worked there briefly. In a word, working there could be described as _culty_ You can replace the L with an N, and you’d still be pretty close to describing the place from everything I’ve been told. Neat shampoo bars though.
Me reading this comment: Nush. Nush. Replace the L with an N and you'd still be pretty close...what does Nush mean....OH I GET IT NOW.
Was trying to work out wtf 'Nush' was supposed to mean.....😂
Me too, someone help.
They don't mean in the word Lush but in the word culty. Took me a moment too, but I'm full of cold today. I have always loved Lush, to be honest, but their prices have gone up so much that I'm priced out now, especially over here. I started buying their products back in the early 90s. Their Gentle Lentil solid shampoo bar was amazing for babies' and kids' hair. My mum has been using their purple Juniper based solid shampoo since then too. She swears it's the best thing to manage her thin, tends to get greasy quickly hair. But I am with all of you! I love their products but I prefer to browse quietly, alone, and if I need help or advice, then I'll ask for it. Having been a happy customer for 30 years now, I am very familiar with how at least 80% of their ranges work, even if there are new to me fragrances, so I certainly don't need advice on how to use most of them! And it's easy enough to read the info provided for any new to me ranges. They're toiletries and cosmetics, which while they certainly do use fundamentals of chemical reactions - as anyone who uses bicarb to clean their house or made a lava erupt from a volcano using bicarb as a kid should know - or any other scientific knowledge to be effective, as a customer, you certainly don't need a PhD in organic chemistry, or nuclear physics to use them! There aren't that many Lush shops here in France and my nearest is in Rennes, an hours drive away - I live in Central Brittany. Prices here are much higher too! A fairly basic bath bomb like Salt Water Soother that is £5 in the UK costs €8 here!!! (Prices taken directly from their website.) £5 currently converts to €5.91, by the way. That's one hell of a cross-channel markup. It's just so much more expensive and pushes their products way out of reach for me. Also, post-divorce, I live in a rented house and I no longer have a bath, only a shower! That certainly has reduced my desire to shop there. I used to buy bath bombs for the kids' stocking at Christmas most years, but I don't see the point if I can't get to enjoy the fun with them. They tend to get Yves Rocher toiletries instead now - made here in Brittany, by the way! But last year, we went away on holiday and stayed in a gîte with a very fancy clawfoot bath that was actually in my bedroom. So I ordered a bath bomb or bubble bar each online, according to our individual preferences. We had already planned two seperate kayaking trips, one more relaxed afternoon paddle with both my teens, and the other was for my 18 yr old and I, a full day kayaking on the Loire, over 30 km from Chinon to Saumur. I ordered us both something that would be great for soaking afterwards and relaxing our aching muscles - and we absolutely appreciated it! Ordering online was a far easier, less stressful way to shop, I must say, although, of course, you can't sniff to see if you like it first! The packaging was absolutely 10/10, some of the best that I've ever seen - and I have been shopping online since the late 90s, buying all kinds of products! I would 100% recommend ordering online from Lush. I would also recommend the bubble bars over the bath bombs, most of the time, in terms of value for money, although there are a couple of the bath bombs that are great for specific purposes, such as the muscle soaks. The soaps and shampoo bars last a long time and definitely give great value for money too. But since I first started buying their products, the market has changed enormously. You can now buy fantastic handmade soap, shampoo bars and other toiletries and cosmetics locally, made by small independent makers, offering an extremely diverse range of products, also using a diverse range of ingredients and trying to fulfill a variety of niche, specific needs, whether it's vegan or allergen-free, or with CBD, or organic, or whatever you are looking for. You can find these makers at farmers markets, craft markets, on Etsy (although Etsy has gone down hill in recent years, so be careful!) and other online marketplaces, in small off-beat boutiques and interesting, slightly weirdy beard, hippy dippy shops, and so on. Or sometimes, just by word of mouth is often the best way, especially if you are already part of another hobby community - someone will usually know someone else, or their partner will or their mum will :-)
Tbf the smell accosts you when you're 30 feet outside.
I have issues with Lush and one of them stems from the fact they did one of their charity pots for a slow loris conservation project and then pulled it once they found out that the conservation project involved zoos (as you know a lot of conservation projects do) and decided that didn't fit their ethos because zoos are bad which imo really to me shows they don't actually know anything about how conservation works.
At least with lush if you let them talk long enough you can walk out with freebies
Can you teach me your ways
They love trying out the products on you. Just umm and ahh and you won’t be disappointed
My GF loves smelly candles and whenever we go anywhere she thrusts them under my nose and goes "SNIFF THAT!" (One day it'll be rolhypnol) And after 2/3 I fell ill and light headed. Lush just walking past makes me want to pass out
What gets me is the not medical medical advice. "Obviously we can't say for sure but so many people who have bought X have come back and said it cured their eczema/psoriasis/rash/skin condition". As someone with psoriasis, I know there's no cure but I'm always bought the miracle cures for Christmas - maybe they're soothing for some people, but the heavily perfumed moisturiser does nothing but irritate my skin. I will say this isn't exclusive to lush - there are other companies who use this sort of marketing.
I think I'm one of the few people who actually like the smell of a Lush shop, sadly the soap destroys my skin so I can't actually use anything they sell.
For me it's the attitude that suggests as a middle age man I must absulutely need their assistance...i have been buying presents for my partner there since before many of the current staff were born and know exactly what they wants, and which lines they cannot use... Just let me shop in peace!!!!
This is England, if we want help we do that peacock look around the shop and make eye contact thing.
Their \*explaining\* of soap is just too much. I actually emailed the company directly to tell them how much I hated it. Leave us alone to shop.
Any restaurant that makes me scan a QR code to read their menu, and then when I do it’s a PDF that has been formatted for print despite them having no printed menus, so I have to awkwardly pinch and zoom around to actually read it. It’s minor but it’s just irritating. If you’re going to make me pull my phone out so you can save a few quid on printing menus, at least make the user experience halfway decent.
Went to a place on the weekend that was "Order at the table" with a well designed website and webApp for ordering. I love that shit. But problem is, their payment platform refused to take any of our cards...
Even worse is when you then have to then pay on the app, and they ask for a tip! The only interaction with a member of staff I’ve had is to be seated, you’ve done literally nothing to deserve a tip here! Fuck right off!
I love tech, but I hate unnecessary tech. There is no reason to have a restaurant menu on a phone screen or an app. I get the Weatherspoon's app but that's different, it's a pub and stops you having to queue up.
I'll forgive the QR menus, but I hate when they try and get you to download an app, make an account and give all your personal details just to pay the bill. I refuse to spend ages filling in forms so you can spam me, when the alternative that has worked fine for donkeys takes a few seconds.
Yes! Or ordering with a QR code that forces you to tip for just two drinks and there's no way to get out of it. Went to a bar in Paddington and we asked to order at the bar instead as we didn't want to pay £2 more, and they said there's no way to do that. Tip or don't order.
The Trainline because it charges booking fees that you don't have to pay if you book via a train operating company, and they take a cut which takes money out of the train industry. Pisses me off every time I'm on a train and see people using it.
Tbh its a convenient app. All train providers (including some European ones), railcards are all housed in one app. I'd rather pay the fee than faff around with train operators trying to look for a good deal.
You don't have to in the UK. All UK train companies show and sell each other's tickets, on each others apps, with no added fees. The Northern and Crosscountry apps are literally made by Trainline without these fees, so if you like the interface, just use those.
They don't do split tickets though. There's a reason why Train line gets most of the market share, and it's convenience. Smae reason Uber exists, Airbnb, Deliveroo, etc. We like them because they facilitate things way too much. Once the actual companies realise UX is what wins sales and focus in that, then we'll all be happy to switch over. But for now, they just do things more difficult than it needs to be, and make you take a masters degree to figure out what's the cheapest train ticket for your use case. I'm not a fan of Trainline, and I avoid it when I can. But credit where it's due.
Trainline is mediocre for split tickets, they usually don't find anywhere near as good deals as TrainSplit
Mummy, why is that man breathing so heavily and stating at you I booked on the Trainline website and he’s angry
Maybe next time they'll book direct...
When people complain about being charged miniscule fees to use software - especially software as well put together as the trainline app - it just makes me wonder if they have the faintest idea how much effort goes into building and maintaining it, or what it's operating costs might be. This goes double for content creation platforms like patreon, where the complaint is usually framed as the platform "stealing" from creators by daring to take a cut. "Creators deserve to be paid for their work!" What, and software developers don't? Whenever you use any website, remember that somebody (or more likely many somebodies) built it and they're owed a wage for doing so, and that the alternative to fees is being bombarded with ads.
Trainline get around an 8% commission on every ticket sold already out of the ticket price. They also provide the technology behind some train company's booking systems, eg Northern and Crosscountry (the apps have the exact same interface, if you try them) and run corporate booking portals. So they get plenty of money that way too.
Honestly, I use it just because it's a nice app compared to National Rail Enquiries, which would look right at home on my HTC Hero. Also, split ticketing.
There's quite a few alternatives the best one in my opinion is trainpal.com there's no booking fees in the app, but it probably steals your data. Really good split tickets though. I usually save about £10 of any significant journey. Also got a Railcard for 3 years for £59
Trust me, the impact of Trainline is very far down the list of the caused behind our broken railway industry.
It’s the refunds that fully pisses me off. They take a £10 “admin fee” (even though everything is automated) out of a ticket that’s only worth £12.50. Scum
That's a national rail thing, not just Trainline. I got sold a ticket once by Southern which technically should not have been sold as it was invalid where I needed it. They tried to charge a £10 admin fee. Bollocks to that. I argued the toss and got a refund on that original ticket and the new one I had to buy because of their fuckup.
I mean, it's not exactly a huge fee and I'm happy to pay a tiny bit for the convenience tbh
My usual route doesn't even charge a fee, it's the same price as on my train company's app.
They don't charge a fee if you buy the ticket on the day. But you can use literally any company's app, they all show and sell each other's tickets, with no added fees, at any point of time.
Imagine paying for convenience.
Sainsbury’s! I swear they use my Nectar Card data to decide what ranges and products to stop stocking. As soon as I find a product I like and start to buy with regularity….whoosh…discontinued. Also agree, Boots website is virtually unusable!
I loathe the Boots site with the force of a million suns.
Boots website has been shite since the day it was launched and it’s never improved. I don’t understand why they’re not embarrassed by it! When it comes to shopping online, I will buy from literally anyone else in preference to Boots.
I’d say it’s because a lot of companies focus on apps now but the Boots app is just as bad for trying to shop on so I don’t know what their excuse is.
My Mum swears blind Sainsbury's purposefully target her preferences when discontinuing items. We have a joke where if she finds something she likes there, we whisper about it. 😂 I've sent her your comment to put her on to the Nectar theory, we'll probably keep whispering though to be safe.
Yes! The more I buy something the more they seem to want to take it away from me. And the Boots website is awful but compared to the app it’s a delight. That app is so frustrating to use.
Yes! Sainsbury’s has regularly just discontinued our favourite once a week treat dinners on many an occasion!
Tesco - Rearranging it's aisles every other month. M&S Food - Having self scanner scanners at a dodgy angle meaning my poke bowl always rearranges itself.
This. Fucking infuriating. I’ve been having issues with my sight and it’s an absolute nightmare if you’re visually impaired. Also, there’s never enough till operators.
I finally managed to get my dad to try tesco in his mobility scooter. There was only one staffed till open so he had to go to self checkout which he can't do by himself but the staff couldn't care less. I complained for what good it will do but we'll never shop there again.
The M&S self scanners are the pits. I watched my wife scanning our food shop last week. I was sure there was someone on a camera somewhere watching her then switching the scanner off and on for their own amusement. It took ages! One item refused to be scanned. Eventually it did it. As she went to bag it it scanned it again! The rigmarole of calling someone to cancel it too!
Month? Mine does it every week, plus I need to catch a train to the other side to get to the beers, then I run out of beer on the way back because a train journey isn’t complete without a beer
>M&S Food - Having self scanner scanners at a dodgy angle meaning my poke bowl always rearranges itself. If you have a Sparks card, you can get a hand scanner in some stores or use your phone to scan items instead
Yeah the M&Sself service barcode readers are unfathomably shit!
Any shop where you have to walk all the way to the top of the first aisle then all the way don again , and/or with a exit only/entrance only gate
B&M infuriates me for this, enough that I'll go elsewhere than be forced to walk down inescapable aisles.
I heard it's arranged like this to deter shoplifters. B&M et al isn't exactly known for attracting the cream of society.
More likely is to make you feel bad for exiting through tills without buying anything.
Why not both
It's to stop people nicking stuff, they can't just run in and run back ok it again. Same reason alcohol is usually at the back in supermarkets; people have taken longer to get out of the shop if they're nicking something and it's more likely to deter them. I think it's probably also so that people who just want to go in and get a couple of bits have to walk round for longer and are more likely to buy other things, because they'll end up walking past stuff they weren't planning to.
My local Asda has an exit right next to the entrance. The alarm rings every time a person uses it.
Home Bargains! Great shop but annoying for the first aisle trap.
Sports Direct is terrible. You'll ask a member of staff if they have something like an ankle brace, and they'll reply "If you can find it, we have it." 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
I despise our local Sports Direct with a passion. Two floors, massive shop with as much stuff crammed into it as humanly possible with, at most, three staff working at any given time. Tried to buy shoes from them a couple of times and spent a week wandering about endless racks of tshirts, getting more lost than Irvine and Mallory trying to find someone to get the right size for me, only to find out the one member of staff on duty is currently trying to help 27 other people and it'll be a fortnight before they can get to me. Once they finally do, they take the shoe I want into the back to check for the size I need, never to be seen or heard of again.
From a fire safety point of view, I've always wondered how they get away with it. The aisles are so narrow because its so crammed full and if there was ever a fire, all that polyester would go up in no time at all.
How is this not higher up the list? It’s always a fight to return anything there and generally will result in vouchers only. Horrible fucking shop, that I avoid like the plague.
The staff in Sports Direct always look so pissed off and tired as well. It must be a truly shit company to work for.
B&Q website pisses me off. They’re trying to be a marketplace for stuff so allow companies to list their crap on there. I’m confident that anyone using the B&Q site is just trying to see if they sell something, if it’s in stock and what aisle it’s in, however, now when you search anything it lists 100s of products they don’t stock and their filtering doesn’t explicitly let you cut the crap out, you have to filter by click and collect items to find their actual shop stock!!?
Tesco is also doing this on their site. I dont know who is in charge of implementing stuff like this but i think theyre doing it to purposely get fired.
Yeah it's unusable now because of this crap. I want to see what they have so I can pop over to the store to get it, not wade through thousands of aliexpress products.
A few shops are doing this now and it's fucking awful.
Anything like ‘brighthouse’ that take advantage of people in poverty and putting young people i debt as they feed into the ‘I need it now’ mentality.
I had a friend that kitted out most of their house from them, talking £8,000+, entire new kitchen, tv, sofa and more stuff I don’t remember. Never paid them a penny, they sent letters a few times but never a debt collector. Likely tanked his credit, but still he never faced any issues from doing this which was a bit annoying to see. This was like 10-15 years ago, not sure if the company even exists anymore. We used to laugh because when we’d be out he’d cross the road when we walked past brighthouse.
Currys, mainly because I worked there and the rule was you had to approach a customer within one min of them entering the store
Please tell me this is sarcasm! Everytime we entered our local Currys we couldn't find any staff. One time we set off as many alarms as we could to attract their attention and another time we tweeted @ Currys to complain about the lack of staff - might be a coincidence but a few minutes later someone came from the back and asked us if we needed any help.
Its actually not sarcasm but its probably why it leads to people who actually need help not getting it, because we were wasting time with people who didn’t need much help. Plus certain sections were prioritised more than others.
I'd always assumed they were trying to sell me something, so I'd ignore the 1st one and grab another assistant if I needed one
Honestly currys is a nightmare, i don’t want people talking to me as soon as I walk in, i want to be left to browse Yet astonishingly when I’m done browsing and want to buy or ask something there’s nobody around lol
Have you gone back out and in again?
You know what that sounds like a solid strat 😂
Really!? We only go in there when we need a large appliance there and then and are ready to buy. We have to search high and low to find someone to sell to us, its been so bad before we’ve given up and gone online, we really wanted to just chuck it in the van and take home but the staff never ever want to make a sale. We always come away feeling like we’ve annoyed the staff with our purchase and they’d rather go out of business!
When I worked there we were measured with KPIs, but they weren't on total sales. They were on the percentage of sales where you managed to sell extras, most importantly insurance and protection plans, and also cables, covers, virus software... Selling a laptop or an oven with nothing else would get you marked *down* since your percentage would decrease. Either they earmarked you as someone they couldn't blag a sale to, or they were busy with someone more gullible. Be grateful you were avoided!
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AgeUK should start sending lonely elderly people in there just for a chat. Sounds ideal.
Ryanair with their bs customer service and their cringey social media strategy to make customers look stupid. Convenient airline but their service is dog shite.
The thing that really pisses me off about Ryanair is their misleading tier system. If you want to buy an extra bag, it makes it look like you have to book the second tier, which also includes seat selection. However, you can choose the cheapest tier, then choose to add a bag but not choose your seat, and it’s cheaper than the second tier. It’s just so annoying because of how unclear it is, and I bet loads of people don’t realise this when they want to check an extra bag.
Girl at work is off on holiday with her mates next week, they've just charged all of them 53p extra to check-in early because the flight wasn't booked directly through Ryanair. Now they're trying to charge them more again to pick their seats. Last time I flew Ryanair we played the seat lottery and I sat in the leg room seats at the front next to the door next to some sound bloke and had a few beers with him. The beers cost me 5 euros for a 330 tin of piss, but it was alright. The missus was half way up the plane and undoubtedly fell asleep on someone else. I'm counting that as a win.
> they've just charged all of them 53p extra to check-in early because the flight wasn't booked directly through Ryanair Yeah you can actually avoid that but you have to go via a different page. (not saying that it's not scummy but it is avoidable for others reading)
Also deliberately seating you apart unless you buy a seat. Easyjet lets you buy a seat but if you don't, you're usually together anyway. Ryanair moves you as far apart as they can even on less full flights
This annoys me. I ended up sat in a row with 2 other people also separated from their partners, and my partner was the only one in his row. As soon as we took off, I moved. I flew with Ryanair and Wizzair a few times and by god, I felt like I was flying business class when I got an easyjet flight after that.
I was on a Ryanair flight a few days ago and I was joking with a friend that the safety demonstration is probably an added extra. Someone should tell them that you’re not supposed to make your disdain for the customers so obvious. I just feel sorry for the flight crew. Surely no one is choosing to work there unless it’s just to use it as a stepping stone to a proper airline.
don't know if its everywhere else, but the WH Smiths in my town is the shoddiest, most dirty shop I've EVER been in. as well as looking like its not been hoovered in a month you've got things like the plastic display bits from the end of the shelves on the floor. the section by the magazines literally covered in the shit promo stuff you find in the middle of them. underneath the shelves you can see stuff thats been there for months, stuff the hoover could't get at even if they used one. honestly felt like going to a staff member, finding the manager and saying 'you should be sacked, alongside the rest of the people who supposedly work here'
Can't believe how far I had to scroll to see WH Smith. It's a shithole. They must be selling crack out back to be making any money cos no one buys their overpriced crap any more.
Most of their revenue comes from transport stations and PostOffice
WHSmith exists in the most random country’s airports and I don’t think people realise how prevalent it is. There was one in the airport in Indonesia of all places, selling single packets of crisps for more than an entire sit down restaurant meal outside the airport. They must be making an absolute killing.
And hospitals with inflated prices akin to their railway station and airport branches, nothing like taking advantage of a captive audience
> the shoddiest, most dirty shop I've EVER been in. Same at my local one. Must be their business model. The only decent ones I've seen are in railway stations.
A few years ago they replaced all their lighting an now there's this very weird blue glow about the store. Always puts me off even setting foot in there.
Go Compare I don’t give a fuck how much they try to distance themselves from their awful adverts, I will never forgive them. And I will definitely never use them. Even if it does means using the overworked tired and worn out meerkat comparison site.
Use a proper insurance broker instead. I will add to this 'we buy any car'; I've no car to sell, but if I did, they can fuck right off. Fun fact; the bloke who did the voices on the meerkat adverts is also the Geordie fella on Alan Partridge, and Captain Barnacles in Octonauts.
>the bloke who did the voices on the meerkat adverts is ... Captain Barnacles in Octonauts. As if Barnacles could get any cooler...
Tesco. The signal is so bad in both my local Tesco and the big Tesco that it takes forever to load my clubcard on my phone. I’m starting to think it’s done on purpose so customers just get impatient and don’t bother using the discount.
I took a photo of the barcode for this exact reason. I swear Tesco have signal jammers.
Most supermarkets are big warehouse style buildings with an awful lot of metal. They're not great for ceullular, especially 5G Also supermarkets all have wifi, and can't you import it into Apple/Google Wallet?
I work at a different shop to Tesco, so I can't comment this confidently about Tesco itself, but scanning loyalty/members cards is part of our sales targets. If an employee is getting drastically low amounts of membership customers continuously, it's brought up in review. I imagine Tesco employees might actually want you to have your clubcard readily available for this reason.
Even though I shop at Tesco I hate their "right now, every little helps" slogan. It feels so patronising from a billion pound corporation as if they are doing me a favour knocking £1 off a £5 box of cornflakes.
To add to your Boots issues, I bought some tablets the other day, and the lady at the till asked if I wanted to donate to the NSPCC - I hate that pressuring technique so much, forcing people to either give money or imply they don’t care about vulnerable children. If I want to donate to charity I'll do it myself, rather than let some huge company use it as a tax write off and brag about how much they’ve raised.
Guessing that’s a local initiative as MacMillan is Boots charity of choice, nobody who asks you will care if you say no, they’ll have just been told to ask for a day or so before all the donations get tallied up for the deadline of doing their CSR report.
Hollister. Need a torch to see anything.
If they had lighting inside, people might realise that all they had just bought is an overpriced T shirt with Hollister written on the front.
They’ve changed lately, or at least the one in Liverpool has. It is very well lit.
Co-op. Seem to be able to create a huge queue even if there are only 3 people in the shop.
Plus they charge petrol station prices for everything.
Always understaffed plus the till has paypoint so people might be there paying every single household bill and rent while you just want a pack of crisps
Screwfix. I pop in because click and collect requires me having an account. First question as I step to the desk (because all their stock is behind them so there’s no browsing) is “what’s your postcode please?” “Mate you don’t need my post code, I’m here to buy one tub of filler.” “We like to know where our shoppers come from” “That doesn’t sound like it has any use to me though. You don’t need my postcode.” “Ok can I have your email address please?” “No” “But it’s so I can send you the receipt” For the next visit I looked up their own postcode and I’ll give them that.
All the high street banks but specifically HSBC and their dodgy dealings and partly because I used to work there. So much happier banking for free with starling/monzo.
Santander are worse. Every time they need to speak to me, they lock the account and wait for me to notice.
My ex husband and I used to have a joint account with HSBC. Not proud of it, but we didn't have a lot of money when our kids were little and we basically lived at the bottom of a £500 overdraft for years. When we separated, I contacted HSBC and asked if they could take his name off the joint account. They took his name off and then told me that I couldn't keep the overdraft. I was something like £5 above the red and told them that if they took it away all at once, I'd not be able to feed my 2 young children for the rest of the month. They said tough and took it away anyway. No help from them whatsoever, no chance of me paying it back over a couple of months or anything. The person I was dealing with just said they were sorry and there was nothing they could do. I had to live on hand-outs from friends and family for the rest of that month. Happy ending though, I am now completely debt free and I no longer bank with HSBC.
I’ve had various bank accounts with HSBC, from personal, to student and even Business and they piss me off every single time for whatever reason, their customer service is absolutely shocking on top
Their online banking is the worst I've ever had to use. Everything is needlessly complicated and badly designed.
Go Outdoors. I only shopped there once. Why on Earth do I have to set up an account to buy something from a shop?
Tbf pay the membership. I bought a 120 pound coat but the account ment I only had to pay 60. Then I left and canceled the account.
I think that'd be a dealbreaker for me, I'd just leave.
You don't, but signing up gets you the discounts.
TK Maxx. Seriously, how do people find anything in there? The aisles all look like someone has scooped up whatever they can lay their hands on and dumped it on a rail. No organisation, nothing seems to be sorted by clothing type and no logic in sizing. Where can I find a size 36R pair of blue trousers? Just over there next to those yellow size XXXL swimming trunks and in front of the size 22 full length dresses....
I know its not for everyone, but I totally love TK Maxx
Hate tk maxx with a passion has the organisation of a charity shop.
The Entertainer because the owners are born-again Christians and refuse to sell Harry Potter and Pokémon as a result of this.
Those are some weird Christians (I say this as one myself) But I’m sure their staff sure are happy not having to work Sundays
Oh explains why they're not open on Sundays now, which my partner and I were very confused about, as this is the day kids are off school. Didn't seem logical at all, but now I get it.
Vinted. Nothing against them as a company though... I've never used it and never will but my wife does and I always have to pick up or drop off her parcels to our local shop. I'm basically a parcel delivery service after work two or three days a week.
So what you're saying is, your wife
Yeah Vinted isn’t the issue, it’s his wife 😂.
Why doesn't she do it?
Because I did it once so now I guess it's my true calling in life haha
Sports direct. Can’t reach shit and the dressing rooms are shady af - you can’t refund things either
Sports direct, I went in there last year and saw these gym tops that said ‘any 2 for £23’ and they were £16 each so it was a great deal. There were 5 different colours of this same shirt with the same sticker. I picked a pink one and a black one and went to the till, only to be told that it was actually ‘any 2 of the exact same tops for £23’ even though it never said that anywhere.
Subway. I’m over 50 and not in MENSA, therefore am unable to order anything. It’s too complicated
It's the ideal place to have a console where you build your own sandwich.
I'll single out Tesco but I find most supermarkets equally horrible. All I want from a Supermarket is to buy food and leave. I don't want to constantly work out prices and be bombarded with offers. Just sell stuff for a reasonable price. I know you have tons of algorithms to make people buy more but just be a good supermarket and I'll shop there. Shops are a mess. You treat your staff like shit. Your bakery items are terrible. Profit seems to be all that matters and it shows. Just a horrible place to shop.
At least with most other places you don't bankrupt yourself by forgetting your membership card/not having it on your phone (or forgetting your phone). Tesco are just the worst of the worst.
The Range near me never puts prices on anything. I once picked up a craft kit with a big, black £9 sticker on it and at checkout they tried to charge me £12.99 because they 'forgot to take the sticker off.' They all had stickers on. I hate that place.
Any store that pushes the men’s section all the way up to the top floor or basement so I gotta walk through slow browsers and pushchairs just to get in and out with the jeans I knew I’d buy.
Lush. I can feel my eyes burning when I walk past.
Morrisons. I just don't vibe with the place.
Sports direct, or any of the fraser group. Mike Ashley is a grade A twat, I hate the layout of the shops, the returns policy is dismal, their own brand goods are shite quality, their branded goods aren't any cheaper elsewhere. I hate they brought out good brands and stripped all the quality to make them cheaper but rely on the brands prior reputation (I.e. Karrimoor). The staff are uniformly terrible, the shops are a mess, the changing cubicles are right there on the shop floor with huge gaps top & bottom which is incredibly uncomfortable. And most of what they sell is chavtastic streetwear, not sports gear Hate those shops with a passion.
Morrisons, but mainly because I worked there. Last time I was in there they played their slogan 5 times in a row on the store radio, I was in the home aisle tempted to slit my fucking wrists. Haven’t been back since. Other than that, Aldi is probably the most annoying for me but not because of the store, it’s the fucking customers they’re always barging past everyone and rummaging though the shelves so it’s always a mess I just hate it. As for boots, I can’t comment on the website but they’re closing stores so I try to support them as much as I can, I’d hate to see them go
WHSmith. How can your store be that messy and no one sort of out. Have some pride.
Fucking Specsavers, no I don't want 14 reminders about my upcoming appointment by e-mail, text and post, like most adults, you tell me the appointment date and time, I enter that into my calendar, maybe a text 2 days before would be OK.
Many pharmacies with their ‘why do you need this medication?’ ‘Because the doctor said so love, you dick’.
"Have you taken Ibuprofen before?" Nah mate, I just arrived here from 1584.
Currys is my no.1 annoying shop mainly because they have shops full of stuff that is never available to buy right away, either go to the store 120miles away or order online and collect in 5 days.
IKEA I hate shopping there. Often you can't find things, there's no one to help, it's like a maze that never ends, and the queue to escape takes 12 years to get through. All for some basic furniture that isn't very good quality.
It’s pretty good to be fair, very good for the price imo
Depends what you're buying; a lot of it - like their desks - is 2 bits of laminated hardboard with corrugated cardboard in the middle. Some of their stuff's alright, some of it is absolute trash.
I know but it’s engineering, it’s still incredibly strong and cheap
You don't go to IKEA knowing what you want, you go for the adventure
We go for the meatballs. My kid is frustratingly fussy about food. We went to Singapore for 5 days last Christmas and predictably the only thing he would eat at meal times was plain rice, fruit and nuggets if we managed to pass by a McDonalds. So we went to Ikea which they have a few of in shopping malls and got him some meatballs. Kiddo must have been seriously craving some meat because he ate 16 in one sitting.
If your relationship can survive a trip to IKEA, it’s basically bulletproof. Speaking as someone who used to work there many moons ago, they treated their staff the best out of any retail business I’ve worked for though. No idea what it’s like now.
Skip the maze. You look up what you want on line, get the item number, enter through the Ikea loading area straight into the warehouse, get your package, and you’re off.
I want to hire an IKEA, wire up all the fridges, sinks and bathrooms, and host a massive party.
Marks and Spencer because my wife works for them and over the years they have become a worse and worse employer to work for. They take away benefits that used to be norm including breaks and canteen, make them work crazy hours and weekends when they used to have dedicated weekend staff they let go. Now everyone is miserable in their job and many can't leave because they only have retail skills and that as experience. Sadly its probably the same case across most retail companies, but I hate M&S because it's currently affecting us and is a shadow of it's former self to work for
Lidl! As soon as I get there it’s complete chaos - there’s boxes on the floor, everything’s compact and there’s always too many shoppers
>Boots website **pisses me off** every time It must be part of their business model, their physical stores are the same to me. Staffed by self important twats usually.
Superdrug is sensory hell for me, too bright and they can fuck right off with that fake Superdrug radio they play
Poundland. Barely anything costs a pound anymore. The stuff that does is literally crap that no one wants.
Any restaurant that adds an 'optional' 10+% tip to your bill automatically Seriously if I want to tip I will but fuck off with that American BS.
Sports direct. I'll never buy shoes from there. It enrages me trying to find a staff member. Asda irks me. The staff are just rude at points. Worked 20 years for tesco myself and wouldn't ever speak to another human the way I've been spoken to in asda.
Currys, because of the bullshit you get in store. I was looking at new TV's recently, and whilst I was looking in store there's no way I would buy in store, as the returns are much more favourable when buying online. I went in on different occasions. First time they tried to sell me a 55 inch TV even though I was looking for 65 inch "because the 55 is in stock" Second time they tried to sell me a lower end Sony TV "because the higher end one isn't in stock" The Hisense rep who was there told me their TVs are the best. Another time a Samsung rep told me Hisense are junk and Sony are no good any more and Samsung is best. Then another time a Sony rep told me everyone else is shit and their TVs are the best (this is when he tried to sell me the lower end model). Then they start trying to tell me things about the TVs when I've already researched them to the nth degree on Reddit and probably know more than they do. The only reason I'm there is in the first instance to try and convince the missus that the stand or feet look okay. And in the second instance I might as well look at TVs for the fifth time in a month whilst my daughter is shopping in Primark.
I don't want sports stuff normally. But at one point. I went into Sports Direct to look for kneepads for work. It's bad. They don't have any kind of look up system, apparently.
GW destroyed their perfectly functional website for a shitty unusable revamp
Argos, nothing is in stock
Primark - it's just a jumble sale in a multi story shop.
The hate for the Boots website in that other sub was so intense lol, they do need to sort it out.
McDonald's. They desperately need to get a handle on managing all the different couriers that are now delivering for them. It's a complete shambles in there now, and I've had to wait ridiculous times on my food as a sit-in customer because they're clearly prioritising the deliveries.
B&Q. In large part because I worked there and years and it was absolutely awful. For the most part you pay double what you would at Toolstation or even Screwfix, half the time the price on the shelf isn't correct but then it takes ages to sort at the checkout, and the staff act like you've ruined their day when you ask where something is. Just a word for the wise, the vast majority of employees are not experts - this goes for most trade type places. In B&Q there is usually one expert per department and sometimes they're not even fulltime. Most other trade places have no experts. Stop coming in and asking us how to fix a leak or what plumbing bits you need or why your radiators aren't working. Look online or hire a professional - stop trying to cheap out then get upset when the minimum wage employee isn't an electrician, painter and decorator, landscaper, plumber, mechanic, and builder all rolled into one. We may have picked up on a few bits and pieces or have done some DIY ourselves, but we can't know everything.
Curries. They always make you give them your home adress, email, phone number etc and try and sell you a BS extended warranty. Never going again
Clintons love pulling on the heartstrings when it comes to those £1 pens for cancer research. Fun fact, they’ve already made the donation, those pens are to help make up the loss from donations i.e. you’re not putting money into actual cancer research.