Speak like a John Lewis shop assistant to get on in life.

With shame I realise that I haven't posted this blog and had a discussion about speaking and accents. Here is the link

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/5445473/Teenage-shop-assistant-told-to-go-to-John-Lewis-to-learn-how-to-speak.html

The gist of the article is that a young female shop assistant of an aspirational gentleman's clothing store complained that one of their assistant's didn't present herself effectively. This was particularly with her speech. They suggested she observed how shop assistants at John Lewis spoke to customers.

Now, I have no idea how this shop assistant speaks and I have no idea how she interacted with customers. However, I do know that there are shop assistants and shop assistants, and those that I buy from interact with me as a human being; they have eye contact with me; they are pleasant and are interested in providing me with what I want. I am courteous to them and the whole experience of buying is a positive one.

If I receive customer care from someone who is disinterested; grunts at me; does the bare minimum; expects the maximum returns for minimum effort; is stroppy; tuts (or worse); aggressive; body language is disinterested or confrontational - I don't buy from them.

My decision is not based on the person's accent, but on their friendliness and willingness to interact with me.

I just wonder what this young woman's personality and attitude was towards customers?

Live and learn.