John Pilgrim: Computer says no, and so do the staff

MY dear old dad used to say “There’s only a week between a good haircut and a bad one” so I am comforting myself with that thought at the moment.

The young man who cut my hair recently was quite an affable fellow and I think that was the problem.

He turned out to be on work experience from college and just wanted to please everyone who worked in the barber shop, as well as all those who where just visiting and that was the problem because he spent more time trying to help everyone than just cutting my ancient, grey locks.

I have to admit that the experience wasn’t as bad as the time when a rather bored young lady spent most of her time changing the channels on the TV in order to find the loudest noise possible.

So hair do complete I returned home to play with my brand spanking new computer and promptly spilled a cup of coffee all over the keyboard!

Sensibly I decided to allow the thing to dry out while I made another cup of coffee and took a walk around the garden. This incident led to a visit to the superstore where I had purchased the computer just after Christmas.

I asked a young chap for assistance in finding a new keyboard he walked off at a very fast pace, which with a walking stick and the sick keyboard I couldn’t keep up with and so I couldn’t hear what he was shouting over his shoulder.

Finally we met up at the keyboard section where I was informed that the store didn’t sell keyboards to fit the computer I had purchased. I suggested that it was poor service to sell machines and not stock replacement parts, the young man began to walk away telling me: “That’s the way the world is mate” and disappeared.

Off I went to the information desk and asked to see the manager and guess what? The same young man turned up!

Needless to say that a somewhat heated conversation ensued and I asked for a complaints form.

Once I got home I found out that PC World does in fact stock what I needed but it appears that the man (boy) didn’t know. How good is that?

And what does it say about our chances of surviving a recession with people like that in positions that require customer relations skills?