Mine would include:
Pharmacy - on the north west side of SGR. The older man with a mop of white hair. Always very polite and courteous.
Sparks - the guy who runs it is always very helpful and full of advice.
Tesco - although 90% of the check out crew are at the best dis-interested and at worst rude, I do like the white haired lady with glasses who tends to work a morning shift. Always smiles, wishes me well and calls me "luv". I think she might be called Brenda. If she isn't, she should be.
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At the other end of the spectrum, there are some right b******s on the tills, and I cheerfully complain to the manager whenever necessary. Well, not cheerfully, actually: I really see red when I meet rudeness, arrogance or carelessness and indifference from the staff, which I reckon we have done far too often. I know there are 2 sides to the story, as I worked in several shops when I was young, but some people ask for it. I am thinking of 1 or 2 characters in particular, although perhaps it would be unfair to describe them; I bet they have run-ins with the public every 5 minutes.
Barbara, the manageress with the long blonde hair, takes complaints very seriously, but is also interested to hear praise for her staff, so I do a bit of both, from time to time. Actually, I get the impression that some of the inbetween characters have been trying a bit harder recently, so perhaps she is making a difference. I hope so; politeness and friendliness make life in Tesco's much pleasanter, for everyone.
Apart from Tesco's, I suppose I know the cafe people in SGR best. They're nearly all lovely - but there are already enough cafe threads on SG.org, so I'll leave it there, for now.
He's the best.
Oh and the young kid at Tesco who is often on the self service tills. He's a ninja when the machines get stuck...
The rest of the staff in Tesco ar droids.
Service around the rest of SGR is pretty special.. never just right, it's either really really shit.. or very very full on.. and almost always laced with mental health issues..
I LOVE N4
I am also a fan of Brenda/Liz at Tesco, and the owner of the newsagents next to Nando's (although now that I know that he gives gifts to other customers my affection is waning a bit). We had a great conversation about the pros and cons of Whisky v Raki once. I still think he underprices the Jura. And the older man at Jai Krishna's, and the guy in X-It. I nearly forgot the guy who runs Venezia.
I also really like the self-service ninja in Tesco, he is very efficient and serious about his job.
Least favourite has to be grumpy man in Mind
I also vote for high-vis man in Tesco. He should be running the place.
And yes the staff are legendary..
I find the service great in these places,
Jack's - incredibly friendly, always keen to have a chat about various subjects and must have the patience of a saint as some of the customers there must be very hard work 'Just getting some beer, I'll pay you tomorrow, yeah?'. One of the brothers is considerably friendlier than the other though.
Old Dairy - one of the lads in there in particular, on requesting a bottle of Pinot Noir he answered, 'Don't bother mate, it's no good, try this instead' - that was a cheaper bottle and a good one. The manager in there is alright too and has the patience of a saint when dealing with the two drunken charged up mockneys who are always at his quiz, I would have chucked them out ages ago.
Dry Cleaners next to Woody's - always very friendly and often offers discounts and has even mended things without being asked.
At the other end of the scale, about a year or two ago Woody's had a late teens/early twenties female shop assistant who must be THE most unfriendly sales assistant in local history.
I like a lot of the staff in Tesco - there's a couple of young guys who do the self service tills who are always really cheerful and helpful, and a black lady with freckles who works on the tills who is super-friendly, always has a joke, and remembers who we are. Never really get any rude service there.
The bald guy in the Nandos-Turkish shop likes to tell my boyfriend that they both belong to the "Baldy Men's Club", much to my boyfriend's mock-horror. I love the guy in there who used to look like an 80s Scouser but has since shaved the tache and cut the hair They're all dead friendly. I also like the guy and young girl who work in the shop up by the florist on the other side of the road.