The customer is always right

Our 'Have a Nice Day' campaign seems to have struck a chord with the readers, writes our News Blogger David Burrows.

We have asked people to suggest shops which offer a polite service after a report suggested Shropshire was one of the least customer-friendly places in Britain. When the people who had carried out the research phoned us to tell us about it I told them where they could stick their survey.

Since then the emails and letters have flooded in suggesting shops that go that extra yard to ensure the customers are served with a smile.

As the son of two people for whom supermarket work was their lives (they even met when my dad worked on a travelling shop and my mum's parents were customers) I know the importance of good customer service.

I spent my summers at home from university working alongside my dad (hiding in the staff room when a bunch of shoplifters offered to beat him up, that sort of thing) and soon realised the value of service with a smile.

Fortunately for the public at large, I didn't follow in my dad's footsteps, as I'm largely as miserable so and so and am much better suited to a job where I can snap at people all day and then blame it on the stresses of deadlines.

But from my short spell on the shop floor I know that most people who work in them have to have the patients of saints to still be able to offer a toothy grin at the end of a day when they have had to deal with screaming kids, vicious complaining customers and just plain muppetry.

So to all the people who are able to keep their heads while replying: "No, sir, I'm afraid you can't buy half a banana. Because it's just not viable, sir. Yes, you're right it is the European Union's fault," we salute you.

Keep up the good work.