Good News stories

[gurnemanz]

I wouldn't join any forum which would have me as a member.

[french frank]

I wouldn't join any forum which would have me as a member.

"And thus expired the entire forum industry" - to paraphrase Frances Trollope .

[Serial_Apologist]

It is what it is and there is no doubt about the care, patience, fortitude, endurance, forbearance, devoting of time and erudition of the drummer who owns the drum....boom boom I say bravo...

And in any case my daddy's bigger than your daddy - so there!

[oddoneout]

In my experience, self-checkouts can involve just as much human interaction due to the unreliability of the check-out technology - bar codes so poorly printed or placed that they do not read, etc.

I had the full human experience today. Tesco at midday(wouldn't normally be there at that time, but plans go awry sometimes) was doing its usual understaffing of the tills, such that the queues were building up to the point of blocking the aisle. Most of it was trolleys which the selfservice doesn't deal with, so me standing there with a basket was targeted by an assistant to move me into self-service. She pre-empted my refusal, after checking I intended to pay by card, by saying "I'll scan your shopping for you". I had expected that she would just stand beside me to prompt what I needed to do, but no, she did indeed scan all my shopping through(and had a couple of glitches along the way with labels not being read, which I thought would happen as they were all crooked and folded over, but her magic override card solved that) and packed it in my bags. Wasn't completely trouble-free as the machine wasn't too keen to read my card and then wouldn't give a receipt as the roll was jammed. Now if I could guarantee getting that service each time I would be happy to leave the manned tills...

[groovydavidii]

Re. 587. FF your squeamishness understandable, but think glaucoma, blindness, various eye treatments, trabeculectomy for instance, then anticipate positive medical advances leading from that pioneering eye transplant, it bodes well for future generations afflicted with eye problems, and that is good news…

[french frank]

Re. 587. FF your squeamishness understandable, but think glaucoma, blindness, various eye treatments, trabeculectomy for instance, then anticipate positive medical advances leading from that pioneering eye transplant, it bodes well for future generations afflicted with eye problems, and that is good news…

Quite agree. And if I needed such an operation I'd just have to conquer my fear. And my constant attitude that if such a procedure is to go wrong it will be on MEEEEE ...

[Serial_Apologist]

I had the full human experience today. Tesco at midday(wouldn't normally be there at that time, but plans go awry sometimes) was doing its usual understaffing of the tills, such that the queues were building up to the point of blocking the aisle. Most of it was trolleys which the selfservice doesn't deal with, so me standing there with a basket was targeted by an assistant to move me into self-service. She pre-empted my refusal, after checking I intended to pay by card, by saying "I'll scan your shopping for you". I had expected that she would just stand beside me to prompt what I needed to do, but no, she did indeed scan all my shopping through(and had a couple of glitches along the way with labels not being read, which I thought would happen as they were all crooked and folded over, but her magic override card solved that) and packed it in my bags. Wasn't completely trouble-free as the machine wasn't too keen to read my card and then wouldn't give a receipt as the roll was jammed. Now if I could guarantee getting that service each time I would be happy to leave the manned tills...

All of which could have been avoided by just keeping the perfectly "serviceable" existing walk-through check-out with people taking their turn and the lass operating a till. All that has been gained from the customer pov is the off-chance of someone to hand to sort out difficulties that need not have arisen in the first place!

[oddoneout]

All of which could have been avoided by just keeping the perfectly "serviceable" existing walk-through check-out with people taking their turn and the lass operating a till. All that has been gained from the customer pov is the off-chance of someone to hand to sort out difficulties that need not have arisen in the first place!

Indeed and I'm not sure why they now allow the queue situation to get so bad - time was when tills would be opened up to clear the backlog and then the staff would go back to their shelfstacking or whatever. My reluctance to DIY was based on the bad experience a few weeks previously when there was a similar queue build up and time constraints meant I couldn't wait as I would normally have done. First problem was getting into the area as for some reason the main entrance had been blocked with a trolley. The machine threw up so many difficulties with my bag, not wanting to scan, telling me to clear the scan area etc, that after several minutes and just getting 3 items done, when it asked "do you want to continue" as I had taken so long to try and get it to scan an item, I lost it somewhat and said loudly "No I don't", emptied the scanned items back into the basket and walked out.
The irony today was that before going to Tesco for the gluten free baked goods which are the only reason for me to use the shop, I had been in Lidl, (which is next door), and they were busy and had queues building up at the 2 open tills, so they took someone off the shop floor and opened an additional one for a few minutes to clear the backlog, as they do. Problem sorted.

[teamsaint]

Sainsbury’s seem to have ginger wine, full strength for £4.50
Tesco have halved the alcohol content in their own brand and the name brands are about £6.50. None to be found at the german discounters.
Something funny is going on……

[eighthobstruction]

<<<<<Most of the global production of Ginger is harvested in India, followed by Nigeria, China, Indonesia and Nepal>>>>




























Ginger wine is a ginger-flavoured wine produced in the United Kingdom, traditionally sold in a green glass bottle. Ginger is also used as a spice added to hot coffee and tea. On the island of Corfu, Greece, a traditional drink called τσιτσιμπύρα (tsitsibira), a type of ginger beer, is made.

[Bryn]

Sainsbury’s seem to have ginger wine, full strength for £4.50
Tesco have halved the alcohol content in their own brand and the name brands are about £6.50. None to be found at the german discounters.
Something funny is going on……

The most recent bottle of Tesco's own label "Traditional Green Ginger Wine" has 15% alcohol. Are you suggesting it used to be 30%, or has it since dropped to 7.5%?

[Ein Heldenleben]

Sainsbury’s seem to have ginger wine, full strength for £4.50
Tesco have halved the alcohol content in their own brand and the name brands are about £6.50. None to be found at the german discounters.
Something funny is going on……

Coincidentally I spotted that yesterday while searching for stem ginger on their site. I don’t see how they can sell it for £4.50 and pay the alcohol duty tax. It must be incredibly cheap wine - probably undrinkable.
Incidentally Sainsburys fresh ginger is very unreliable - much better from a proper veg seller.

[Serial_Apologist]

Indeed and I'm not sure why they now allow the queue situation to get so bad - time was when tills would be opened up to clear the backlog and then the staff would go back to their shelfstacking or whatever. My reluctance to DIY was based on the bad experience a few weeks previously when there was a similar queue build up and time constraints meant I couldn't wait as I would normally have done. First problem was getting into the area as for some reason the main entrance had been blocked with a trolley. The machine threw up so many difficulties with my bag, not wanting to scan, telling me to clear the scan area etc, that after several minutes and just getting 3 items done, when it asked "do you want to continue" as I had taken so long to try and get it to scan an item, I lost it somewhat and said loudly "No I don't", emptied the scanned items back into the basket and walked out.
The irony today was that before going to Tesco for the gluten free baked goods which are the only reason for me to use the shop, I had been in Lidl, (which is next door), and they were busy and had queues building up at the 2 open tills, so they took someone off the shop floor and opened an additional one for a few minutes to clear the backlog, as they do. Problem sorted.

These had been the very problems I had experienced in using self-checkouts; on one occasion I became so flustered I dropped my bankers cards, only discovering this when I got home. When I returned to the shop I asked had they been handed in, and of course they hadn't, so then there was all the palaver of having to get them cancelled pronto, waiting and waiting for the bank call line to free up. It's all so depressing, on top of everything else. Everywhere you turn today there are delays and unnecessary complications. Just about the only thing that keeps me going and taking my prescription medications is the thought of betraying our forbears who fought and sacrificed to get us the fewer and fewer advantages and benefits we yet have!

[teamsaint]

The most recent bottle of Tesco's own label "Traditional Green Ginger Wine" has 15% alcohol. Are you suggesting it used to be 30%, or has it since dropped to 7.5%?

Dropped to 8%. I had the last 15% bottle in Marlborough, the rest were 8%

[Ein Heldenleben]

I had the full human experience today. Tesco at midday(wouldn't normally be there at that time, but plans go awry sometimes) was doing its usual understaffing of the tills, such that the queues were building up to the point of blocking the aisle. Most of it was trolleys which the selfservice doesn't deal with, so me standing there with a basket was targeted by an assistant to move me into self-service. She pre-empted my refusal, after checking I intended to pay by card, by saying "I'll scan your shopping for you". I had expected that she would just stand beside me to prompt what I needed to do, but no, she did indeed scan all my shopping through(and had a couple of glitches along the way with labels not being read, which I thought would happen as they were all crooked and folded over, but her magic override card solved that) and packed it in my bags. Wasn't completely trouble-free as the machine wasn't too keen to read my card and then wouldn't give a receipt as the roll was jammed. Now if I could guarantee getting that service each time I would be happy to leave the manned tills...

I had a similar positive experience at M and S . In a complete daze I scanned through my shopping and paid the total not getting a receipt. As that figure lodged in my mind it occurred to me that it wasn’t enough. Not fancying tangling with security I ‘fessed up to an Assistant who could have not been more pleasant. She could have checked but just said “we all make mistakes , this is M and S and we’re not worried about it.” Mind you that day they’d just announced 6 monthly profits of £360 mill so they could afford to be generous.