PETS AND THE POOR KEEP OUT!

Last week, there were two Star Diaries on poor customer service, which reminded me of an experience I had at a store in Dhanmondi a few weeks ago that left me quite disgusted. I went to a department store of sorts which also has a clothing section. I wandered over to their saris and asked to look at a few. Next to me, a lady had a large pile of saris she was intending to buy, to which she kept adding new ones every few minutes. Needless to say, all the salesmen were flocking around her trying to impress her, so I tried to browse on my own and picked out a cotton sari that I thought was pretty and reasonably priced. When I requested a salesman to show it to me, he showed no interest in doing so and barely glanced in my direction. After repeating my request a few times and waiting for atleast 15 more minutes, I asked to speak to the store manager and was informed that he wasn't there, and then as if noticing me for the first time, one of the salesmen asked what I needed. When I showed him the sari, he said it's the same on the inside and refused to unfold it, when I insisted on seeing it, he asked, “How many will you buy?” This upset me quite a bit and I angrily asked if they only served customers who bought more than one sari, to which he made no reply and went back to helping the other customer. I walked out of the store fuming and promising myself I will never go back. Sadly however, that will make no difference to them and they will continue to behave this way to the next poor soul who dares to show interest in single, lower priced item, which they probably don't think is worth bothering over.

Reshma Selim
Lalmatia
Dhaka