Going The Extra Few Miles

Yesterday was a bit of a manic day; taking Seren to school, then went to B&Q for a simple item – a new kitchen tap.  We got to B&Q in the Cyfartha Retail park and had a browse around at the various different kitchen taps on display.

The tap we liked appeared to be out of stock but we wondered if they may have some that haven’t been brought out or may be getting more in.  So, sensibly, I looked around for a member of staff.  After hanging around for just shy of 10 mins looking for a member of staff in the immediate area one wanders by.

Her neanderthal-esque walk confirms that she’s a member of staff and, from the look of her, she’s been hiding with the other staff members in the staff room as she continues to chew whatever is left of her lovely snack while customers go unattended in the B&Q limbo.

“Excuse me!”  I say.  She slowly turns around in the Bruce Willis Die Hard style and looks as happy as a Vietnamese sweatshop worker.  “Do you know if there are any more of these taps in stock or when there may be more in?”  I ask.  “I don’t work this area.  You’re best off waiting by the desk by here for someone to come.”  Sound advice, if you settle for being treated like a twat.  Considering we had spent a significant time waiting around for someone and our knight in black and orange armour turns out to be a mere peasant I expected a better level of service, such as her offering to locate the person that deals with the kitchen area or making an announcement over the store system.

She starts to shuffle off on her journey to whatever her “area” is.  Probably the designated smoking area.  “Fuck it, let’s go” I say just loud enough for her to hear and off we go.

We decide to head up to the industrial estate just behind Asda – we hit the Dowlais roundabout and the queue for the petrol station is insane so I decide to continue down the Heads of the Valley to then come off before Tredegar and double back along the Fochriw road to try and get to the Asda roundabout that way.  As we’re heading along, Lauren suggests we may as well go to the B&Q in Ebbw Vale.

We continue and I turn off into Morrisons having totally forgot we were going there AFTER B&Q which is just a short distance  down the road.  We order breakfast and after about 40 minutes of waiting, it eventually arrives and the typical lacklustre attempt at what would pass as food arrives.  We wolf it down because time is of the essence, not through enjoyment.

Once done, we hit the road but the fuel queue is just as bad.  So I copy what I saw some others do – drove up the wrong side of the road and made my way past the queue.

We arrive at B&Q, head straight to the kitchen section and alas!  The tap is sold out also.  Feeling so deflated after a journey for fuck all, I can’t be assed to talk to a staff member and we leave to come back to Merthyr in time to get Seren from school.

Two instances of shocking service in one day.  Not good when you have high expectations when you work in the customer service environment and always compare to what you would do given the chance.

Due to that grumpy bitch, B&Q have lost a potential sale as I have found a much nicer and cheaper tap on eBay.