There is something about being in a small town. That lovely sense of community, the way everybody seems to know everybody. And the people in the streets seem to smile more, they are more peaceful and serene. None of them are rushing to their next big appointment. And you can see it in their driving. Nice and peaceful.
But, there is a big spanner in the works. The service in big towns, though not great, you end up knowing where to go, if you are looking for great service. You want great service, stay away from Shoprite, go to Checkers. \they are part of the same chain, but they don't spend a cent on trying to keep the Shoprite stores clean, nobody is surprised if they see a rodent or a roach at a Shoprite store. And, service is a word that doesn't exist in the staff's minds. The only greeting you will get from the lady at a Shoprite till is "Plastic?" And you can rest assured there will be NO packer and you will be packing your own groceries, because...well, the lady at the till is too busy filing her nails, to pack your bags for you.....I challenge anybody to show me a single Shoprite that is any different.
Go to Checkers and it is a completely different world. You are greeted with (at the very least)a forced smile and a mumbled greeting. And there is almost always a packer to assist you. If not, the lady at the till will definitely pack your bags for you. Now, for me it is a no-brainer. I avoid Shoprite like the plague and I love Checkers passionately. They are quite often situated close to one another, so i ask myself; "Why would anybody go shop at a Shoprite store when they have the option of Checkers. Clearly it is a great case of market segmentation. When Checkers advertises, it usually places emphasis on their great variety. Whenever i think of cheese and wine, i think Checkers. Shoprite, on the other hand, will sell NOTHING but price. There is probably no difference in their prices, really. But, the seed has been planted in people's minds that Shoprite is cheaper.
Back to small towns. It REALLY makes no difference which shop you go to, in a small town. You WILL get bad service. Guaranteed. I have even received bad service at Woolies in Nelspruit. WOOLWORTHS! I always thought that Woolies has a training second to none. And that they have managed to develop some kind of gene testing which teaches their staff to be perpetually polite and friendly, but somehow Nelspruit dropped the ball. Hell, i have even received amazing service from Woolies in Phalaborwa. A dusty little two street mining town managed to far surpass Nelspruit. Shame on you, Nelspruit.
One thing i picked up in Nelspruit was that ALL the black people (yes...i have to go to the race thing) gave the worst service. Seriously. Everywhere i went, i got nothing but surly faces of people who really don't want to be there. The white folk were, on the whole, not that different either...UNTIL they hear you speak "good" English. Then they immediately think "Wait, this darkie sounds educated, so maybe he has money...let me be nice!" And although this is far from ideal, at least it tells me one thing; They know what side their bread is buttered. They understand that this customer is who pays their salary in the end. So, they at least pretend to give a damn about you. I swear, we walked into a Vodacom shop in Nelspruit, because Boo was looking for accessories for her Blackberry Playbook. She walks in and asks this chap and his immediate response was "No we don't have..." Then, clearly he did a double take and thought; "Hang on....... TOURIST!" Suddenly he was falling all over himself, finding as many accessories as he could lay his hands on for us. Gave us Brilliant service after that.
However, in the midst of all this indifference, we found an oasis of amazing service. The guesthouse that we stayed at; "Nel's River Guesthouse And Spa".....Exemplary. I will be writing a full report on this one shortly. With pics. I would recommend this place to ANYBODY going to the Nelspruit area.
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