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Arkwright - The Independent Voice
Having finally got the refurbishment of the flat above the shop completed and appreciative new tenants moved in we misguidedly envisaged regaining some free time. Far from it: the shop burglar alarm started playing up causing broken sleep as we were called out at random hours during the night, my Dad asked me to attend some hospital appointments with him, the car broke down and the cat needed regular trips to the vet. All appears to be back on track now and my Dad didn't seem to notice I took him to the vet instead of the hospital for one check up.
I was particularly busy that day and the vet is so much closer than the hospital, probably more expensive but at least I saved some time. When I wasn't attending to all that I just managed to earn a living in the shop.
I don't mind leaving messages on answer phones for my friends as I can't expect them to wait in all the time on the off chance they'll get a call from me; hopefully their lives are a little more exciting than that, but in business answer phones are just another frustration. It is understandable that "all our operators are busy" now and again so I wasn't too fazed when, after pressing various options, the trails ended at answer phones for calls to place orders with two major brands. Things would have been OK if they'd rung me back but 24 hours later I'd heard from neither of them. I called both again and again I followed the paths to answer phones. A further 24 hours goes by without the courtesy of a returned call from either. Presumably I wasn't the only one they didn't bother to call; indeed was anyone getting answered by the "busy operators" when they rang? The world appears to be heading towards recession and some people wonder why. Both companies to which I refer used to pick up their calls promptly, give accurate information on stock availability and goods would arrive at my door within a few days. It was only when I left a fairly demented message for one of them that I finally got a response, the other one I can't be bothered to try doing business with anymore. It is a complete tragedy the way some excellent companies are destroyed by takeovers and makeovers. While those poor souls further down the chain probably lose their jobs you can be sure those at the top cream off more than their fair share as they "restructure". The financial changes and fallouts have extremely long talons.
According to a BBC website Northern Rock began life 150 years ago as the Northern Community Fund formed by a group of shopkeepers, they must be turning in their graves when they see what has become of it through greed and globalisation. Its charitable arm, the Northern Rock Foundation claims to have given away millions of pounds to good causes (while the parent company simply lost millions by appallingly bad management!). The Foundation's website states, "Our current objectives are to tackle disadvantage and to improve the quality of life in North East England and Cumbria". They'll have their work cut out with the redundancies that look likely. With the Government now funding Northern Rock presumably that means the Government is sponsoring Newcastle United as well as some other major sports clubs in the northeast. If only it was as easy for small clubs to have such a safety net for their sponsorship. Volunteers, all over the country, give a lot of time to running excellent youth teams on a shoestring and have overly complex time consuming forms to complete for relatively small lottery grants to keep themselves solvent. I don't have any ill feeling personally to Newcastle United and others sponsored by Northern Rock but is it fair on the rest of society now the Government have put themselves in the driving seat and the tax payers are footing the bill?
Footwear and clothing is often unisex but if manufacturers have foolishly put ladies' or men's on the swing ticket or box description of items that could easily be worn by either gender I now remove such incriminating classification when goods are delivered; some people, particularly blokes, are sensitive to the idea of cross-dressing and I don't wish that to be an excuse for losing a sale. However, my inability to remove the word netball has lost me a lot of sales. Mitre produces a reasonably priced blue netball that I could have sold dozens of times over as a football if only it didn't have the word netball stamped on it. Clearly the design appeals to lads of all ages and there is obvious disappointment when they realise they have chosen a netball instead of a football - to say nothing of the jokes and laughter from their mates. Mitre - any chance you can lose the word 'netball'?
I don't know which way to turn at the moment; supplies of compasses seem to have dried up and I don't know which direction to look in next. Perhaps I'll just tell customers to get lost when they ask for one. What's caused the shortage of this useful gadget? Further comment would probably be pointless so I'll resist any further puns this month and simply wish you a good Easter. As the bank holiday falls mid-March this year let's hope it's an early kick-start to a good summer season!
