Mary Queen of Common Sense

Well done to the BBC for putting on our screen entertainment in the guise of Mary Portas as Mary Queen Of Shops, and in particular those related to Charity Shops. Really enjoyed it. I found it very entertaining especially as she tried to inspire charity shop workers and other independent shop owners, and in fact whole high street traders to work together to save their businesses and bring back ‘green shoots of recovery’ commentators are talking about.

Surely we’ve all had enough of hum drum, boring, smelly, uninviting and overpriced charity shops in the high street. Mary (bless her) in the course of the series endeavoured to turn such places into vibrant shops which serve the charities better, by making them more money and giving customers a better and more consistent shopping experience all round.

Every one wants a bargain and the WorkHope family are no different. Not having a regular income means that when we are shopping we want good value and are prepared to look around for it. Charity shops though, are usually high on our agenda whether shopping or for that matter, window shopping. We do however expect better from them.

Primark of course can offer clothes cheap, with the likes of TKMess and Peacocks also competing in this market, but all charity shops have the opportunity to sell quality (second hand) goods at competitive prices and raise their game. Come on guys and gals in Charity Shopland, sort it out! It really isn’t rocket science, most of what happens in retail is based on common sense after all.

In the retail sector, the presentation of stock to customers is one thing, another aspect seemingly absent in a number of establishments is Customer Service. It would seem that if you can find staff with product knowledge, a degree of enthusiasm and a grip on the English language you’re well on the way. A smile and eye contact would be a real bonus! Of course I generalise here, but only to make the point… All this said, it really is worth noting that retail is renowned as badly paid and if you are/ or come across a sales adviser (or is it advisor) who appears less than chirpy and positive in their job, it’s because they are often very poorly paid… It’d bring a tear to the eye if you knew how much they are on…

Back to Charity Shops. Hopefully the days of trays of (pre-loved?) paperback books left in the rain outside a charity shop, and black bin bags of donated crud are over. Let’s all see if we can donate better stuff!

Long live charity shops, their (often) hapless volunteers… Long live Mary Portas, good customer service, genuine and fair deals and increased footfall. Retail Sales Advisers? – I salute you.

About this Blog. (Remastered)

Back Catalogue music is often re-issued and Remastered. A quick glance at the back of the cd case will give this away. Familiar tracks are pretty much the same and appear in pretty much the same running order, but tagged on at the end will be a number of ‘Previously unreleased’ tracks which would suggest tunes were clearly not good enough the first time round. How about ‘Enhanced’? Easy, this means subjected to being fiddled with, ruined by an over excited producer or how about the ‘Extended’ version meaning they forgot to turn it off when they went for a cuppa. But I digress…

Thankfully this Blog is not about music publishing. If you are still unemployed, have recently taken ‘voluntary’ redundancy, or had it thrust upon you, this Bloggy experience might still be of interest to you. If not, never mind. Some contributions originally appeared in 2008, (Fiddled with?) but time moves on and this is now updated regularly. (Enhanced).

The purpose of the blog remains unchanged. I hope it continues to give an insight to what it’s like to be out of work, by way of some of my own real life experiences and cause a smile every now and then.

Even though I have occasionally been tempted to think my working days in the Graphic Design industry are over and I’m a hopeless case, these moments are few and I continue to press on, push doors, kick Recruitment agents, network with others, and complete (then submit) the required tediously long application forms for consideration. At the same time I look for openings where I can use my transferable skills.

Thankfully, that’s not the whole deal, there’s a life to be lived and I am still a husband, a dad, with interests and commitments, so I try to maintain an even keel. I still do my bit around the home, the shopping and whatever… and still get onto the computer at least twice a day to job search, chase applications and get frustrated.

We still as a family are blessed to have a roof over our heads, still eat three meals a day, still have clothes, sound minds (!? Yer alright…) we still have issues to address, I still have notebooks in which to record my observations, I still have a mobile phone and a considerable mortgage. I still support the same football team, and am able still to see the funny side of life and unmeployment (at times). I still get annoyed and angry, I still don’t like Man Utd, rice puding and smarmy politicians, I am however growing in appreciation for Charity Shops, Asda and shopping on e-bay.

I may not presently have Work, but I do have Hope… Guess that’s what this is all about really.

🙂

WorkHope (Mr)