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I can’t remember exactly when all this started, but I can vaguely remember having an inkling that something was going wrong with the world.
For me, it started with shopping. I used to enjoy going into Manchester and having a wander around the various stores picking out a shirt or a new pair of jeans.
Then I began to notice that they never had my size, they would have to ‘order it in’.
Then I noticed that the stores seemed to stop having anything that I wanted.
Then I noticed that the stores were closing down.
Then I noticed that everything I wanted was now ‘online’.
Hmmmm… I don’t really like shopping online.
Restaurants were next.
Top end restaurants that were Michelin starred were offering what they called ‘taster menus’ which at first sounded posh and exciting. This was new and could be talked about with friends – each one trying to outdo the other by the number of courses that they had eaten.
Then lower tier restaurants started to do the same thing and suddenly everyone was doing it.
To me a ‘taster menu’ should allow you to try everything in a mini size – then you should be able to order a full size version of whatever was your favourite.
What taster menus are actually about is reducing waste by dictating what your customers will eat.
Let’s be honest, in most cases when you leave these fancy places giving you a piece of beef that is at most one inch square….you go for a kebab on the way home… because you’re starving.
Hmmmm …I don’t really like taster menus.
Cars.
Now anybody that reads this blog will know I’m a petrol head. Always have been, always will be.
However, of late I’ve been asked to buy my next car ‘online’. I had to go through a ridiculous process called ‘due diligence’ whereby I had to prove I was who I said I was. I had to upload my driving licence, then take a selfie – and low my existence would be proved.
Unfortunately, the computer said ‘no match’ ….26 times.
This from a car company that I had already purchased a car from.
This from a company that was happily already taking monthly payments from me.
So, you know what …. I thought ‘f**k it’ … I really cannot be bothered dealing with this company – I’m going to go to a car company with people that actually meet you and shake your hand and show you a real vehicle …
As you may have guessed I’m struggling to find such a company – so I’m sticking with the cars I’ve got.
These are just examples. But I feel that all have something in common. It’s to do with money. It’s about reducing costs at the expense of customer satisfaction.
It’s about somebody sat at a desk crunching numbers going… ‘If we do away with the store/choice of food/car show room …we will save millions…let’s do it.
So far nobody has asked me what I think.
Maybe it’s just me?
Maybe I’m a dinosaur?
Mike C
