So it's one week until Christmas and I happened to be passing by Highcross in my home town Leicester and was lured in by a black jumper in the window display with sparkle on the elbows teamed up with faux leather leggings, my perfect look! Of course once in there, black was everywhere and before I could take a breath, I found myself in Zara, having collected six pieces on the way round the store without even thinking. The queue was quite long as everyone else had the same idea as me, black and more black, but they only had one sales person on hand at the till who happened to be new with no idea how to deal with the maths, let alone the customers, bless her.

At the end of the long counter the store manager was giving staff induction to six people, all new and all on mobile phones, which seemed really stupid at 2pm with a queue of customers desperate to spend and getting more frustrated by being kept waiting to pay. I decided to speak up and challenge the thinking behind the store manager as to why she would do training instead of taking money off customers? She abruptly told me there were free empty tills upstairs in the men’s department if we did not wish to wait which made most of the queue, including me see red.

I replied on behalf of my fellow shoppers and reminded the store manager, it was her who should be accommodating her customers, not the other way around and she should stop her induction and give her staff the chance to learn under real pressure in a busy store. She stood her ground flashing me a bad look simultaneoulsy indicating her authority to the long queue which soon became much shorter,  four people  immediately put their intended much loved items to be purchased, back.

I have no idea how such a thing could happen when retail is struggling and Christmas is a week away so big lesson to brands, the customer is your business and always right even when they are wrong, especially if you want their loyalty these days. 

Updated 22nd May, 2020

I cannot say I have never been back but this experience did put me off, to be honest the offering has become so disappointing over the last few years even the very best customer service wouldn't have helped to get me back.

Since writing Inditex, Zara's parent company have been exposed in the press for firing disgruntled garment workers during the Corona Virus Pandemic when they complained of unsafe working condition and inadequate provision of PPE for workers.

Photo by: Yuriy Trubitsyn