Tesco have lost the plot on all of the basics of their core trade one of which, as pointed out, is elementary customer service. Sainsburys do seem to have it right though - there are two "mini" supermarkets near where I am, one a Sainsburys Local and a Budgens. From the start all staff in the Sainsbury Local have made a point of clear greetings and farewells, most of the Budgens grunt at you if that much - one rude arse just held his hand out for the money and didn't say a word. Guess which is the more pleasant place to shop? Sainsburys without a doubt. Guess which seem to have the happier staff? Sainsburys as well - just the basics of human interaction seem to be keeping the Sainsburys staff in a better mood (and overheard conversations seem to reflect this as well). It's also interesting to note that Sainsburys have audio recording at their tills which could help to enforce this as well as I suspect that it's a concerted effort from Sainsburys rather than just staff initiative.
[from inside sources] Where Tesco also fail is that their head office is an utter shambles with a lot of reportedly quality staff leaving for nicer places. The staff that seem to be sticking around are those who brown nose their way everywhere and those with no interest in anything much other than their own personal status quo. They're promoting the wrong staff into the wrong places with inexperienced (e.g. cheap) staff in critical roles (some departments are known locally as "the creche" as a result), devaluing good and / or experienced staff until they leave and the result is an impending growing mess that'll likely implode soon enough. On top of this they are also attempting to offshore as much of their core operations as possible, which as we all know works so well when you add in even cheaper staff, language and context issues and a few thousand miles of not giving a shit.
It could be that somebody with a clue has taken over at the top and is savvy enough to spot the problems and how to fix them by establishing a focus on their core business.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
