TESCO Mutiara Damansara

cheap prices, cheaper manners

If you plan to do a bit of shopping at Tesco Mutiara Damansara (the one adjacent to The Curve), make sure you chuck some old newspapers into your shopping bag. 

Who knows, you may take a fancy at some china or glassware. They do stock up on decently-priced nice pieces there. What they don't have is decently-mannered frontliners. 

The outlet is customer-unfriendly in more ways than one and I am saying this out of experience as a regular patron. I have been frequenting this place from Day One by virtue of my staying in the neighbourhood. 

If Tesco truly want to maintain the goodwill of their customers, they will need to give their frontline staff a refresher course in customer relations. 

Acid-tongued tarts should not be allowed to serve people who come to spend their hard-earned money at your store, Tesco. If you can't live up to the saying 'customer is king',  you have no business running a business. 

I have had two unpleasant encounters with two Tesco staff in just as many months and my patience is wearing thin, to the point of not wanting to patronise the place any more.

I'd rather spend a few ringgit more and be treated with dignity elsewhere - we do have choices, Tesco - than be berated by constipated faces who have forgotten what a smile is.

Last month I bought some mangoes and bananas. After hunting high and low for plastic bags (the off-white, rolled, tear-off kind that they place at certain shelves) and not finding any, I brought the fruits, loose, to the weighing station.    

The dirty look the Malay woman seated behind the weighing machine gave me was an indication of the crap to come. "Ni kenapa tak masukkan dalam beg plastik awal-awal? Bagi tambah kerja saya jer."

I naturally lost no time in responding. "Awak ingat kalau saya jumpa plastic bags saya nak bawak selambak macam ni? Mana pergi semua rolls yang selalunya bergantung kat shelves tu? Berapa banyak shelves dah saya pusing, satu pun takder. Saya pun nak kerja senang jugak!"

What really irked me was that she had pre-prepared a pile of such bags, already rolled open and neatly placed by the side of the weighing machine. Why the need to berate me? Why not just plonk the damn fruits into the bags and be done with it? That was what the already- opened bags was for, right?

Perhaps because this tudung-ed makcik clad in slightly worn clothing looked unsophisticated (cleaner/maid came to mind), she was  a convenient target. I doubt if the worker would do the same to a well-dressed Ahso or foreigner. 

Earlier this week I had another run-in, this time with a cashier. I spied some nice bowls and plates and decided to buy them, so I loaded about 15 pieces into a cart and made my way to a cashier.

Me: "Mintak kertas, dik. saya nak wrap pinggan mangkuk ni."

Cashier: "Kertas takder".

Me: "Kalau takder, pi lah cari kat mana-mana." 

Cashier: "Kita memang tak sediakan kertas."

Me: "Huh? Habis macam mana saya nak bawak balik pinggan mangkuk ni? Kalau tak bungkus, pecahlah dia dalam kereta nanti. You all jual barangan kaca tapi tak sediakan kertas pembungkus?"

Cashier, curtly: "Jangan tanya saya. Saya tak tau. Lagipun orang jarang beli pinggan mangkuk kat sini!"

Me: "Bodohnya jawapan! Mana supervisor awak, saya nak tanya."

Cashier (turning to her fellow cashier instead, and asking: "Ada kertas?" Fellow cashier answered: "Alaaa, suruh aja dia bungkus dengan beg plastik tuuu!")

By this time I was really losing it: "Apa ker jadahnya korang ni? Hari Sabtu bukan main lagi No Plastic Bag Day, suruh orang bawak shopping bag sendiri. Hari lain, nak bungkus pinggan 15 keping, suruh pakai 15 plastic bags. 'Eco' kepala hotak hangpa. Apa punya baghal nih??"

Left with no choice, I took the 15 bags, wrapped my plates (nasib dah bayar, kalau belum, memang sah aku tinggalkan aja) and walked off.

I want to know, apart from 'No Plastic Bag Day' every Saturday, do they practise 'No Kertas Pembungkus Day' tiap-tiap hari? Tesco, tolong jawab sikit? 

layers upon layers of plastic bags for 15 miserable pieces of  pinggan mangkuk, no thanks to  'eco-conscious' Tesco Mutiara Damansara. A real 'mangkuk ayun' state of being...