Buying Cigarettes .....

[RASPUTINS-DOG]

Hello....
My wife was on a shopping spree at waitrose and I asked if she could get me a couple of packets of cigarettes ....
She told me that the person behind the counter wouldn't tell her what cigarettes they had or wouldn't allow her to see what cigarette they had...
She was only allowed to take out the cigarettes asked for....
Is it really becoming this bad...

[Mamyalynne]

They should have a list either on the counter or on the wall nearby.

[MTbowels]

Yep. Seen the same thing happen while I was waiting at the Customer Service desk at Morrisons and no, there is no compulsion for any store to provide a list of what they have for sale either on the wall or the counter.

[PankySmooch]

They're not allowed to have the sliding doors open for more than a few seconds at a time incase a child sees the cigarettes and decides to start smoking!

But it's ok for the staff to stand outside the door and smoke and leave their stinking dog ends on top of the smoking bin

Bloody ridiculous!!!!!

[Mamyalynne]

Only speaking from my experience - if a store wants to lose customers then don't provide a list. My local store does.

[AlwaysConfused]

It's getting ridiculous. The price list in the supermarket is so blinkin small you'd need to take a magnifying glass with you to read the prices. I could understand this is small convenience shops, where you have to pay for all goods at the same counter, but in (most) supermarkets the cigarette counter is just that. It's enough to convince me to be healthy: fill ones trolley with burgers, chip, absinthe and whisky. Must be good for you, because they don't hide those behind shutters!

[boxtops]

It's been like that for ages, rasputin - our Morrisons dont' have any list, they'll only give you what you ask for. Nothing new.

[Prudie]

It may not be readily visible but i thought by law they had to have a price list showing.

[xstitcher]

Is that really true that they hide them behind doors that must be open and shut quickly?

[boxtops]

Perhaps so, prudie, it must be written in ant-size writing....

yes x-stitcher, they slide the doors open to get out the cigs, then quickly close them again.

[Mamyalynne]

With my partial sight I have been known to ask them to read the list to me, it is tiny print. :-)

[gingejbee]

Why a price list? Aren't smokers programmed to pay whatever is asked to sate their addiction?

[boxtops]

You could argue the same about prices of alcohol on supermarket shelves, gingebee.

[xstitcher]

Well now I've heard everything, or as Dot Branning would say...well I never..

[Mamyalynne]

Ni gingejbee, they aren't.

[Mamyalynne]

^ No

[Captain2]

The Morrisons' I work at has a perfectly legible/readable flipover 'book' on the counter of the cigarette kiosk. It lists everything sold with prices. (Most of the customers smoke their regular brand all the time and can tell me which sliding door their choice is behind).

[tonyav]

How will they know which cigs are which if this plain packaging baloney comes into being.

[chrissa1]

The names of the brand will still be on the packets, Tonyav.

[Prudie]

I wondered that Tony but apparently the brand names will still be printed on in a standard font.

[tonyav]

Thanks chrissa and prudie.