Has anyone else noticed high street stores are becoming more and more understaffed as time goes on? The only staff I see in-store now is those on the check outs. There's rarely anyone around to ask for help and there's always queues when you're trying to pay.
I work for a large pharmacy chain, taken over in recent years by a US Company. Since they've taken over, they've drastically reduced the number of staffing hours in store but still expect business to grow.
I live rural and a lot of shops locally wouldn't be chains so hadn't noticed this much in other stores. But recently I've been on shopping trips to large cities and have been surprised to see how bad it's became in most stores. I found most of the staff weren't friendly more so in clothing stores. It was much better in supermarkets though. I can understand the staff feeling frustrated at been expected to do the work of two people, bearing the brunt of customers annoyance and also their managers who expect them to cover check outs and complete other jobs simultaneously but I don't understand their rude attitude to polite customers.
Anyway I'm wondering how long these companies can get away with the poor service they're providing. Does internet shopping mean we now have to put up and shut up and this is the future of high street shopping?