i just had quite a bad experience at the NUS co-op this afternoon. we were buying textbooks and some stationary there. as my friends HY and YX didn't bring enough cash to pay for the books, i volunteered to pay for them using my NETS card.
so i proceeded on with the payment and flashed the NUS Co-op member card. everything was fine till YT who was behind me wanna buy another textbook and she wanna pay herself. i passed her the NUS co-op card at the counter and the cashier immediately went a little crazy.
" no sharing of the member card ! " she exclaimed.
ok. some places don't allow such things so i stepped in and volunteer to pay for her and still use my card and had all under my bill.
" no. cannot. ur bill is already settled. no sharing of member card. she is a student of NUS and she can enjoy 5 % off." cashier continued to uphold her stand
" but members are entitled to 10 %" i argued.
"it wont make a difference" she uphold her stand.
i was thinking since it didn't make a difference, y not let us proceed with using the card? YT didn't really wanna argue further and decided to make her payment. it turned out that she could have saved her 2 more bucks at least.
as her bill was processed, i passed her the nets machine so that she keyed in her PIN.
then the cashier said, " don't pull too far"
when did nets machine become so fragile ? the distance i pulled was the most the width of a laptop.
to conclude, the services were really bad, like shit. so what she is serving the students only... ? not a single word of thank you or sorry throughout the whole argument. she is just a cashier and not the owner. it is not as if even she would get a 5 dollars pay rise for helping the company save 2 dollars. moreover, the uniform that she was wearing made her seem like a senior staff at the store.
a thumb up for her for upholding company policies and a big zero for her lousy service.
2 comments:
Personally, I find that NUS Co-Op is another example of "unjustifiable price increase" in Singapore, like our public transport. If you compare and contrast with Clementi BookStore, I don't understand why given the following facts, that almost every single books cost at least $3 to $5 more at NUS Co-Op compared to Clementi Bookstore, coupled with the fact that there is a plastic cover given at Clementi Bookstore.
1. Differences in rental fees
I supposed that rental fees is more expensive at Clementi than that located within NUS compound. It makes no sense to charge NUS Co-Op higher rental fees and in turns pass on the costs to students.
While it is true that Central Forum Co-Op occupies a larger area than Clementi Bookstore, it is also and should be a fact that rental fees per unit area of Co-Op is lesser than Clementi.
2. Same costs and sources in purchasing textbooks from.
One module I took last semester pointed out to me that they actually order the same textbooks from the same publisher/source. The textbook for FNA2004 Finance.
Actually, if they buy textbooks from different sources and that for the same text/publisher, Clementi buy from a cheaper source somewhere, why would NUS want to buy from a more expensive source and pass on the "savings" to students.
3. Headcounts of employees
Based on my observations, both have around the same number of employees.
4. Co-Op Membership
Nus students automatically got a 5% discount but the greatest joke is that after purchasing another membership that got 10% discount, it is still more expensive by more than $1 (for most texts that I know) than Clementi which doesn't require any membership.
5. Greatest Joke
During my year 1, Co-Op put up a large billboard stating that they are committed to lower prices than found elsewhere.
They hid away the board now.
Lastly, you can verify the above facts for any texts that you buy next semester.
About the discount, you don't get it if you do not ask for it, whether aware or not.
Esso Petrol stations will ask for my Smiles card, popular will ask if I have a popular card.
That shows how sincere they are in their discount.
And the new plastic bag scheme is totally inconvenient and illogical.
You have to pay 10C if you wish to get a bag, but no discount goes for the majority who put up with the inconvenience of carrying multiple items in their hands.
Effectively, you're still paying for the bag which you don't get anymore.
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