At 4pm I went to the Vodafone store to collect an order. There was one customer in the store, and apparently only one staff member. The door was locked, and I waited patiently outside. The staff member could see me there, but made no effort to break off for a minute and let me in. After 5 minutes I knocked on the door, he made some indeterminate gesture, and continued to talk to the customer for a further 5 minutes. I left, and returned at 5.30. There were now two staff members but no customer. The staff ignored me. When I knocked again, one of them told me they had to close the store early, because the 3 shop on the High Road had been raided, and the police were there. When I asked what this had to do with them, he told me that 3 now belongs to Vodafone (erroneous - the recent takeover was of EE, not 3) and that therefore they couldn't let me in. I wasn't best pleased. I can understand the locked door policy, but they will lose a lot of customers if they continue to treat people waiting outside with such disregard.
Robert Fish ● 3d