Am I more disturbed by the existence of a pink child's bed called "Lolita", or the media hoo-ha that's followed in it's wake?
Actually I'm more disturbed that not a single person in the entire Woolworths organisation is aware of the book or film "Lolita". How can this be? I don't expect everyone to have read the book, or seen the films (to be honest I haven't) but SURELY "Lolita" is a popular culture reference? I know I'm going to sound like my father, but seriously what do they teach people in schools these days?
A spokesman for Woolworth told The Times: “What seems to have happened is the staff who run the website had never heard of Lolita, and to be honest no one else here had either. We had to look it up on Wikipedia. But we certainly know who she is now.”
Wow. That statement didn't come from a humble store-worker not knowing about one of the English language's great pieces of literature. That statement came from a "spokesman" - a person Woolworths entrust as an ambassador of their brand. Personally I've always been rather shy about my ignorance, and, although I use Wikipedia a lot, I wouldn't quote it as an authoritative source...
I'm not going to boycott Woolworths for stocking the Lolita Midsleeper Combi, but this silly-season story has certainly tainted my impression of the quality of the staff at Woolworths. How can I ever trust their judgement about anything? How can I ever trust the quality of their goods? How can I ever trust the opinion of one of their staff? Every aspect of the relationship between a vendor or supplier and a customer is about trust.
Woolworths should sack their ill-educated spokesman. And their staff should read more.
Stu ;-)
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