Tuesday 2nd October
I suppose everyone is wondering how Emma is going at Chickenfeed. Chickenfeed, in case you don’t live in Tasmania and haven’t been exposed to its SHOUTY presence, is a bright red discount shop. Where everything is CHEAP. And where everything you buy is likely to fall apart very swiftly…Emma, Pete’s lovely young long-term tenant in West Hobart, is a brick. Chickenfeed is not her spiritual home but she is fiercely loyal and protective of the shop.
I often walk through on my way from here to there – it is a very convenient thoroughfare, our mid-town SHOUTY Chickenfeed. Last week there was beautiful Emma at the register, looking angry and distressed and waving her arms most expressively as she talked into an internal phone. Later at Pete’s I asked her what had been going on. She was most indignant; she had seen a woman with a $4.29 bottle of cordial in her pocket just walking out without paying!! Emma tried to call security on the loudspeaker but nobody came quickly enough and the THIEF got away with her bottle of cordial.
I actually think most employees would just turn a blind eye… the sort of people who steal from Chickenfeed are usually of the more scary variety… Recently Emma very politely asked to check a customer’s bag – she knew they had stashed away all sorts of treasures, probably at least $7.38 worth of goodies!! They turned on her and shouted, told her to fuckoff, and one of them spat at her…
Not worth it, Em…
When I worked at the second hand clothing stall at Salamanca as a teenager I would often see people plotting and taking garments and I always pathetically distracted myself with something else. Far too terrifying to confront them, especially without backup! xoxo
ReplyDeleteOh dear ... it's interesting that they pay for security ... I guess it won't continue to be cheap if everything's stolen, imagine that, paying rubbish prices for rubbish?! ... but my favourite el cheapo store is Shiploads :)
ReplyDeleteI just discovered shiploads, it's brilliant! Do you remember when a thief was caught stealing from a near by stall at Salamanca? The culprit was held by the wrist while the stall holder shouted "look everyone, this is what a thief looks like!" lesson learned I imagine.
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