On Thu, 09 Jul 2015 20:57:35 +0100, Tim Watts wrote:

On 09/07/15 20:49, Mike Barnes wrote:
DerbyBorn wrote:
A nice thing about a holiday is being served properly even in an
inexpensive restaurant. Why do we put up with having to queue at the
bar with our table number in the UK?

Ha! It sounds like you haven't been to one of those places in Italy
where you have to pay the cashier without the benefit of a menu or the
ability to see or point to what you want, then take the receipt to
another counter where the food is displayed so that you can place your
order and hand over the receipt. They're a nightmare for anyone without
reasonably good Italian.


Italy? That sounds like something from the Soviet era!

Did you ever go to Foyles in Charing Cross Road up to a few years ago?
That was run in the same sort of way.

They paid their junior staff peanuts, and on one occasion they had a
meeting to discuss unionisation. They weren't allowed to have it on the
premises so they went somewhere else. Management photographed everyone
who attended. Staff never lasted more than six months.

Because of all this, they never trusted the staff. So, to buy a book:

1) Browse shelves and choose book. In the technical aisles this wasn't
always easy due to the Byzantine 'organisation'.
2) Take book to assistant.
3) Assistant writes out a 'chit' stating the amount due.
4) Take chit to cashier at other end of the floor, and pay (cashiers were
scarce but presumably a bit more trusted).
5) Take stamped chit back to assistant and collect book.