Money
matters 1 - a customer asked the Trader if they could pay by card and they were
told “Yes, as long as you spend $10.” For some reason the customer was upset when the
Trader refused to accept a card for a $1 purchase. With a standard EFTPOS
charge of around 30c (in this case 30%) we are on the Traders side.
Money
matters 2 - a customer wanted to purchase a $13 meal on card and was told
“Sorry, you must spend $20 for a card transaction.” That’s a bit rough, and
here we are on the customers side. Incidentally it cost the customer $2.50 to
go to the nearest ATM for cash.
A
customer says he is going to buy a Tattslotto ticket after his luck in finding
no queue at the American Donut Van on Queen St. around noon on Saturday. Most
Traders wouldn’t regard that as good luck.
Like
many Melbournians, Traders are well known for their sporting interest but
kick-boxing between a Trader and a customer this week wasn’t the sort of draw-card
our market needs.
Warmer
weather is the time for walking in the sun, attracting tourists, showing off
summer clothing, and unfortunately, pervading smells. Our first day of 20plus
degrees in a while and Traders in C (or is it D Shed) placed covers over a
nearby drain on Sunday in an attempt to reduce the unpleasant smell.
The
recent shortage of car park vouchers on Fridays (generally none left after
7:00am) is apparently explained by the works in C and D sheds which has taken
away the parking spots in the laneways. One Trader asks how many vouchers are
taken by Traders with legitimate need to carry stock and how many are purely
for convenience parking.
A
Trader says there is one really good reason we should all work to eradicate the
vacant stall syndrome. It is called “Protecting The Brand”. The Queen Victoria
Market is known around the world and more famous than David Jones or Myer.
Clearly we need to show our best face at all times.
A
Trader in String Bean Alley reports that one of his elderly customers joked “A
string bean is a string bean but a pea is a relief.” And that qualifies as our bad joke of the week.
The
Melbourne Marathon has once again drawn complaints from Traders as they
struggled through road barricades to get to the market on Sunday morning and
wondered what impact that would have on customers.
There
was some concern that climate change activists might target QVM as part of
their guerrilla campaign. But, apart from a few activists located around Queen
St. on Friday, they appear to have left us alone, at least for now.
And
finally the tale of a stolen pair of ear-rings which a Trader thought might
have been taken by a woman customer on Friday. The customer returned the next
day and, you guessed it, she was wearing the stolen ear-rings. Our Trader was
too amused to get upset but she did report the matter to security who we
understand escorted the customer from the market.
