West End Letters: Oxford Street | Manners

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West End Extra - LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published: 12 December 2008

Hard time for shops? No wonder!

• NO wonder the West End shops are having a hard time of it.
I had the misfortune to head down Oxford Street and was shocked to see the surly behaviour of the staff behind the tills at most stores, coupled with the grumpy and shovey nature of the people they had to serve.
Has everyone taken a collective leave of their manners? People were pushing in, shoving each other out of the the way, rampaging through stock looking for bargains... The whole thing was like watching a pack of slathering bestial coyotes at some kind of carcass-feeding scrum.
Very ungratifying. Once I’d survived with my humour just about intact after getting the presents I needed to buy, it got worse. Have people forgotten how to queue at bus stops?
I waited patiently with my shopping while others pushed their way on. A final thing, to add to the experience to make me feel even more Scrooge-like, was the ridiculously tacky spectacle of the West End lights. I remember them being rather a joy in previous years. Now they seem to lack any class or style, and simply appear to be just another marketing tool.
As one wag once said: Piccadilly Circus is very beautiful… for those who can’t read.
I’m going to do it all on the web next year.
JOHN PHILLIPS
Golden Square, W1

Send your letters to: The Letters Editor, West End Extra, 40 Camden Road, London, NW1 9DR or email to letters@westendextra.co.uk. The deadline for letters is midday Wednesday. The editor regrets that anonymous letters cannot be published, although names and addresses can be withheld.
Please include a full name, postal address and telephone number.
Letters may be edited for reasons of space.

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