Don’t get disheartened by vocal minority - Kevin Buckle

Yes, you have read that right – people are taking to online sites to complain about the success of the bakery and its tasty pastries, while others seek to search out the owner Darcie Maher in the shop to voice their dissatisfaction.

I have been lucky over the years to have generally had few problems with customers, though for instance one of the worst things about Record Store Day, especially in the early years, was how upset customers got when they missed out on limited editions.

Another time you could guarantee unhappy customers was in the last few days before Christmas when it was too late to order online.

People who had left things too late would expect us to have the most obscure releases, while others knowing a title was sold out everywhere online would demand to know why it was not still available in shops.

Generally, though, I always felt we missed out on the worst of it compared to what I heard from others who worked in bigger shops like HMV.

That isn’t to say we never have issues in the shop.

All the records, compact discs and T-shirts are in order and yet people do insist on picking things up and putting them back in the wrong place, or even worse wandering around the shop clutching something only to put it back a great distance from where it should be.

Often when we remind people in the shop that things are in order they look at you as if you are just being picky, when actually all they are doing is making it harder for the next person to find what they want.

Another problem is when people insist that the T-shirts vary in size despite the label saying they are the same.

What they are referring to is the old days when American shirts would be bigger than their European equivalent, which is no longer the case.

I can understand Darcie being upset by online comments, but as anyone who deals with the public knows, any negativity very rarely reflects the general view with most happy customers not feeling the need to air their satisfaction publicly.

I never read comments or feedback about the shop, even on sites that we sell on like Discogs.

Certainly we make mistakes but we always correct them and when I do stumble across negative feedback it is nearly always somebody being unreasonable.

I do hope Darcie isn’t too disheartened by any of the negativity and realises that there is clearly a very happy silent majority who love her baking and far outweigh any vocal but small minority.