Today I had a blast at John Hollingsworth's (Birmingham). I usually buy my tobacco in Spain to avoid the tax burden in the UK, but I like buying all of my tasters in this tobacco shop before putting my order through so that I know what to expect. They are the only tobacco sellers in town, but they treat you like they hate your custom (you'd be surprised how horrible they can be). Not only that none of the shop assistants actually smokes, so they are absolutely clueless as to what it is they sell (which is no excuse, really), but that they always give you an attitude (they really are so much in your face), make you feel uncomfortable with all of their patronizing, and will rush you into making a prompt decision so that they can carry on doing nothing. To be perfectly honest, most of the times I walk in I am not quite sure as to what it is I want, so I will enquire into this or that tobacco, make questions and ask for some feedback on what tobacco I want and the like. In this respect, I am always kind of rushing myself as I know they don't like me, but today I decided to be particularly horrible and take my time (that is to say: I have taken the piss big time). I guess I must have been for a little bit more than half an hour asking stupid questions, having the ladies look up the provider's leaflets and destroying the whole display by bringing it down to the counter so that I could look at the tins despite the fact most of the times there is no useful information written down in any of them. As I was doing this, I could tell one of the ladies was fuming whereas the other one was more or less casting the usual glance at me behind the counter, and I loved every bit of it (I must say). You could bet (your bottom quid) that they had a horrible time with me, but I hope that after what I've put them through today they will be more knowledgeable with all the tobacco I have enquired into so that they will be able to provide other customers with better feedback (every cloud has its silver lining).
