On St Andrew's Day last year, our local Sainsbury's happily celebrated. There were saltires festooned everywhere, special offers, and a piper with kilt and full rig-out blowing lustily away outside the door.
The store began celebrating about ten days before the event, this is when the saltires and special offer haggis, etc, first appeared.
The St Andrew's Day theme was not echoed in the other Sainsbury's store in Cambridge, so it was obviously not a national initiative.
Today our local Sainsbury's in Sidney Street is bereft of any decorations. It's just another day. And although this English branch of the supermarket giant can push the boat out on Scotland's national day, even employing a piper, England's national day is apparently to be ignored. Even some comic St George's Day stickers, around the marmalade display in the other Cambridge store, were not to be seen at Sidney Street.
Just how much power do individual Sainsbury's store managers have to indulge their own biases? Who pays for things like Scots pipers on the door in the end?
And why is England's national day not to be celebrated in this English branch of Sainsbury's, but Scotland's is the signal for everything to go right over the top?
We put these questions to an assistant, who went to find the manager. But apparently he/she was not available.
It's the same at Asda as well. I wrote a letter in complaining about the flag markings on their meat produce.
ReplyDeleteMeat from Scotland gets a saltire. Meat from Wales a dragon.
Meat from NI and England gets a Union Flag
I said that they should adopt a Union Flag for all of the meat or put the proper flags on. The letter I got back was a thank you for your comments letter.
I do not buy any meat from Asda anymore.