Customer Service in the UK & particularly London

Once, whilst browsing for a shirt in Next, a shop assistant approached me with the following:
"Can I help you with anything pal?"
I looked at him and responded, "Pal?!?!"
"Errr, Sir then?"

Most customer service in the UK is rubbish. And no I'm not advocating the cloying, "have a nice day, how can I make your experience amazing," fake smile crap that so many seem to have adopted as an attempt at it. I'm talking about simple, unobtrusive, understated, knowledgeable assistance.

Negotiation

If you think you can shout and scream at somebody and that that somebody will then happily do what you want them to; you are mistaken....