Letter: Staff feel the pinch

Sir: The Front Line Survey from the Grass Roots market research group comments on how unhappy shoppers are with the attitude of some department store and shop staff ("Customers getting service without a smile", 19 January). I was glad to see it id entified as a management problem.

Working in a shop is extremely hard: long hours (most likely including Sundays and bank holidays), aching feet, rude customers, bad pay; now add managements who, in many cases, are indifferent (at best) to their staff. It takes special qualities to keep smiling! Yours faithfully, MADELINE STILES London, SW1