154 Designing Service Excellence
yet self-service (several more decades would be needed before that became
accepted shopping behavior), the customer was being given the freedom to
compare products without the polite (but sometimes insistent) intrusion of
the shop assistant. As was conventional at the time, payment and packaging
of the chosen product was still the preserve of the shop assistant. As the cus-
tomer now had more exibility of movement and choice, so the shop assis-
tants had a degree of exibility of action and focus. By not being tied to the
one customer they were currently serving, shop assistants could spend more
time with particular customers (such as regulars, perceived high-worth indi-
viduals, or those requiring extra lev