High-street D&P staff!

John Orrell · Dec 7, 2004

Dunno what it's like in the US but over here in the UK, as well as national and local photographic chains and drug-stores, we can also take our treasured films and memory-cards into a number of national high-street D&P chains. These shops tend to be staffed by people not even remotely interested in photography (usually school-leavers and middle-aged women) and the shop is usually quite small, selling only photoframes, film, memory-cards and their D&P process. The thing is, their D&P is usually very good and they're cheap.

I took a roll of 35mm slidefilm into my local "Click!" D&P chain this afternoon and told the ageing woman behind the counter that I wanted it developed. So she gets out one of their postal-envelopes, puts the film in and says to me "is that 6x4, 7x5, glossy or matt?". I just smiled at her and said "no, they're slides: they develop the film, cut it up into individual frames and clip each frame into its own in plastic mount. There isn't a print". "Oh", she said, "that's unusual. Is that a new idea?". "No", I said, "as far as I'm aware there have been slidefilms available for most of the last century!". She just laughed.

To mass-market D&P outlets, slide-users were always unusual, but I fear with the onslaught of digital photography and film-buffs themselves becoming a minority, there's gonna come a time when I take a slidefilm into a high-street D&P chain and they're gonna look at it llike I've just brought in a sample of moondust, and hand it back to me.

The stupid thing is I bought that very slidefilm from the same shop three weeks ago! I hope it doesn't end up cross-processed; I don't have much faith

j_mcquillen · Dec 7, 2004

I always make sure they stick a whacking great 'E6' on the envelope before they get their grubby little hands on my precious, precious film! :eyebrows:

PreludeX · Dec 7, 2004

i usually just mail mine out somewhere or goto the higher priced labs here in seattle :?

Hertz van Rental · Dec 7, 2004

I understand that when they are looking for staff, they immediately reject any that can even spell 'photography'.

John Orrell · Dec 7, 2004

Hertz van Rental said:
I understand that when they are looking for staff, they immediately reject any that can even spell 'photography'.

The irony is, at least with "Click!", is that I know from past experience there is a good service to be had from their backroom workers, it's just that the frontend is being delivered by ignorant, indifferent staff who would be more suited to selling fruit and veg in the local market.

BernieSC · Dec 8, 2004

Was that lady aware of the invention of electricity and the automonbile and the wheel? LOL

ajmall · Dec 8, 2004

a while ago i gave a slide film in to be processed thinking it was a print one. and i waited like a week to get it back thinking it should only take 1 or 2 but the penny dropped when i saw the envelope with a slide case inside!