Doofus Of The Day #202

Today's Doofus is the merchandising manager at Morrisons, an English department store, firstly for a very questionable purchase, and then for the company's response to queries.

They seemed the perfect toys to teach inquisitive young minds the basics of the ABC.

Unfortunately, even a child could spot something was seriously wrong with the set of alphabet building blocks.

The block for 'U' was marked with the word 'umberlla' under a colourful brolly, while the side for 'Y' had a boat sailing over the word 'yatch'.

A third face had some creative punctuation, with 'X' standing for X'mas tree.




Suzanne Toulson, 60, noticed the howlers after the £3.22 set of blocks was bought for her nine-month-old grand-daughter, Millie, from Morrisons in Dukinfield, Greater Manchester.

She complained to the store but was initially told only that no more of the Chinese-made toys would be ordered.

Yesterday, however, Morrisons backed down, and the misspelled blocks are being taken off the shelves of its 382 stores.

'There are only 26 words on these blocks,' said Mrs Toulson, a tax manager. 'You'd think they'd be able to get them all right.'

'When I contacted their customer services, they told me that new stocks were on their way but they were not going to withdraw the ones with mistakes. They were going to let them "fizzle out" instead.

'I couldn't believe their attitude.'

Yesterday, however, a full-scale climbdown was announced.

A spokesman for Morrisons said: 'The children's soft blocks have been withdrawn from sale in all stores. Customers can return the products to the store for a full refund.

'Morrisons apologises for any inconvenience caused and the issue is being investigated with the suppliers.'

And about bloody time! What's next - calculators that don't add correctly? (Oh - I forgot . . . Google's already given us that!)

It's time companies stopped focusing on making as much profit as possible from the cheapest possible merchandise, and started thinking about quality.

Peter