Yaz shop manager
The very first time I was in the Nisa shop Yaz asked me for my name and, ever since, she’s remembered. I’m still impressed. Yaz knows her customers, who’s who and what people are up to. Very soon I started thinking that this woman is important in the community and I needed to speak to her more. When I show up for the interview she’s busy at the counter, so she gives me a steak pie to eat while I’m waiting. Yaz is 33 years old.
Originally I’m from Glasgow. When we decided to buy a business we came up here. We bought this shop from a family friend in 2003. It was the first time we were doing a business ourselves. We came in and totally changed the way it was run. We revamped the shop completely. It used to be quite dull and horrible. We gutted the whole place out and refitted it. Then we started bringing in special offers and bargains. We have our own philosophy, we believe that respect comes first; respect the customer and the customer will respect you. At the end of the day we’re all one community, all one big family. We’re here for the customers and they are here for us. And if people complain about something I get to the bottom of it and try to sort things out. We treat everybody the same and we try to make it a unity thing.
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My dad had a shop and I was growing up in this kind of environment. I know how it works. There are three of us, myself and my husband and my nephew. We own the kebab house as well. We’ve got good members of staff and we’re a quite close unit. Even the ones that aren’t family we treat like members of our family anyway. We have Scottish people working with us as well. My family is originally from Pakistan. My husband came from Pakistan, but me and my sister and nieces and nephews were all born in Glasgow. I still have a slight Glaswegian accent. I don’t want to lose it. But I think it’s maybe sometimes hard to understand because we talk so quickly. Even in Punjabi I speak really fast, and I think it’s because I’m from Glasgow. It took a while for me to adapt. People here, no disrespect, but they are quieter, where we Glaswegians talk to anybody and everybody. Here they are more reserved. But in Tillydrone people mingle well. Coming up here has been a change for the better. It took a while and we used to be quite homesick. But now I like it here and I prefer Aberdeen to Glasgow.
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I’m quite a chatty person and I love talking to the customers. And people will know that you respect them as friends. I’ve always said to the staff that I don’t want anybody being rude and not to do anything that would upset anybody. Just have a laugh with them and treat them nicely. At the end of the day the customer is always right. Well not all the time! Occasionally we do have the odd idiot coming in. But they know that, if they mess with us, they’ll just get banned from the shop. I don’t take any cheek off people. In the beginning a very small percentage would come in and try. But it wasn’t people from Tillydrone. It’s outsiders; they come in and chance it, trying to be mister tough. But then, once we’ve sorted them out, they get brought down to reality! As soon as they understand us, everything is absolutely perfect. And if I’ve banned somebody and they come in, I just need to say, “Out” - and they go. We’ve never had a security guard. We don’t need it, we’ve got ourselves! We don’t tackle anybody with force or anything. If we can’t handle it we call the police. But people, who were banned by the previous shopkeepers, we let in and said we would give them a chance, “But if you blow it you’re banned again”.
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It’s only on an odd occasion you get me in a bad mood. And then everybody watches out! I spend most of my time in the shop and I just love coming into work. I am a people’s person. I love being involved with people and I find people here are lovely. Absolutely brilliant. It’s friendly and we were welcomed when we came here. They adapted well to us. I don’t know if it was our attitude. For instance, if people don’t have enough money, I’m in a position to help them with a few pennies. And if we’re ever in trouble they will come in and give us a hand. I treat them more like friends than customers. The kids are like my family. I sometimes take money out of my own pocket for sweets if they don’t have enough. But you do get the odd chancer and you say, “No!” – and other times it will be, “Ach, on you go.”
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Don’t get me wrong, it’s not always as nice. There have been a few bad moments. You do get people coming in, giving you all the grief under the sun. But you’ve just got to take it with a pinch of salt. And you get that anywhere. You know, people say, “Oh my God, Tillydrone, are you not scared?” Why should I be scared, when there is no reason for me to be scared? There have been a couple of times where we’ve been threatened. But it’s never frightened us in such a manner that we wouldn’t come back into work. And people will know if you’re scared. You shouldn’t be scared because you’re just as good as them. I always say, never be afraid of anybody. The only one you should be afraid of is God up above. That’s what I believe in.
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There are people who do steal. It’s not only rosy and as good as it gets. We’ve had three charity boxes stolen from the counter. And you think, “Why are you stealing?” There’s no need to steal. People in Tillydrone are really good at putting money into the charity boxes. People here have got a heart of gold! You might have a few that are bad, or maybe just desperate. But people are lovely. That’s why we are still here. It’s a misunderstanding that it’s a bad area because it’s not. Really.
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You build relationships and there are a few people that I’ve become really good friends with. It helps to unburden them and, if you’ve got a problem they’ll help and give you some advice. People come around and tell what’s happening in their lives. Even if they just need to give it to somebody else, there’s a shoulder to cry on. I always ask people how they are keeping, and sometimes they will say, they are not well, or going to hospital, or I will try to make sure that they go to hospital. And they always come back and let me know how they got on. They feel welcome because you speak to them and share your own experiences with them as well. It makes a huge difference.
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You do get the odd racist remark. We have been called ‘Paki bastards’ and everything. You do get that. Even with people who know us, I’ve had one too many. But not a lot. If people give you racial abuse, don’t ever take that because colour should never matter. We just don’t take it. We do call the police for it. And the police over here have been very good and helpful. We had a huge fight in here one time. It was like world war three! We had baseball bats, crates, bottles and it was just over one person who came in here and started being abusive and a huge fight broke out. Luckily enough nobody was injured but it was absolutely horrible. The most horrible experience we’ve ever had. One other customer approached us and said he had seen everything and offered to be a witness. That helped a huge amount. The truth always comes out, so they got done. You just have to be careful. There’s one that’s been banned for two years and he’s been behaving himself, so we let him back in. I’ve said to him, “Look, I’m watching you and any bad movement, you’re back out.” But, even if people are banned, sometimes we let them stand at a certain point in the shop, at the doorway. We will get him what he wants and serve him from there. At the end of the day, he has got to live on something. We don’t want him to starve!
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We have got a lot of Polish people and they are really nice. We haven’t had any trouble whatsoever with any of these people and we try to cater for them. When they first came over we didn’t know what to get. Then we started finding things and buying them in. We understand because we also need to get our meat from a special butcher. So I had a customer coming in and thanking me for bringing in all the Polish food.
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I don’t think it would be as friendly in the city centre. The hairdresser next door is lovely too. I feel so much at home. There are not many places I would say that about, but I’m happy here. There have been times where I have thought, “Oh my God, what have I done?” But then, after a while, I think, “No, I like it. I like the people.” It’s good that we came here.
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Recorded 24th April 2007