Extreme Newsbeat entered Sainsbury’s
The programme continued Extreme Newsbeat, inspired by listeners who shouted the name of Radio 1’s news programme in public and immediately ran away.
The latest location was Sainsbury’s.
The stunt was intentionally pointless.
Somebody simply had to create the unmistakable Newsbeat sound or shout the name somewhere people were not expecting it, then escape the embarrassment.
Scott and Chris loved how seriously participants approached something with no prize and almost no purpose.
Chris had become increasingly germ-conscious
Chris also revealed another small change to his everyday behaviour.
He had started opening doors with his little finger whenever possible.
The logic was that fewer people used that part of their hand on door handles, potentially reducing contact with germs.
Scott thought the technique looked strange.
Chris preferred strange to ill.
The show had spent years discussing hand sanitiser, touching public surfaces and Scott’s own germ anxiety.
Apparently the concern was spreading.
Then came the serial returners
The main subject was online shoppers who ordered far more clothing than they intended to keep.
Retailers had begun warning that customers who repeatedly returned huge proportions of purchases could face closer scrutiny or restrictions.
Scott and Chris immediately knew people who treated the post office like the second half of the shopping experience.
Order.
Try on.
Return.
Repeat.
Listener Katie agreed to speak anonymously with her voice altered because she was worried about attracting attention from the retailers involved.
Six or eight items could arrive for one event
Katie said she might receive one or two parcels in an ordinary week.
Before an event, the numbers could rise.
She could order around six to eight items at once, try all of them and perhaps keep one.
The process did not feel dishonest to her.
Online shopping meant she could not know what something really looked or felt like until it arrived.
Returning the unsuitable items was simply part of buying clothes.
Scott understood that argument.
Chris could also see why a retailer might become suspicious of somebody whose purchase history was mostly refunds.
Returned clothes were not always genuinely new
Listeners then supplied evidence of what happened after all those returns.
One person bought a supposedly new pair of jeans and found pebbles in the pocket, suggesting somebody had already worn them outside before sending them back.
Others had found signs of make-up, perfume or previous use on returned clothes.
That complicated the ethics.
The serial returner might see the order as a home fitting room.
The next customer could end up paying full price for something somebody had already taken out.
Tuesday still meant Funny Business
Funny Business returned with another collection of genuine companies whose names sounded much ruder once Scott and Chris had to say them aloud.
The pair referenced one of the previous week’s particularly difficult calls and immediately began laughing before the new round had properly started.
The actual businesses remained professional.
Radio 1 remained unable to do the same.
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