ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the interactions between customers, shop assistants and the state, beginning with a brief survey of the ambivalent relationship between customers and sales staff in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). It focuses on typical customer criticism of shop assistants. The chapter investigates the ways in which sales staff dealt with the evident problems of supply deficiencies and shortages and how they reacted to customer complaints. It analyses the state’s position within the interactions between customers and sales staff. The GDR distribution system led to the development of social contacts and relationships that were focused on access to scarce goods, and in which sales assistants played a prominent role. GDR sales assistants found themselves in a difficult and ambiguous position. The chapter concludes with the micro-context of interactions between buyers, sellers and the state with the overall development of material discontent in the GDR.
