TWO students from St Andrews University have been sent a novel reply from Tesco, after writing the supermarket firm a poem complaining about the lack of popcorn in the town’s branch.
Isabelle Bousquette, 20, who studies classics, and physics student Tomi Baikie, 18, wrote a sonnet and sent it to Tesco chief Sir Richard Broadbent in September, after discovering the Fife town’s Tesco Metro was out of Butterkist salted caramel popcorn.
The sonnet includes couplets such as: “I live in St Andrews, thus the issue: / ‘No plans to restock’, you said with a sigh. / So answer this, or send me a tissue / Have I butterkist my true love goodbye?”
Although Sir Richard resigned in October amid reports of accounting errors and falling sales due to competition from the likes of Lidl and Aldi, Isabelle and Tomi received a reply from the chairman’s office of the retail giant also written as a poem.
The reply from Tesco assures the two students that they will be able to pick up their favourite popcorn in Dundee and Perth, and was sent with a £10 giftcard.
The Tesco-penned poem contains five verses, with verse four reading: “Your favourite popcorn is waiting for you / Across the Tay River, no really it’s true! / Our product is stocked in both Perth and Dundee / And I’ve found a way you can have it for free!”
Tomi, a second-year maths and physics student from Wick, told The Courier: “We were bitterly disappointed about the lack of popcorn and understandably very upset.
“We couldn’t express our feelings in prose so we resorted to the only thing we really know: Shakespearean sonnet.”
He added: “I would like to point out that I am surprised that, in their reply, Tesco decided to rename me and change my gender from Mr Tomi Baikie, to Ms Tami Blaike, which I’m not exactly thrilled about.
“Especially now as its gone viral within the university and I’ve been referred to as Ms Tami a lot, both in person and online.”
Isabelle, who grew up in New York City, across the street from Central Park, said: “I was quite excited to read Tesco’s response. Mostly because they referred to Tomi as a woman which made the entire thing that much funnier.
“A friend suggested we post the poems on St Andrews’ Overheard Facebook group. The post reached 1,000 likes in under an hour.
“I was really humbled by the sheer number of people reading my poetry. I think that’s what means the most to me. The photo now has over 13,000 likes.”
malexander@thecourier.co.uk