The return slot at the costume shop

Text: an original contemporary workplace-report-style practice extract.

The new return slot was advertised as a convenience. Customers could leave hired costumes after closing time instead of coming back the next morning. During the first week, the shop received fourteen parcels through it. The owner called the experiment a success before we had opened them.

Inside one bag, a damp velvet jacket had been folded against a pale shirt. Inside another, a metal buckle had pressed into a borrowed hat. The damage was not dramatic enough for a newspaper photograph. It was enough to keep two costumes out of hire while we cleaned and repaired them. A family collecting a replacement outfit waited as we checked the remaining sizes. The slot had saved one customer a journey and given another customer a longer afternoon.

We kept the slot. We added a shelf for separate bags and instructions asking customers to dry garments and wrap hard accessories. The number of returns remained a useful count, but it no longer stood alone on the weekly report. Beside it, we recorded what could be hired again. A hole in a door had changed the work on both sides of it.

In this extract, the writer tries to show that an apparently minor process can have significant consequences.

Evaluate how successfully this is achieved. Support your views with detailed reference to the extract.