Missed out on the Barter again.

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What happened to customer service?

I walked into a local store at the beginning of the summer to get a cell phone. I was looking on the shelf and wasn't finding what I was looking for. Fortunately a nice (very) young man was on me in seconds, "Can I help you find something?"

"Yes, there is a phone on the website, fifty bucks."

He walks over to the counter where the other 5 very young employees are, there is a short exchange and he comes back, "All we have is on the shelf."

Really? This is a huge chain, they couldn't possibly have all the merchandise on the shelf. He thinks he is dismissed and turns to walk back, I follow him.

"Nothing out back then?" They all look at me with blank stares. Another of them repeats the line, "All we have is on the shelf."

"You are seriously telling me that there is nothing out back but empty shelves. Did you get robbed? Shouldn't we notify the authorities?" They are not getting the hint.

"Okay, let me spell this out. I want you to check."

More blank stares, they are still not moving and I am getting irritated. "Ah, one of you is going back there, decide amongst yourselves who that will be." Then I turned my back on them and leaned on the counter, waiting.

I leave with a new cell phone

After that fiasco, I go to the local burger joint to get lunch. I get to the speaker and give my order, "What? I can't hear you." No, sorry, no nothing. I repeat my order.

"What? I can't hear you, drive up." Are you kidding me? However, I am committed now. I am in the lineup, cars in front and behind me. Nothing to do but drive up.

I get to the window and turn my head to order and am literally startled by what I see. The 'girl' sticks her head out the window so she can hear me. She has piercings all over her face. Two in her bottom lip, one through her nose and another (I believe) through her eyebrow. No wonder she couldn't hear me, she was probably getting feedback from all that metal. Am I supposed to find this appetizing?

I remember that just a few years ago, if you had a piercing you not only had to remove it but some places would make you put a band aid over the hole in your head. A practice I whole-heartedly support. You don't want their brains to seep out, do you?

I applaud student employment in the summer, but do you have to go lax on the dress code and the customer service training? I realize they won’t be there long, but don’t you want us (the consumers) to return when the summer is over?

The establishments who employ teenagers that have metal protruding out of their heads know that customer service, or lack there of, will not stop you from patronizing their establishments.

Mama and Papa need their fix.

For those of you too cheap busy to buy the publication.

From MrBarters, August 22, 2008.


Click on image read the article.

Where do you turn?

There are some things you just can't buy at a retail store anymore, and thank God there are people like you and me who never throw anything out.

Let's say you are decorating the new cottage at the lake. One of those big ol' stuffed fish would look really great over the mantle. Problem is, you're not much of a fisherman and any time you catch anything over three inches long, your wife just wants to throw it out, or worse - cook it. Plus, the mantle is four feet wide, and let’s face it, nothing that big is coming out of that lake without search and rescue.

Well you won't find a Stuffed-Fish-R-Us store, but somewhere there is a woman staring at just what you need. And she is thinking, 'If that thing doesn’t go, the wedding is off!' or ‘I wonder if I set it on fire, would he believe it was an act of God?’

Half the time I buy things I can't even identify. If it looks interesting, I buy it. For instance, I just happen to have a Weston Model 703 Foot-Candle Meter. I have no idea what it is for, but it is old and came in a cool leather case. Don’t laugh, you never know, I might need that someday. (It could happen! Shut up!)

I took The Boy to the flea market once, as we were browsing I stopped to look at a record player. I actually needed one, I had been thinking of dragging my record collection out of mothballs.

As we are discussing the sale my son walks up and lifts the dome. "Where do the CD's go?"

The woman and I have one of those 'you know you are old when' moments and she gives me a pleading look, "Make it go away." I send The Boy on a mission to find hubcaps.

But I ask you, where are you going to purchase a record player or a foot-candle meter, for that matter, if not from someone else who has one? Flea markets are great in the summer, but this is Canada. What do we do during the 10 months of winter? When we absolutely gotta have it?

• A stove to match that avocado green fridge, or a purple toilet to match the tub
• A floor model version of Cat Com Bowling Arcade machine
• 20-30 year old telephone poles (They are great for clothes line's)
• A Copy of “Descriptive Atlas of Western Canada” dated 1899 (I bet ya they don't have that one at Coles.)
• A 1946 Hudson Commodore (Way cool!)
• A Cute & cuddly Bishonfrise (Okay, I have no idea what that is, but if I wanted it I could get it right here.)

Where else are you gonna find a horse drawn cultivator, or walking plow? Canadian Tire? I don't think so.

If you need it, someone out there has it. All you gotta do is let your fingers do the walking.

Thankfully they don’t have a twelve step program for pack rats.