Thursday, June 09, 2005
Oh yeah, and...
The customer who really got my ire today? Her order helped me fill my goal to get a free iPod, and since she returned her stuff after the deadline it doesn't affect me. Thanks for helping me get rewarded with my "crappy service", bitch!
The List
As many times as I get burnt by "customer service" with customers coming back, insulting me and my work, my coworkers, my machines, whatever else, it always tends to get my ire somewhat. There's a difference between genuinely bad/rude service (which I have been on the receiving end plenty of times) and you not listening and making stuff up so you can get a refund.
In my previous job, I usually had no clue who I was dealing with. With my current job, we get all the customer's information. Name and home phone number and often times address, email, work number, cell number, everything. And this is retail, and one thing about retail is that I know I won't be working here forever. Which means there's nothing to stop me, except for possible legal issues, from calling these people up and telling them what I think about them the day after I quit.
In fact, I think ALL retail employees should keep such a list. It's the only way we'll take back this country from mean, obnoxious people who think that they have the right to harass us because they want a discount.
In my previous job, I usually had no clue who I was dealing with. With my current job, we get all the customer's information. Name and home phone number and often times address, email, work number, cell number, everything. And this is retail, and one thing about retail is that I know I won't be working here forever. Which means there's nothing to stop me, except for possible legal issues, from calling these people up and telling them what I think about them the day after I quit.
In fact, I think ALL retail employees should keep such a list. It's the only way we'll take back this country from mean, obnoxious people who think that they have the right to harass us because they want a discount.
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
Prologue #1
When I think about the two brothers from the inappropriately named town of Bushido in the great state of Kansas, I wonder if they considered what devastation they’d do to our society. I speak, of course, of the founders of the Circuit Samurai chain. I’m sure they started, as these entrepreneurial ideas always do, as a very innocent attempt to claim the American Dream for themselves. The idea was framed, if the orientation videos are to be believed, as an idea like “Let’s start an electronics and office store that has everything a small business would need all in one place. We’ll give them great prices and great service so that their business can succeed.” Not “Let’s start the first of many chain stores that will run local mom and pop stores out of business because we’ll order in large quantities so that their prices can compete and we’ll keep overhead low by paying our employees as little as possible.”
Of course, all the blame cannot be laid squarely as the brothers’ feet. During the 70’s and much stronger into the 80’s chain stores began to crop up. Blockbreaker Videos & Games began during that period in a field that had always been dominated by the “OurTown Video Store” and “Podunk Video Marts” of the world. TramLaw Megastores are one of the more well known examples. And of course Office Despot (known nowdays as Office General) was founded around the same time- and the question of which chain came first is still hotly debated among Fortune 500’s.
The chain store/corporate level managed stores began in the 80’s and was a major revolution. Previously you went to your locally owned store for your retail needs. The stores were run by people who lived in your community, and cared about what they were selling. They started the shop because they cared about the product or they felt they had a decent niche they could fill. These shops usually employed family, or friends, or people from the neighborhood. And, unlike today, those people had more of a stake in knowing everything about what they were selling. When your Uncle Mark is your boss, you know you can’t screwup.
However, these local stores didn’t have great prices. They only bought for themselves, and only made money for themselves. They also weren’t generally wealthy real estate owners, so they only had so much space with which to put products, so they personally made the decision about what they wanted to (and what they should) sell. These practices have existed in our country, and indeed, before our country, for many many years. Businesses and trades often ran in families, which means the same type of local shop was run the same way for generations, tracing all the way back to fruit carts and street merchants.
Then came the first retail revolution, caused by forward thinkers like the two brothers. People who had visions of creating a new type of business. People who had expensive business degrees. People, I can only assume, who were motivated by greed. And where did it get them? Well, the brothers are no longer in charge or even have any role within the Circuit Samurai corporate ladder. They are, I’m sure, unbelievably wealthy or dead. A new visionary runs the company now, and he has taken those ideas to their extreme.
This is the story of the second retail revolution. Had I known it was going to happen while I was working on the front lines, and indeed, that I would be instrumental in bringing the revolution to the small town of Jefferson, maybe I wouldn’t have put in my application. Or at least I would have demanded more money.
Of course, all the blame cannot be laid squarely as the brothers’ feet. During the 70’s and much stronger into the 80’s chain stores began to crop up. Blockbreaker Videos & Games began during that period in a field that had always been dominated by the “OurTown Video Store” and “Podunk Video Marts” of the world. TramLaw Megastores are one of the more well known examples. And of course Office Despot (known nowdays as Office General) was founded around the same time- and the question of which chain came first is still hotly debated among Fortune 500’s.
The chain store/corporate level managed stores began in the 80’s and was a major revolution. Previously you went to your locally owned store for your retail needs. The stores were run by people who lived in your community, and cared about what they were selling. They started the shop because they cared about the product or they felt they had a decent niche they could fill. These shops usually employed family, or friends, or people from the neighborhood. And, unlike today, those people had more of a stake in knowing everything about what they were selling. When your Uncle Mark is your boss, you know you can’t screwup.
However, these local stores didn’t have great prices. They only bought for themselves, and only made money for themselves. They also weren’t generally wealthy real estate owners, so they only had so much space with which to put products, so they personally made the decision about what they wanted to (and what they should) sell. These practices have existed in our country, and indeed, before our country, for many many years. Businesses and trades often ran in families, which means the same type of local shop was run the same way for generations, tracing all the way back to fruit carts and street merchants.
Then came the first retail revolution, caused by forward thinkers like the two brothers. People who had visions of creating a new type of business. People who had expensive business degrees. People, I can only assume, who were motivated by greed. And where did it get them? Well, the brothers are no longer in charge or even have any role within the Circuit Samurai corporate ladder. They are, I’m sure, unbelievably wealthy or dead. A new visionary runs the company now, and he has taken those ideas to their extreme.
This is the story of the second retail revolution. Had I known it was going to happen while I was working on the front lines, and indeed, that I would be instrumental in bringing the revolution to the small town of Jefferson, maybe I wouldn’t have put in my application. Or at least I would have demanded more money.
