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My local newsrag's website has a forum where you talk about politics, sports, things going on in town, and so forth.
Somebody posted the following about an experience they recently had at my store (name changed to protect the innocent--i.e. me, and some typos fixed to make the meaning more clear: )
My company prides itself on providing an "outstanding, convenient shopping experience" (read: our prices are higher than just about everyplace else) and to be compared negatively to Wally World is a real slap in the face. Our corporate suits will say "This looks like something Wal-Mart would do" if they find something on the salesfloor that looks bad and they want it fixed.
Fortunately for us people around here still have their hang-ups about Wally World, and we are one of only a handful of stores in our company whose sales are up from last year. Still, my company used to pride itself on having a nice-looking, well-staffed garden center full of attractive plants and knowledgeable employees. Now the plants look like crap because they don't get pruned or deadheaded, plants had been dying because they weren't being sufficiently watered, and there's only one or two people out there at any given time who have little to no training on plants, flowers, fertilizers and other things people ask questions about out there.
Basically, in our garden center, we sell miserable-looking plants for more than other stores, and good luck finding a cashier to ring up your purchases. Gee, sounds like a winning business plan to me!
Somebody posted the following about an experience they recently had at my store (name changed to protect the innocent--i.e. me, and some typos fixed to make the meaning more clear: )
My wife and I went looking for flowers at the outdoor Hell display and found exactly what we wanted in a couple minutes. When we went to check out (the outdoor one) no one was there and at least three customers were waiting to pay for selections.
One customer even went back into the outdoor display area to try to find someone to check us out...no one there.
We all could have walked out with our selections if we had wanted and no one would have been the wiser ... unless, of course, they had some type of surveillance camera system.
After waiting another five minutes at the checkout, we all decided to leave ... one woman courteously put her selections back on the shelves ... the rest of us did not. My wife had picked out at least $30 worth of potted selections.
We went to Wal-mart ... a worker in the outdoor area said we would find a better selection of what we might want in the indoor area on the north end of the building. We got what we wanted ... it turned out to be about two-thirds of the price of Hell ... a young man at the entry way to the display area walked us to right where the selections we wanted were on display. We ended up paying $18.50 for better-looking potted plants than Hell had, and felt much better because this young man and the nice young lady at the checkout were courteous and helpful.
For those who hate Wal-Mart ... think again ... think customer service.
One customer even went back into the outdoor display area to try to find someone to check us out...no one there.
We all could have walked out with our selections if we had wanted and no one would have been the wiser ... unless, of course, they had some type of surveillance camera system.
After waiting another five minutes at the checkout, we all decided to leave ... one woman courteously put her selections back on the shelves ... the rest of us did not. My wife had picked out at least $30 worth of potted selections.
We went to Wal-mart ... a worker in the outdoor area said we would find a better selection of what we might want in the indoor area on the north end of the building. We got what we wanted ... it turned out to be about two-thirds of the price of Hell ... a young man at the entry way to the display area walked us to right where the selections we wanted were on display. We ended up paying $18.50 for better-looking potted plants than Hell had, and felt much better because this young man and the nice young lady at the checkout were courteous and helpful.
For those who hate Wal-Mart ... think again ... think customer service.
Fortunately for us people around here still have their hang-ups about Wally World, and we are one of only a handful of stores in our company whose sales are up from last year. Still, my company used to pride itself on having a nice-looking, well-staffed garden center full of attractive plants and knowledgeable employees. Now the plants look like crap because they don't get pruned or deadheaded, plants had been dying because they weren't being sufficiently watered, and there's only one or two people out there at any given time who have little to no training on plants, flowers, fertilizers and other things people ask questions about out there.
Basically, in our garden center, we sell miserable-looking plants for more than other stores, and good luck finding a cashier to ring up your purchases. Gee, sounds like a winning business plan to me!
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