Saturday is a special day in the hardware store. First of all we are busier than during the week and the clientèle is more homeowners and fewer professional repair types. This means more 'splainin' to do, as Desi might say, were he not dead.
I met I woman today that I truly feel sorry for because she's married to a belligerent buffoon. Her life can't be easy saddled with this guy.
She came into the store right after lunch with a bolt. She was looking for another bolt and nut the same size and thread pattern. Pretty simple stuff. I tried everything we had that looked close, but I was not able to match it. After about ten minutes of searching, I went to get my coworker, who is literally the world's foremost expert in all things hardware. At least he is in my little world.
By the time I returned to the customer, she was gone. I spotted her in the next aisle with the manager and a large lout, the aforementioned husband.
The husband, L. Ron Loutbreath, was berating the manager because he had been waiting in the car for the missus to get his damn bolt and he was sick of waiting. Just as I reached them he snatched the bolt away from the boss and huffed off, with the beleaguered Mrs. Loutbreath in hot pursuit.
Here's a generalization for life. Any guy who waits in the car for his wife or child to go into the store and "get one just like this", is an all around a-hole and likely a class A abuser.
On the other hand, I also waited on a nice guy in search of some specialized light bulbs. He also happened to be stone deaf, but read lips. He is a courier for a local business, picking up and dropping off materials and paperwork.
We didn't have what he wanted and when I told him as much, he asked me to call his boss and ask him what he should do next. The boss asked me to call another hardware store and see if they had them. So I did.
The guy at the other store had one of the two. When I explained that to the deaf guy, he asked me to call the boss again and see if he should go pick up just the one or keep looking for a place that would have both. So I did. The boss thought that getting one while the getting was good, was a good idea.
Two phone calls, ten minutes, no sale, but tons of goodwill. And that's a big part of running a small business.
Things in this blog represented to be fact, may or may not actually be true. The writer is frequently wrong, sometimes just full of it, but always judgmental and cranky
9 comments:
You are so right that this idea of customer service is the way to run a good business-- true customer service is described in that you helped the customer find what he needed elsewhere. He and his boss will remember you and that's important.
it is weird that a guy would send his wife into a hardware store--guys usually love to go into hardware stores.
When are you going to do that post about Sandpaper?
I'm looking forward to it .
Reminds me of a Laurel & Hardy skit, when the wife gave the rent $$$ to Oliver, he gave it to Stan, to give to the Owner. ; )
BTW, all those calls, something even those dolts at WalMarticus would never do.
Oh, and your story about the hubby sending the wife.....it's big here in indy-anna! ; (
"Amigos, anything happens to her, we're all in the shrimp business." - Desi Arnaz to the crew of I Love Lucy
Kurt is weird.
Note to self:
Must meet Kurt.
Ps... I LOVE snapdragons! Petunias are nice too.. tanks for the picture of what I will see in late May.
Dennis sees you have outdoor electrics... Dennis wonders what kinds of things does Merle plug in outside Merle's house?
That guy DOES sound like an abuser.
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