Veronica Belmont entered her video into “The Best of Us Challenge” contest. You can read about her endeavor and the event at her blog/site: Veronica Belmont. In the meantime, here is the YouTube video her completely innocent hula-hoop entry :)
The day before my extended time off from Lowes was uneventful up until the last hour or so. I was coming around the corner of an aisle when our zone manager called for me to help a customer. He was there to pick up a push mower he had brought in to have repaired. It had been several weeks since the mower had been dropped off and no one had bothered to contact him as to the status of the repair, if it could be repaired or anything else related.
Checking the back room, the breeze way and consulting with the RTM lady, we decided that the mower wasn’t in the store. She pulled up her file on the mower and, low-n-behold, we had signed papers stating the mower had been returned several days ago and was ready for pick-up. But where was it? I quickly checked the warehouse and outside once again before heading out to update my zone manager.
Mr. Zone Manager said we needed to double check and make sure, and if I couldn’t find it, then I needed to call the Loss Prevention guy (I’m trying to refrain from using names, sorry.) So I check the area we call the “Bull Pen,” which is the storage area behind the lumber department. Nothing. I check the warehouse again. Nothing. Outside. Nothing. I take the repair forms and check out front to make sure the mower hasn’t been pushed out and sitting outside. Nothing. The conclusion: someone had either 1) pushed the mower to the sales floor, marked it down and sold it, or 2) someone had walked out of the store with it pretending to be the guy who had it repaired.
None of this is really disturbing to me. What I found disturbing was the fact that during this entire 40-minute ordeal, with three managers (department, zone and store) and a loss prevention associate on the case talking to one another, not a single one of them even approached the customer. None of them came up, offered an explaination, told him they were working on it or what they might do to make up for OUR mistake. Instead, they hid like rats waiting for the cat to leave. It was sickening.
These same folks that walk around and boss their associates like dogs, understaffing the building on weekends as well as weekdays, couldn’t even walk up to this gentleman, who was very patient and friendly through the entire ordeal, and say, “Hey, we’re sorry for the confusion, but hang in there, we’re going to take care of you.”
The customer and I were standing by the OPE desk ‘til I finally walked over to the Zone Manager and asked, “So, what are we doing? Is this guy just gonna stand here all day or is anyone going to say anything to him?” To which the Zone Manager very hatefully replied, “Just get his name and phone number and we’ll see if someone can get ahold of him tomorrow or something. We’re busy right now.”
So, relating the information, apologizing as much as I could, it was time for me to go. The issue wasn’t resolved and I’d finally lost what very little respect I had for anyone on our management team.
Welcome to Lowes, let’s build something together!
Warning: This is a delayed reaction to the press conferences held at E3 ‘09. I’m not a professional, nor will I be commenting on every single detail covered in the pressers. Instead, I’m just a video game fan and feel like presenting my impressions of what we have seen, read and heard.
Microsoft (http://e3.g4tv.com/e32009/pressconference/microsoft/19/)
Beatles Rock Band Announcement
10 New Games / New Experiences / New Entertainment
Not Done Yet
Overall, it was a nice event. I wasn’t really blown away by anything in particular, but I did find some great games to add to my must play list. I’m also looking forward to the motion sensor and the instant hd movies and television content.
This is the third business day since I took my drug test for part time employment with Lowes. Still no phone call. I know I passed the drug test, but I’m not sure what the hold up is on the phone call. My wife wants me to call them, and I figure I will, I’ll just wait until tomorrow, which will then be well passed the set time limit the lady gave us. I’d really like to have that job, and I am not ashamed to say I’ll be disappointed if I don’t get it.
And secondly, I was thinking of the good and bad of social networking sites this morning. Dunno why, really, but I was considering the implications of finding out more information about people you know, knew or thought you knew. Basically, my post was:
It’s one thing to have friends you’ve gone to school with, or worked with and hung out with on occasion, or family members you haven’t connected with in a long time. But what happens when you get an up close, daily look into their lives via those social networking sites. You begin to learn how they really think, act and behave. Their opinions and beliefs that may have once been a veiled mystery are suddenly on display for you to see.
Is it what you expected? Does it surprise you? How do you react when their beliefs or behaviour doesn’t live up to your own morales or expectations? It would be awkward to de-friend them, if it came to that extreme. After all, these are people you’ve known for … say … almost 14 years of your life in one form or another (friend, coworker, neighbor, family).
Social Networking sites are overall a good idea, but sometimes it can bring out the Jekyll and Hyde of people. Sometimes, I believe it’s best if we really don’t know just what is on other peoples minds … but, thanks to Twitter, Myspace, Facebook and all the others … that’s a thing of the past.
I don’t want to give the wrong impression, I do visit IGN often to see what their headlines are and browse the bluray section. But I was reminded today that they actually have an “Insider” premium service. That’s right, for only $1.66 a month, you can pay them to read news stories, and view trailers and browse gaming guides. Well, that’s how I look at it. Their points for a $1.66 fee is:
Wow! All those things that I can get free elsewhere, I am allowed to pay for here! I understand that I can’t read those particular editorials or head-to-head articles on other sites, but I bet I can read much better ones. If it wasn’t for the common practice of IGN writers reviewing television programs and movies seemingly without even have watched them, then perhaps the idea of pay features would be less laughable to me. But, having read episode previews, “Heros” comes directly to mind, where the author makes idiotic comments and meanders aimlessly through a recap of a totally different show than what I watched, I find it hard to part with even a minor $1.66 of my money.
What brought all of this on is that I clicked on an article featuring “IGN Director’s Commentary: Flower.” I was treated to a little paragraph and then told to subscribe if I wanted to read the rest.
Right. Sure I will guys!
Sadly, the service must be popular or they wouldn’t still be offering it. Which is fine for those folks, but I prefer the nice free, higher quality work I can find elsewhere.
For various reasons, mainly based around customer service, I have decided to declare a ban on the following businesses. While some of these are franchise operations, I have the right to exercise my consumer choices by refusing to fund particular restaurants. I find it amazing that the same stores can somehow employee two completely different sets of crews. One crew can be neat, clean and friendly. The other crew can be rude, hateful, cursing one another while serving you and just out right filthy looking.
K-Mart – 333 N Lowry St, Smyrna, TN 37167
Rude, poor customer service, never enough lines open when I’ve been in.
Hollywood Video – 540 Enon Springs RD E, Smyrna, TN 37167
Employees and managers lack knowledge to solve problems. Slow service and rude customer phone support (not directly related to the store, but enough to pee me off).
KFC – 223 N. Lowry Street, Smyrna, TN 37167
Filthy. The last time I went into this store the employees were throwing food at one another from the buffet, one of the girls was yelling across the customer seating area to the people behind the counter working. I was looking out the window at some street construction and she yells, “This guy won’t stop staring at me!”
Taco Bell – 305 N Lowry St, Smyrna,TN 37167
Rude, slow, hardly ever gets my order right.
They finally did it. It only took 3 strikes against them, but they finally did it.
It’s one thing to piss me off and make me declare I’ll never visit a business again. But to go as far as to make my wife mad? Lord have mercy on your soul! Mercy, I say!
Despite bad service the last 2 times we went, Jennifer insisted we go by Steak N’ Shake for lunch Saturday. I don’t think there is more than one Steak N’ Shake in Murfreesboro, but in case there is, this is the only by Toys R Us in the Old For Parkway area.
We went in and were seated promptly! A nice surprise, as we normally have to wait a few minutes. We sat down and waited … and waited … and waited … We waited for about – I kid you not – 12 minutes and no one even offered to bring us drinks. No one stopped by at all, as a matter of fact. The waiter for the 5 tables in our area, of which only 4 were being used, never even looked our way except for when he was standing at the bar laughing and talking with his buddies.
Well, you know you’ve waited too long when the people in another booth ask you if you’re ever going to get waited on … which they did. So we got up, grabbed our jackets and started to leave. My wife stopped at the register, where the manager was, and told him we would not be back in there again.
Now, as far as the manager goes, he’s a decent guy. Last time we were in there, he “took care of us,” because we sat and waited even longer than this time. He paid for our meals and got us instant service. He offered to do the same this time, especially after the guy that seated us said we’d been waiting longer than the 10 minutes my wife told him. We refused his offer and left.
It’s like this: he offered to “take care of us” again. But the deal is, folks, I don’t want to be “taken care of” every time I have a problem. I want the problem “taken care of.” I’m not some con artist that goes into a place trying to get free meals. I go in there expecting good service and good food for the hard earned money I’m willing to pay. If you can’t provide either/or, then my money will go to another business that can offer this.
No hard feelings, Steak N’ Shake, I think your franchise is a pretty good deal, but until you learn to employee some quality help, my wife and I will not be eating at this particular restaurant again.
I swung by our local Hollywood Video to pick up three $10 gift cards today. I go in, pick out the cards and take them to the counter. The girl scans the cards, enters the amounts on each one, then takes my debit card and charges me $30.
Simple enough, only she doesn’t hand me the cards … Instead, she says there has been an “communications error” and the cards didn’t activate. I ask about my debit card being charged, and sure enough, I was $30 shorter on funds. She hops on the phone to their customer support line and gets bumped around several times. While on hold, the system she’s on pops up a screen saying that she needs to refund me $10 of the $30 I was charged. Here we think, “Ok, 2 cards are good, the third one was void or something.” So I hand her back my debit card and she “refunds” $10 back to my checking account. All the while she’s still on the phone …
Finally, about 15-20 minutes into the ordeal, she reaches a woman named Adrian. Adrian proceeds to tell her than all three of the cards never activated, they’re all void. I ask her, “Why can’t you just give me my other $20 back?” She asks Adrian … Adrian tells her it’s against their policy and that my Hollywood Video account will be credited with $20 at some point, but she isn’t sure when. I ask, “Like, tonight? Tomorrow? Next week?”
It seems Adrian didn’t know the answer to that … Hmm … So I ask, “Well how about you give me either $20 cash, or put the money back on my debit card. I need to go, I can’t deal with this right now.” They refuse, insiting the credit is all I’m going to get. So I tell the girl behind the counter to ask for the woman’s name, which was Adrian, her bosses name and a number that I can reach. At this point, Adrian hangs up on the girl behind the counter leaving her with a dial tone. The girl’s eyes are wide and her mouth is hanging open.
So. I leave with a receipt for $30 charged to my checking account. A receipt with a $10 credit to my checking account. And only a hand written note saying I was due a $20 credit to my Hollywood Video account. Which, after I got home and got to looking at it, isn’t even friggin’ signed by the damn girl behind the counter!
In short, I’m gonna have to say that I’ll probably direct my buisness back to Blockbuster after having been a Hollywood Video customer for so long. Sure, I may get the $20 credit to my account, but that’s not what I wanted. It wouldn’t even be THAT bad, but the girl said she wasn’t sure if they’d be able to take that and credit it to a gift card purchase afterwards. In other words, I’d have a $20 credit and still have to buy 3 $10 gift cards on top of that. No offense, but if I’m gonna give away money, I’d rather do it to charity, not a video store …
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