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There are weeks, like this one, when I can’t think of a single topic to write about. I know, considering some of the topics I have chosen in the past, you wouldn’t think that would be a problem. There are things that I do want to write about, but I have either been counseled against it or the timing is not yet right. And as you all know, timing is everything.
After writing and erasing numerous starts for an article, I find that sometimes it is best to step away from the computer screen and go see if I can find some inspiration elsewhere. Going to run a few errands usually helps and turning on the TV can supply some much needed idiocy that I can complain about. With my deadline looming, I was desperate to find a topic. I needed something, and I needed it now.
So I got into my car and decided to pick up a few things at Sam’s Club. I have found that during the last year or so Sam’s has been an excellent spot to raise my blood pressure and today’s visit did not disappoint.
For some reason my local Sam’s, at Lower Azusa & Santa Anita, has been slowly deteriorating for a while. I don’t mean that bricks are falling out and the roof is caving in, it is more a deterioration from within. The shelves are not stocked properly, complete freezer sections are empty, and more products appear to be missing than added.
I had heard a few months ago that the store would be expanding and that there would be a few hiccups along the way associated with these growing pains. We are far beyond the hiccup stage and now the store is going into convulsions. Every time I visit, there is at least one item, if not more, on my shopping list that is gone. Items that were there a week before and had been a standard stocked item for years.
The one thing that it has cut back on, which I appreciate, is the manic merchandising fixation they used to do all the time. Now, instead of moving products around every couple of hours, in an obvious attempt to confuse their clientele, nothing has moved in months. It might be the fact that with so many empty holes on the shelves all they have do is fill in the blanks.
Along with the dwindling product selection, the personnel isn’t the same as it was, with the exception of the ever-friendly Sal or “Salvis” to those in the know. The staff overall doesn’t seem to have any direction like it did in the past. Only the “King” has that past flare for true customer service that made Sam’s easier to go to than the totally impersonal Costco.
In the past, some members of the staff used to have little lapel buttons that had a dollar attached to it which read “Try to take my dollar if I’m not smiling”. If they were wearing them nowadays you could make enough money to pay the bill of your shopping trip.
As I was checking out, my checker was wearing a button that said “Employee of the Month”, but it must have been a joke. Not only did she not greet me or apologize for the horrendous wait I had just endured, she had one of the surliest attitudes I have ever encountered. Don’t get me wrong. It’s not that I expect to have a conversation with her, quite the contrary, I prefer to have as few words exchanged as possible. What she did lose sight of was that part of her job is customer service and a part of that is to make your customers feel welcome not like some plastic membership card.
On the way out you have the individual who counts the items in your cart and compares them with your receipt. The person changes often and I am sure the task must get monotonous with the repetition. Most of the individuals who perform this task understand it is a hassle for the customers having to stand in yet another line before they can get out of the store. They try and count as quickly as possible or at least pretend to so another gridlock doesn’t form, which I for one appreciate.
And then you have this one guy, who I have had the misfortune of dealing with the last few times I have gone, who doesn’t understand the concept at all. Check my stuff quickly and let me get out of the store. I have yet to pass by this yahoo when he hasn’t tried to strike up a conversation by making comments on my purchases.
If I buy meat, sushi, or an exotic cheese he wants to try and dazzle me with his opinions and culinary expertise. If I buy a DVD he wants to give me a mini review on my choice or heaven forbid there is nobody behind me and he wants to regal me with his limited knowledge of cinema. I have learned the hard way that if I want to keep moving and my fellow line dwellers moving the best thing I can do is not respond.
He makes it hard to do this because every time he speaks his information is totally wrong. At first I felt compelled to correct him, but after I did, the exchange turned into a borderline argument, which of course consumed even more of my time and is totally pointless especially with someone I don’t even know.
Look Dude, if I wanted to talk to you I would ask your opinion or start the conversation myself, but at the point I am seeing you the only thing I want to do is get in my car and go home. Please just do your job and zip it until you get home where you can bore your significant other with your astounding library of misinformation.
So now I have to go to Ralph’s to get the things that Sam’s decided not to carry this week and to be honest, the attitude of my checker wasn’t much better there. Maybe there was something in the air, but the bespectacled youth was exuding a feeling of “I don’t want to be here”.
This was emphasized by his heavy sighs and his prolonged yawn during which he didn’t bother to cover his mouth. Is it me? Is it too much to expect that even if you weren’t raised with any manners that you at least could pretend to have some when dealing with the public?
So my little jaunt gave me enough material to do an article. I can always count on there being enough rude people out there to piss me off enough to get the writing juices flowing. It actually gave me too much material, because I didn’t even have to get into the drive there and back.
Well there is always next week and I don’t think our excellent drivers are going anywhere.
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