![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Say the Magic Word...
Feb. 8th, 2004 11:22 amOkay. It's not nice to feel good about it, but I managed to bully a store into submission today.
Actually, considering that I did someone else even more good than I did for myself, I feel pretty good about it after all.
You see, I needed CD-Rs. No big deal; it's Sunday morning, and all the office, computer, and electronics chains typically have sales that start today. Usually one of OfficeMax, Staples, Circuit City, orChumpCompUSA have a decent deal (often free after rebate on a 50-count spindle). But they're also often out of stock by Sunday afternoon (especially the office places, which have smaller stocks) and so Sunday AM is the time to go.
So I stopped in at the corner store on the way home from work (a longer 12-hour night than usual; they encouraged me to work through lunch, a MAJOR concession) and picked up the Sunday papers as usual; in this case, the plan was to check out the deals while the car warmed up and go straight over to the place with the best deal. But the circular from Staples was not to be found.
Fortunately, Staples is not only close, but directly across the street from OfficeMax, which had an acceptable price (~$10 on a 50-spindle of name brand CD-Rs). Consequently, I drove to Staples first, to assess their current deals from the posted (or in this case, piled up) circulars in store. I saw that they had the same deal as OfficeMax and asked where to find the CD-Rs. Directed to a locked case with the comment that he'd already asked someone to unlock the case, I made my way over to find an older (late 50s?) woman standing there waiting, too. She'd apparently been there for some time without assistance, and after a bit of chat about what she needed (she did in fact need CD-Rs too), we saw that nobody was headed our way.
Well, actually, a couple in their 20s was coming our way, having also been directed over, for DVD blanks. After two minutes, they headed over to find out what had happened, and walked out when told that they'd have to wait for the CSR to finish helping the person he was with. (Who'd come in after them.)
I was, to put it mildly, not happy, and looked pointedly at my watch. After two minutes, I started to leave, and another CSR came by to ask what he could do. I told him what I wanted, and he said he was out of them; "it was a 14-day sale." An inquiry about when they'd restock was met with a deflection, and so I started to walk out, saying "I can get the same exact deal across the street at OfficeMax." Suddenly, amazingly, he LEAPED into the stockroom and came out with an unopened carton of CD-R spindles, and within two minutes of my starting to leave the lady and I had ours and were checking out.
It seems that they really hate losing business to their specific rival. I'll have to remember that, and, if necessary, see if it works the other way round. Just to, you know, get folks to do the job my money is paying them to do, if I patronize the place.
Then again, maybe I just won't go back for a while. :-)
Actually, considering that I did someone else even more good than I did for myself, I feel pretty good about it after all.
You see, I needed CD-Rs. No big deal; it's Sunday morning, and all the office, computer, and electronics chains typically have sales that start today. Usually one of OfficeMax, Staples, Circuit City, or
So I stopped in at the corner store on the way home from work (a longer 12-hour night than usual; they encouraged me to work through lunch, a MAJOR concession) and picked up the Sunday papers as usual; in this case, the plan was to check out the deals while the car warmed up and go straight over to the place with the best deal. But the circular from Staples was not to be found.
Fortunately, Staples is not only close, but directly across the street from OfficeMax, which had an acceptable price (~$10 on a 50-spindle of name brand CD-Rs). Consequently, I drove to Staples first, to assess their current deals from the posted (or in this case, piled up) circulars in store. I saw that they had the same deal as OfficeMax and asked where to find the CD-Rs. Directed to a locked case with the comment that he'd already asked someone to unlock the case, I made my way over to find an older (late 50s?) woman standing there waiting, too. She'd apparently been there for some time without assistance, and after a bit of chat about what she needed (she did in fact need CD-Rs too), we saw that nobody was headed our way.
Well, actually, a couple in their 20s was coming our way, having also been directed over, for DVD blanks. After two minutes, they headed over to find out what had happened, and walked out when told that they'd have to wait for the CSR to finish helping the person he was with. (Who'd come in after them.)
I was, to put it mildly, not happy, and looked pointedly at my watch. After two minutes, I started to leave, and another CSR came by to ask what he could do. I told him what I wanted, and he said he was out of them; "it was a 14-day sale." An inquiry about when they'd restock was met with a deflection, and so I started to walk out, saying "I can get the same exact deal across the street at OfficeMax." Suddenly, amazingly, he LEAPED into the stockroom and came out with an unopened carton of CD-R spindles, and within two minutes of my starting to leave the lady and I had ours and were checking out.
It seems that they really hate losing business to their specific rival. I'll have to remember that, and, if necessary, see if it works the other way round. Just to, you know, get folks to do the job my money is paying them to do, if I patronize the place.
Then again, maybe I just won't go back for a while. :-)
