I get there, not much really. Not many books, no small spoons for Ron, no good toys, etc... So, I am going in my way out and I see a leap frog toy (very similar to Mike's toy when he was a kid) the one that pops up when you hit the buttons is only 75 cents, so I take it. The only thing I need to do is to wipe it out with some clorox wipes I have a home (safe for kid's stuff). Then, I see beanies. Now, if you know me, you know I still like them, but I don't buy them at the stores unless I really like it. Most of the time, I can find them at the thrift store for a quarter, but this store (must still think that beanies are the most sought after item, has them behind the counter and in a nice box). So, I asked the lady if I can see them. She is the cashier as well , and tells me to give her a minute. While I am waiting I see 2 CD's that are nice, depeche mode and an acoustic guitar Christmas songs. Ok, so time is going by, Ari is getting tired. Then, I see this guitar for a kid. I think , wow for Arianna, it had written on it 4dls. Not bad, if I want her to play with it now (since she may not be as careful yet ). I go looking for someone else to help me. I find this guy and he says that the "lady" is the only one that can go in there? Then, why she does not call someone else to be the cashier while another lady and I are waiting for her? I go back and I said, can you help me now (has been at least 10 min. , but I want the guitar)? She finally goes behind the counter and I say I want to see the guitar, she picks it up with the worst customer service I had seen in awhile: "She says is not 4dls, someone erased the "0" (well hello, you are the only one that goes in there), so she "fixes" it and it is 40dls!"
Then, I say no thank you. Can I see the beanies, she has to go around the other way because the little hallway behind the counter is blocked in one side- so she says I 'll be there. I go around as well, and instead of going around to meet me, she goes back to the cash register and starts taking care of the people that are going to paid (mind you I was there before any of them) so I said to myself, it is a thrift store! High prices and bad customer service, goodbye. So, I did not buy anything.
I got home and went online and I saw a guitar that looks like the one they were selling for 30-40dls. The guitar at the store was a nice guitar and I would have considered buying it for 20 dls, but not 40dls. I don't remember the brand of the guitar and perhaps the guitar is worth 200dls, maybe 40 dls is not bad for it, but with bad service and a second hand store, forget it! At this point I prefer to buy from someone that cares about instruments! At the end, this is a guitar that someone donated to them. There are decent new guitars for kids for 30 dls and Arianna can freely play with it.
Well, thank God for some other second hand stores that are nice and fair!
5 comments:
No fear, thrift stores are literally a dime a dozen. In this economy especially, customer service matters! And it always has, even in a good economy. Their loss.
I agree with Tiff. I've been to so many second hand thrift stores and whenever I experience poor services I don't bother staying there not one more minute. I walk out. Their loss.
In this day and age, people should demand high quality service and anything less is their loss.
Problems is that most people put up with it; thinking they can not do anything about it. That mentally is so wrong. You and I pay for good service not crappy ones. We are not at their mercy it's the other way around. They should worry cause if they can not provide high quality service; guess what?; eventually it will impact them via pay cuts or job loss. People have dis-associated their work performance from their paycheck.
You spend good hard earn money, therefore, demand good service.
People are weird and creepy and stupid, is all I have to say.
Okay, maybe more. For example, we have three or four stores we go to. One is Top Shelf, and the people are great, very helpful, and we are on a first-name basis.
Another store, literally across the street, ALWAYS treats Evelyn like she is a shoplifter. I don't get it.
And here's the killer joke, as Evelyn would say: The shoplifter one? Run my a church league. The nice people? The local AIDS support group.
So much for religion. Those church ladies are the WORST.
BTW: There are TONS of used instruments in Austin (go figure). We can look out for a little guitar. I actually saw two at the antique store, cheap (<$5) but a bit banged up (and no strings).
Yeap, as I always say the Killer Joke here is that I used to work in thief prevention in retail, credit cards, and identity. What cracks me up is when the religious ladies follow me around the store thinking I’m going to steal something when in reality it’s the nice old grandmas with the super size purse doing the shoplifting. Because they treat me like that I don’t bother warn them when I see such activities. Hell let them figure it out. Don’t judge a book by its cover. They should know better. Oh well, simple minds leads to simpletons.
Ron, the no strings is not an issue. You buy new strings for 3 bucks and Barry or I can restring it in 10 minutes. You'd want new strings, anyway.
Erika--Barry and I were in Toys R Us last night and they have guitars for very small children and I think they were around $40. That place is nuts for charging that.
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