Service...

Yesterday we went looking at cameras for Terre's birthday present.  She just about had it picked, but wanted to check out the variety at Best Buy.  The cameras are tethered to some "don't-steal-this" steel cables that you can just about lift to your eye-level to look at the camera's display.  Terre picked up a few that she was interested in, but they wouldn't power up.  I searched (almost in vain) for someone that worked there to help.  He told us that not all of the cameras were powered because they are missing a power cable link.  Terre then picked up one with the power cable link and it still wouldn't power up.  The "helper" couldn't explain that.  
So here we are facing one of America's largest dilemmas.  You cannot BUY customer service anymore!  How does this store expect to sell any cameras, by their looks- or their promise of features?  Why do people lament the ma-and-pa stores closing.  Isn't it because they can go there and get a demo of the product with useful recommendations?  Sure their prices may not be as good, but then again they don't sell as many.   Many people go to their last remaining ma-and-pa store to get their demo and then go to the big department store to get their price.  This is really a shame.  The ma-and-pa stores will soon be extinct, by this practice.
Part of the problem is that employees are not particularly assigned to a specific department, so they REALLY never learn about their products. Secondly, they are not paid well enough on the store's low profit margin to stay employed they for a long enough period to accomplish the task.  Thirdly, and most importantly, they REALLY don't care whether you buy there or not.
When we had decided that we had enough, I located a supervisor-type at the Best Buy and explained to him why they have lost our sale.  He was apologetic, but all bets are that nothing will change in that department- at all.
So an interesting trend is beginning: Best Buy is starting to create smaller stores that focus on particular products.  It this the return of the ma-and-pa type of store? This has yet to be seen, but I'd say that it is a move in the right direction- and perhaps one in which you might see the return of "service". 

Albertson's Market(SuperValu) has started something new in their store, that so far is unannounced. They have created small "vertical" areas in the cleaning products isle, and at least one or two others.  What I mean by "vertical" is a section that covers all the shelves from top to bottom.  In the cleaning products isle, this area contains a variety of products that are brands that I have never seen OR brands I haven't seen for lo-ong time, like "Rinso".  These products are priced at a can't-go-wrong level of one dollar apiece.  I bought a few, and they are just as good as the ADVERTISED brands.  This got me to thinking: if they can sell these products for such a low price, how much profit is there really on those brands that are heavily advertised and coupon-ed to death?  My point here, is that we are subsidizing the advertising and coupons by the high prices.  What would happen if we just STOPPED BUYING THEM? As an example, try to watch daytime TV without seeing an ad for Tide or Febreeze (Proctor & Gamble) or Windex or Pledge (S.C. Johnson).  We HATE those commercials but we subsidize them by buying their products and using their coupons.

Dictionary Of Dating
ATTRACTION..... the act of associating horniness with a particular person.

LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT ..... what occurs when two extremely horny, but not entirely choosy people meet.

DATING..... the process of spending enormous amounts of money, time and energy to get better acquainted with a person whom you don't especially like in the present and will learn to like a lot less in the future.

BIRTH CONTROL..... avoiding pregnancy through such tactics as swallowing special pills, inserting a diaphragm, using a condom, and dating repulsive men.

EASY..... a term used to describe a woman who has the sexual morals of a man.

EYE CONTACT..... a method utilized by one person to indicate that they are interested in another. Despite being advised to do so, many men have difficulty looking a woman directly in the eyes, not necessarily due to shyness, but usually due to the fact that a woman's eyes are not located in her chest.

FRIEND..... a person in your acquaintance who has some flaw which makes sleeping with him/her totally unappealing.

INDIFFERENCE..... a woman's feeling towards a man, which is interpreted by the man to be "playing hard to get".

INTERESTING..... a word a man uses to describe a woman who lets him do all the talking.

IRRITATING HABIT..... what the endearing little qualities that initially attract two people to each other turn into after a few months together.

LAW OF RELATIVITY..... how attractive a given person appears to be is directly proportionate to how unattractive your date is.

NYMPHOMANIAC..... a man's term for a woman who wants to have sex more often than he does.

SOBER..... condition in which it is almost impossible to fall in love.

A cop stops a Harley for traveling faster than the posted speed limit, so he asks the biker his name.

'Fred,' he replies.

'Fred what?' the officer asks.

'Just Fred,' the man responds.

The officer is in a good mood and thinks he might just give the biker a break and, write him out a warning instead of a ticket. The officer then presses him for the last name.

The man tells him that he used to have a last name but lost it. The officer thinks that he has a nut case on his hands but plays along with it. 'Tell me, Fred, how did you lose your last name?'

The biker replies, 'It's a long story, so stay with me.' I was born Fred Johnson. I studied hard and got good grades.

When I got older, I realized that I wanted to be a doctor. I went through college, medical school, internship, residency, and finally got my degree, so I was Fred Johnson, MD. After a while I got bored being a doctor, so I decided to go back to school.

Dentistry was my dream! Got all the way through School, got my degree, so then I was Fred Johnson, MD, DDS.

Got bored doing dentistry, so I started fooling around with my assistant and she gave me VD, so now I was Fred Johnson, MD, DDS, with VD.

Well, the ADA found out about the VD, so they took away my DDS.

Then I was Fred Johnson, MD, with VD. Then the AMA found out about the ADA taking away my DDS because of the VD, so they took away my MD leaving me as Fred Johnson with VD.

Then the VD took away my Johnson, so now I am Just Fred..'

The officer walked away in tears, laughing.

When I went to lunch today, I noticed an old lady sitting on a park bench sobbing her eyes out. I stopped and asked her what was wrong.

She said, "I have a 22-year-old husband at home. He makes love to me every morning and
then gets up and makes me pancakes, sausage, fresh fruit and freshly ground coffee."

I said, "Well, then why are you crying?"

She said, "He makes me homemade soup for lunch and my favorite
brownies and then makes love to me for half the afternoon.

I said, "Okay, so why are you crying?"

She said, "For dinner he makes me a gourmet meal with wine and my
favorite dessert and then makes love to me until 2:00 a.m."

I said, "Well, why in the world would you be crying?"

She said, "I can't remember where I live!"