so i'm in the mall the other day. yes, i went to the mall. i do not like going to the mall, but i went to the mall for various, unavoidable reasons. if you saw me there, yes, it was me and not my brother, who i look just like. seeing either one of us in the mall would be a shock anyhow--must be in the genes. although, i think my sister might like the mall still. hmmm...
anyway, so i go into this shoe store and i happen to find some really cool black leather loafers. now, i've been looking for some shoes like this forever, because i really would like to wear them when i roll out the new version of my one-man show, "How Blak..." whenever i get to it. so these shoes are perfect, and they're lace-ups. real cool. not too dressy, not to sneaker-ish, but kind of a utilitarian hybrid. i'm looking at them and this sales guy comes up to me. here's the dialogue:
"hey there."
"hi, how are you."
"great, and you?"
"i'm doing pretty well, thanks for asking."
"see anything you like?"
"well, i kinda like these lace-ups here."
"well, let me go check and see if we can find one in your size. what size you wear?"
"thirteen."
"thirteen. gotcha covered. lemme go check on that for you."
"thank you."
"no problem."
so this cat goes back to the back and i keep looking for other styles. a few moments later, he comes back with a box in his hand.
"we don't have any more of the lace ups, but i have some with the straps and they're pretty cool. want to try them on?"
"well, i really wanted the ones with the laces, but let me see how they fit."
so i tried them on, they fit great, but i still really had my mind set on the lace ups. too bad.
"nah, i think i'll pass. will you have any more in stock soon?"
"no, we're sold out, but hold on, let me call around and see..."
long story short, this cat called three stores, got on the internet, then offered to try and order some from the manufacturer directly. i thanked him and left the store.
as i was eating at the food court, i turned to the person i was with and said, "wasn't that sales guy great?" they agreed. i then said what i'm saying out loud to you:
"what does that say about the state of the society we live in when basic, pleasant, good customer service comes as SURPRISE?"
when i was growing up, my Pops always used to tell us things about "the workplace." "you only get one chance to do something right. so do it right the first time." "if you run out of things to do, FIND something to do."
maybe it was the sharecropping background. i don't know. but i do know that i found myself AMAZED that this cat basically just did his JOB. i'm laughing because every other salesperson at the mall acted the way i'm now used to people in customer service acting, whether it was the food court operator who was rushing my order, or the teens operating the smoothie king booth that seemed perturbed that i interrupted their text messaging session.
have things gotten that bad? maybe it's just me. am i officially getting OLD????
joc
