If The Economy Is So Bad....?

If the economy is so bad, why is it so incredibly hard to find good service? My husband and I continue to be amazed at the crappy service we receive from businesses. I guess since things are "so bad" I would expect businesses to step it up a notch and do everything they can to keep their customers. Here are three examples of disappointing experiences we've had lately. The first one is rather long but the other two are quick:

-We received some cash towards new appliances for a wedding gift. After watching sales for awhile I called the Lowe's about a half hour from here. I asked if they had any black or stainless steel gas stoves in stock with a storage drawer at the bottom. The woman assured me they had two in stock. After driving all the way there we were pointed to only one stove that fit our description and told that the floor model was the only one they had left and we could have it at 10% off if we liked. Of course it was dented and scratched!! When I mentioned my phone call ahead I was told that the girl who answered my call was from a different department and didn't really know what she was talking about. Anyway, after leaving to look at other stores we came back and said we'd take the dented one. The same woman rudely informed us that we'd have to take it the way it was because they crush all their boxes and their wasn't one piece of cardboard in the whole store that they could cover it with (and of course it is raining outside!). We told her that if she wanted to sell the stove she would find us something to package it in. After suggesting we go buy a tarp and us glaring at her she finally found some cardboard and saran wrap and wrapped it up quite nicely. Needless to say, we didn't buy any other appliances their and will never go back.

-We need two estimates on rebuilding our shed for the insurance company. The first company that came out was very professional and looks to be great to deal with. Another guy never called us back. A third contractor assured me he could come out and give us an estimate, then set up a time with my husband. So Brian came straight home from work to meet him instead of running some other errands that needed to be done. At the time he was supposed to arrive the man called and said that he had come out earlier in the day and looked at the building and it wasn't something he was interested in working on!!! We weren't so mad that he didn't want the job as much as that he didn't call earlier to let us know.

-Now we need an electrical bid. We called the company our neighbor works for. His boss was supposed the call us and come out this past Monday or Tuesday. No word from him yet.

I don't mean for this post to be all negative. You don't even need to read my examples above. The point is that I feel very frustrated when the country is constantly talking about the "economic downturn" and yet we can't get good service! On the other hand, yesterday I received a Christmas card from our wedding photographer saying "Thanks for your support". The small stores' shopkeepers that I patronize show genuine appreciation when I check out. The people at our bank are very helpful and called this week just to double check that we got the right cash back. The vet clinic that I work at has several appreciative clients that bring us cookies, breads, and chocolates this time of year. The local pharmacy even sent over a gift to say thanks for sending our prescriptions their way.

Those things are what I try to remember when crappy service starts to seem the norm. It really makes me think that there is still a lot of room for new businesses if they treat people right. I'd really like to hear about your experiences, good or bad, and please tell me if I'm crazy or does this stuff leave you scratching your head too. After all, doesn't anyone want our money?

Note: after re-reading this I feel the need to point out that I think we approach people in a friendly way and are generally well liked in our neighborhood. Lol. I didn't need anyone thinking we're crazy people who chase everyone away! :)

BIG CATTLE (Sorry, just have to vent!)

So I got this little gem in my inbox today from a close friend:

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I'm sure those of you who aren't in the cattle business don't understand the

issues here. But to those of us who's living depends on the cattle market,

selling cattle, raising the best be ef possible... this is frustrating.

As far as my family, we don't eat at McDonald's much (Subway is our choice

of fast food), but this will keep us from ever stopping there again, even

for a drink.



The original message is from the Texas Cattle Feeders Association



American cattle producers are very passionate about this.



McDonald's claims that there is not enough beef in the USA to support their

restaurants. Well, we know that is not so. Our opinion is they are looking

to save money at our expense. The sad thing of it is that the people of the

USA are the ones who made McDonald's successful in the first place, but we

are not good enough to provide beef.



We personally are no longer eating at McDonald's, which I am sure does not

make an impact, but if we pass this around maybe there will be an impact

felt.



Please pass it on. Just to add a note:

All Americans that sell cows at a livestock auction barn had to sign a paper

stating that we do NOT EVER feed our cows any part of another cow. South

Americans are not required to do this as of yet.



McDonald's has announced that they are going to start importing much of

their beef from South America . The problem is that South Americans aren't

under the same regulations as American beef producers, and the regulations

they have are loosely controlled.



They can spray numerous pesticides on their pastures that have been banned

here at home because of residues found in the beef. They can also use

various hormones and growth regulators that we can't. The American public

needs to be aware of this problem and that they may be putting themselves at

risk from now on by eating at good old McDonald's.



American ranchers raise the highest quality beef in the world and this is

what Americans deserve to eat. Not beef from countries where quality is

loosely controlled. Therefore, I am proposin g a boycott of McDonald's until

they see the light.



I'm sorry but everything is not always about the bottom line, and when it

comes to jeopardizing my family's health, that is where I draw the line.



I am sending this note to about thirty people. If each of you send it to at

least ten more (30 x 10 =

300) ...

and those 300 send it to at l east ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000) ... and so

on, by the time the message reaches the sixth generation of people, we will

have reached over THREE MILLION consumers!



I'll bet you didn't think you and I had that much potential, did you? Acting

together we can make a difference. If this makes sense to you, please pass

this message on.



David W. Forrest, Ph.D ., PAS, Dipl.



ACAP Department of Animal Science

Texas A&M University

Phone (979) 845-3560

Fax (979) 862-3399

2471 TAMU

College Station, TX 77843-2471

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This was my reply (can you tell I'm trying to be nice?):

I think that's a bunch of crap personally. :P The USA's standards on raising beef are incredibly loose compared to Europe's. We get to use all kinds of chemicals and hormones and insecticides. Plus, blood & bone byproducts from cattle are fed to chickens whose byproducts are fed back to cattle which has the potential to spread disease just like feeding cattle to cattle. Mad cow disease can potentially be spread that way, that's why Europe outlawed all of that type of feeding. Just my two cents! :)

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How stupid! The whineass big cattle ranchers are getting mad because they're losing their market, so they turn it in to an "imported cattle is bad for you" bit. Oh please. Maybe they should wake up and learn to give the consumer what they want (through small-scale quality cattle raising) and then they wouldn't have so many problems. I am all for Made in the USA, but on this one I have no sympathy.

Thoughts?