Salesmanship from hell...
What an interesting day of dichotomy in customer service for me yesterday. Within 30 minutes of one another, I had two starkly different experiences illustrating the bandwidth of the gauge of salesmanship:
While driving to errands in Old Town Ft Collins, my wife remarked how lousy the tires we had bought the previous winter now were. They were loud and wore unevenly, and really weren't much to look at. I had bought them at a discount tire store in a rush last year. A "bargain" for which I was now paying the price: Our trusty Volvo Cross Country is readying for another trans-continental trip through the heartland to Alexandria, VA in one week or so. So I made a phone call to the Old Town Goodyear rep, and told him of my predicament.
Wow. 10 minutes later, as I was entering the restaurant which would soon become a wait-staff tarpit, I was HAPPILY concluding my purchase of the top-of-the-line Goodyear tires, with an installation appointment being emailed to me for next Tuesday, just in time. Perfect. That's when this extremely personable and polite young man asked "How you doing on an oil change? Want to handle that while you're in?" Are you kidding me? (Honey: Do we need an oil change too? Yes?) Once again, perfect. See you Tuesday. I am THRILLED to have spent 33% more with you than I did just last winter for a brand of tires I have never heard of.
The next 30 minutes, needless to say, were a lesson in plain bad manners. We were passed off twice, so a total of 3 waiters ignored us in two different locations as we suffered through the unanswered requests for BBQ sauce, refilled iced tea, and the like. Just simple attention could have cured this pretty easily, as the food was not bad. During dinner my wife said "I just read a craigslist post saying NOT to come to work here, that they treat the employees badly and the culture is gloomy." Hmm. Check please. I can't ever remember leaving only $5 ON $37 before, especially when I know 3 people will argue over it. But so be it, gloomy kids! I have $644 for your friend next door at the tire store, and I'll probably tip him too. And you know something? I can't wait to reward their excellent service.
While driving to errands in Old Town Ft Collins, my wife remarked how lousy the tires we had bought the previous winter now were. They were loud and wore unevenly, and really weren't much to look at. I had bought them at a discount tire store in a rush last year. A "bargain" for which I was now paying the price: Our trusty Volvo Cross Country is readying for another trans-continental trip through the heartland to Alexandria, VA in one week or so. So I made a phone call to the Old Town Goodyear rep, and told him of my predicament.
Wow. 10 minutes later, as I was entering the restaurant which would soon become a wait-staff tarpit, I was HAPPILY concluding my purchase of the top-of-the-line Goodyear tires, with an installation appointment being emailed to me for next Tuesday, just in time. Perfect. That's when this extremely personable and polite young man asked "How you doing on an oil change? Want to handle that while you're in?" Are you kidding me? (Honey: Do we need an oil change too? Yes?) Once again, perfect. See you Tuesday. I am THRILLED to have spent 33% more with you than I did just last winter for a brand of tires I have never heard of.
The next 30 minutes, needless to say, were a lesson in plain bad manners. We were passed off twice, so a total of 3 waiters ignored us in two different locations as we suffered through the unanswered requests for BBQ sauce, refilled iced tea, and the like. Just simple attention could have cured this pretty easily, as the food was not bad. During dinner my wife said "I just read a craigslist post saying NOT to come to work here, that they treat the employees badly and the culture is gloomy." Hmm. Check please. I can't ever remember leaving only $5 ON $37 before, especially when I know 3 people will argue over it. But so be it, gloomy kids! I have $644 for your friend next door at the tire store, and I'll probably tip him too. And you know something? I can't wait to reward their excellent service.
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