January 11, 2007
Rude in Retail is a really bad idea...
The Krewe of Tafluma, 1980
I dug this photo out last week, because Steve, me, and several guys who are now regulars at T. L. Starke's are in it. I scanned it at wicked-high resolution, printed a couple on really nice paper, and gave them to the managers at Severn, asking them to frame them. I wasn't happy with the inexpensive frame, so I went over the restaurant to see what it would cost to have the photos matted and framed by the store down the strip, Framin' Place & Gallery, www.nolaframing.com. I've been wanting to see what we could get going with our neighors at 3535 Severn. I figured that the cookie place and the framing place would be good starts.
The battery on the Jeep died on the way there. While this shouldn't be a huge issue, it decided to do it in the middle of Severn Avenue, right in front of the plastic arches on W. Esplanade. OK, no biggie, we've got a big parking lot, so I pushed the sucker across the street to the parking lot. The Jeep's is tough to push alone, but some guy had pity on me and gave me a hand.
I get it out of the street into the first parking spot, in front of the frame shop, Framin' Place & Gallery, www.nolaframing.com. This woman comes out of Framin' Place & Gallery, www.nolaframing.com and, in a very snotty tone of voice, says, "you can't leave that there!"
Now, keep in mind, I've just pushed a car out of the street, into the parking lot. I'm a 48-year old fat guy who has just had my week's worth of aerobics, and this woman is starting in on the placement of my car. It's 8:50am, and Framin' Place & Gallery, www.nolaframing.com, doesn't open until 10am. I replied, "You'll cope long enough for me to catch my breath."
She continues to ramble on. She starts reaching for the phone, as if she's going to take some sort of action against me. At this point, I'm really losing my patience for rude and stupid, so I just told her "shut up."
She says, "you can't tell me to shut up, I pay rent here!"
I said, "Yeah, I do, too."
My original plan was to let the Jeep sit for a few minutes and see if I could get it started, but the level of hostility coming from Framin' Place & Gallery, www.nolaframing.com was enough for me to summon up some more energy and push it over to one of the inside rows of the parking lot.
Let this be a lesson to those of you in retail: If a middle-aged fat guy with a 22-year old Jeep pulls up in front of your place because the vehicle breaks down, don't come out of your shop and make a scene. You never know when the person to whom you're being insensitive is a potential customer, much less a neighbor in the strip mall. You also never know when that person has a blog and will tell the rest of the world that you're not a very nice person, and that person won't patronize you or recommend your business (in this case, Framin' Place & Gallery, www.nolaframing.com) to anyone.
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