Hellooooo Is Anybody There?

I remember going shopping with my mom for clothes when I was a kid. I never really liked shopping for clothes with my mom – we’d have to try on everything.

It was a whole procedure – my mom would pick out clothes for me and my brother and then we’d go to the fitting area and each go into the teeny-tiny rooms they had the nerve to call change rooms. Then we’d come out, and my mom would give us the once over – twice or more.

“How does that feel?” she’d ask – knowing we’d always say “fine” even if it wasn’t. We just wanted to get out of there.

But she looked us up and down and made sure everything was in the right place and that we were comfy.

Although I dreaded those small fitting rooms, and the hours of trudging through the mall looking for clothes, there was always some happy smiling face working in the area to help out. There was always someone there to go and get another size, or take any of the clothes we didn’t want back to the shelves for us. There was always someone around just to ask “can I help you?”

These days, there never is anyone around. I was shopping today for a new electric razor. I’ve been using a manual for a while, and felt after losing enough blood over the years, it was time to go back to electric.

First I went to The Bay. The Bay always has higher prices, but they usually can justify those prices by having sales staff that really cater to your needs.

Not today – I found the grooming section where they had razors, hair dryers, curling irons and other things.

There were a lot – and the expensive ones were locked behind a glass display case. I looked at the ones out on the shelves, and I was trying to look at the ones in the glass display, but it was really hard to see. But there wasn’t anyone around to offer any assistance. I looked up and down the aisle, and said to myself “F-this – I’ll go elsewhere.”

And with that, I went to Sears. Now Sears used to have great customer service – I love shopping there. I’ve got many household items from the Sears Robuck Corporation – my air conditioners, my wireless phones, even socks.

Surely there would be someone around to offer assistance.

Nope. Not a freakin’ pimply-faced teeny-bopper in sight to even offer to unlock the glass case, let alone find someone that had hit puberty to help a grown man find a shaver.

So, I went to Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart isn’t known for their customer service, but they are known for their rock bottom prices. But surprisingly, I was shocked – delighted in fact – to find several people able to help me in my quest for the close shave.

One Wal-Mart associate unlocked the case, another pointed out the ones on special. A third sales person happened by, saw what I had in my hands, and told me the one next to it is exactly the same razor, but much cheaper (the one I was holding had a bronze and fancier lettering on it, upping the price.)

I thanked all the sales staff for their help, and bought my razor from a store that actually helped me out. The other stores lost my business, because they appeared to not really want it in the first place.

Low prices are great, but being served by a knowledgeable sales person is also important. Sure they can be annoying sometimes – especially when they hover around you hoping you’ll buy from them. But I’d rather have someone hovering over me, so that I can ask questions, see products and make an informed purchasing decision – than having no one around so that I can’t make any decision at all.

I was pleasantly surprised that the store claiming to have the lowest prices, also had the best customer service. Maybe you don’t always get what you pay for?