It has been a rather frustrating week for me. You see, I have been at the mercy of mega-companies this week. You know them, too. Those companies that have become so big and impersonal that a regular, everyday customer can’t get any level of service or satisfaction.
You know the drill. Press 1 for aggravation. Press 2 to be ignored. Press 3 if you just can’t stand it anymore. Your call is important to us. There is no one available to assist you right now. Please call back when it’s more convenient for US. We really don’t want to talk to you so go to our website instead. Please do not bother us with your petty concerns. Goodbye.
Case in point. I went into Mega-Mart to pick up a few items. When I got to the cash register to give Mega-Mart my hard earned not-so-Mega-cash, one of my items popped up on the computer screen as “Item Not Found.” Egads! Anything but that!
Remember the good old days?…”Supervisor to Register 3 for a price check.” No more, my nostalgic friend. Those days are Gone with a capital “GEE”. As in “Gee, I just wanted to run into Mega-Mart and pick up a few things and now here I am with my merchandise being held hostage.”
Here at Mega-Mart, if an item comes up on the computer screen as “Item Not Found”, the cashier is NOT ABLE TO SELL YOU THE PRODUCT!!! She was very polite as she explained the “POLICY” to me. She even shared an amusing (?) anecdote with me about a man who had come in the week before and had encountered the same problem. But, she told me, not to worry, she’d be sure to make a note so that the next time I came in, I could buy the item! Aww, how sweet! Thank you so little and have a nice day.
How wonderful for Mega-Mart to have so much business and so much arrogance that they can refuse to sell to a customer simply because they failed to do their job and enter it into the computer. And how silly of me, a humble consumer, to assume that just because it was on the shelf, I thought I could just up and buy it!! What was I thinking?
Here’s exactly what I was thinking…What a great opportunity for small businesses! I have watched businesses try to compete with Mega-Mart and fail. I have heard many a citizen rail against the Mega-Mart-izing of America (while secretly sneaking there to shop—I mean where else can I buy a clothes basket, for crying out loud?) The best way a small business can compete against the Mega-Marts of the world is not to beat them at the game they’re playing but to beat them at the game they’re NOT playing.
The Mega-companies cannot even come close to offering what small businesses offer routinely—good service, customization of products and services, personal responsibility, and an actual human being answering the phone. Small businesses actually CARE. Small businesses care about their customers, their communities, their environment. And they actually want my business. I’m more than happy to give it to them.
So let Mega-Mart be Mega-Mart. There’s still plenty of room for small businesses that offer good old fashioned Service with a capital “S” as in “So happy to have your business.”
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