Salesman,
if They Only Knew
Had to go to Lowes yesterday and buy a new
screen door. Armed with the overall dimensions of the screen door I set off to
find what I wasn’t looking for. That was more work than I needed to do. I have
replaced screen doors before and although it could be simple, it seldom is. Asking
and expecting quality help from the salesman at Lowes or any diy store is a lot
like a trip to the dentist. You dread going to the dentist because the pain is
so close to the brain it hurts more, and then you have to open your wallet and
feel it again as they have student loans to pay for or at least they keep
reminding us to the fact. In the big box department stores you get to stand
around and watch the salesman go on and on talking to someone about a possible
big sale they will probably never get so that you, the person who is going to actually
buy something gets to stand around and wait patiently, a hard thing for us
f-ing Ohioans to do, while he chit chats away with the couple who are just
thinking about buying. This happened to me yesterday and I stood there ten
minutes trying to get assurance I had the right product so I wouldn’t have to
return it. Guess what it is going back, ripped up box and all.
On the top of the box it showed an overall
width of 32 inches, and I wanted assurance by the salesman there, I had the
right screen door, assuming since it was his department and he should be knowledgeable
in the subject , instead all I received was a hard time. As I said I stood and
waited my turn patiently till the salesman walked away from the counter to show
the couple more stuff to not buy, I then said to myself that apparently I was
invisible all 6feet 4 inches and 250 lbs of me had suddenly been reduced to
nothing and that my sale didn’t matter to this guy. So I figured if he wasn’t going
to help me maybe someone else would. So I rang the little buzzer and guess what
the sales man rushed right back to the counter looking worried that I somehow
needed help, and didn’t apologize but instead seeing me looked pissed that I would
pull such a stunt as to ask for help when he obviously could care less if I stood
there all damn day. I asked him if I had the right door and armed with my
measurements and both of us looking at the box and the diagram he hurriedly
assured me I had the right door and hurriedly ran back to his non buyers. So I paid
for the screen door and loaded it by myself into the expedition and headed
home.
Now the only way to find out if the
screen door will surely fit in the opening is to check out the installation
instructions in the big box you just bought, which requires you to open and
find out where they stuffed them. Why they don’t laminate them on the outside
of the box or offer the retailer a copy so the salesman can assure you have the
right one is beyond me. Anyhow after I rip the box open and according to the
directions on the outside of the box I find the installation directions in the
very bottom under a pile of parts and finally open and assess my project only
to find out I have to rip boards off the entrance to make it large enough to accommodate
the new door. Don’t have to move them much, just a quarter inch but it might as
well be a mile when you are talking 100 year old boards nailed in by my grandpa
years ago. The diagram on the box on the outside was not a true representation
of the products requirement to be installed.
So I debated all night long how I am going
to go about this project and decided to hell with it I am not going to eat this
door and move boards, instead I am going to pack it all in the tore up box and include
the instructions and take back to Lowes and demand the right door, If they can’t
provide it then will go somewhere else.
This is what is wrong with our
marketplace. Selling stuff and hoping we will not bring it back. I thought
about using it on my house but I haven’t really needed a screen door that bad.
And we would still have to buy another. I say screw it and Lowes for hiring
inept salesmen who apparently have trouble seeing a real customer, when he
comes in. I will shove all the parts and pieces minus the instruction sheet I intend
to show the return person at the store, into the torn up box and tape it
together haphazardly with some rip stop tape so they have to send the box and
door back to the factory to repackage for sale again, and maybe then they will
understand what it is to provide more information about their product before trying
to sell it. I doubt it but oh well. I just want the right door and not a bunch
of extra work. This kind of crap the stores want to shove down your throat is a
load on everyone when it doesn’t work
and we all pay for it in higher prices or loss of jobs as companies are
forced out of business by their own stupidity. All that blank cardboard space
could have been used to provide more information about their product that was
hidden in the details of their instruction sheet. Way to go America.
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