My husband and I have been customers of Vickery (formerly Ace) Hardware for years. They usually have what we want and, more importantly, they're close to our house. It's usually hard to find someone in the store to help -- but we can usually find what we want without help.\r
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I went to their store this morning to buy some screws for a project I'm working on. After looking at the screws in the back, I could find what I was looking for, so I went up to the desk, which nobody seemed to be manning. I waited patiently for someone return to the desk.\r
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Finally, two employees appeared -- and completely ignored me. After a minute or so, another customer, (who apparently had stacked some stuff at the checkout while going back into the store to look for some more stuff) came to the front with the rest of his purchases. The fat employee with the grey beard immediately started checking him out. Meantime, another customer entered the store, and the other employee asked him what he could do for him and proceeded to help him with his ""chainsaw"" sharpening.\r
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After the initial customer had finished checking out, the fat guy asked me if I needed some help. I pointed out that two other people had been helped ahead of me while I was standing there. He curtly replied that the first customer had had a key made and was, therefore, a ""customer"" -- and that ""customers"" got helped first. (I always thought that any person shopping in a store was a ""customer"", but this guy had obviously never heard of this concept). I then enquired about the guy who had just walked in the door and was immediately helped. The fat guy just shrugged and looked bored.\r
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Since there didn't seem to be any interest in customer service in the store, I said that I would go elsewhere to find my screws. ""Fine with me"", he announced. As I left, I mentioned that my husband would probably no longer be shopping there either. ""That's fine with me, too"", he retorted.\r
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This store has now lost two long-time customers (myself and my husband). I wonder how many other customers they've lost because of their rudeness and indifference?
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