I don't like Mondays, but I really really hate post long weekend Tuesdays.

[TorontoBuilder]

I was waiting on two very important quotes that were supposed to arrive Friday, they still haven't arrived.

Long weekends really pooch an entire work week. Friday I expect people to be non-responsive, but not to reply on the Tuesday is reprehensible. Do yall really hate making money that much you'd risk people going elsewhere?

 

[DPittman]

Do yall really hate making money that much you'd risk people going elsewhere?

I don't know about out there but here I think the reason is cuz business is too damn good. "They" don't HAVE to do business with me because there are 10 other guys lined up behind me willing to pay the exorbitant prices.

 

[TorontoBuilder]

I don't know about out there but here I think the reason is cuz business is too damn good. "They" don't HAVE to do business with me because there are 10 other guys lined up behind me willing to pay the exorbitant

In regards to the quotes I'm waiting on, yeah they need this business. They're just small vendors who like to take extended long weekends.

 

[jcdammeyer]

Totally get that. Seems 15 of these missed the ferry on Friday. They are theoretically on the Purolator truck coming from Valid Manufacturing in Salmon Arm. Had they arrived this morning first thing then I'd have the boards installed and units tested ready to ship out. Now it will be delayed by a day or two. Ah well...

 

[Brian H]

I don't know about out there but here I think the reason is cuz business is too damn good. "They" don't HAVE to do business with me because there are 10 other guys lined up behind me willing to pay the exorbitant prices.

You're 100% correct with that, its the same way in upper rubber boot. Most trades/ companies have become complacent and think that the work will never end. I find it ironic with the ease and speed of communication now that prompt replies and customer service have gone the way of the do-do bird... I guess I'm just old and crotchity now... but dang I'm getting good at it...

 

[TorontoBuilder]

You're 100% correct with that, its the same way in upper rubber boot. Most trades/ companies have become complacent and think that the work will never end. I find it ironic with the ease and speed of communication now that prompt replies and customer service have gone the way of the do-do bird... I guess I'm just old and crotchity now... but dang I'm getting good at it...

I'm old and crotchety too now... but I save all my griping for this off topic forum.

 

[whydontu]

The one that frosts me are the bricks-n-mortar stores that don’t realize Amazon exists.

I’m talking to you, Canadian Tire. Products locked behind glass, so I need to wait for a clueless employee to unlock the cabinet so I can buy a 7/8” socket. And I can’t leave the store (after giving up on buying a socket) without having to elbow my way past the lineup of customers waiting to pay.

Or Lordco, who don’t have signs identifying what’s on the shelves, and often no prices.

I hate Amazon, but it’s very hard to ignore how convenient it is to order on line and have the item delivered to your door the next day.

 

[TorontoBuilder]

The one that frosts me are the bricks-n-mortar stores that don’t realize Amazon exists.

I’m talking to you, Canadian Tire. Products locked behind glass, so I need to wait for a clueless employee to unlock the cabinet so I can buy a 7/8” socket. And I can’t leave the store (after giving up on buying a socket) without having to elbow my way past the lineup of customers waiting to pay.

Or Lordco, who don’t have signs identifying what’s on the shelves, and often no prices.

I hate Amazon, but it’s very hard to ignore how convenient it is to order on line and have the item delivered to your door the next day.

I have never been a crappy tire shopper for those two reasons....

 

[jcdammeyer]

I find that since they changed the exit policy at the local Cdn Tire that I rarely shop there. There is a large on at Hillside Mall that has an exit into the mall with one till. And you can walk out without elbowing people. But the street exit is harder to get out of. And like Walmart they now have a 'greeter' at the front door.

The local one near me used to sell all the fancy screws and nuts in bulk. Like Home Depot you wrote the qty and number on the bag. And they had an amazing variety. Not all the Cdn. Tire stores had that. Once they changed to a small automotive counter and the serpentine exits they also got rid of that and went to bagged screws: 2 for $4.00 where they used to be $0.35 each.

 

[Tom O]

I use to play in those fields 60 some on years ago where the mall is, but I never saw the airfield where Landsdowne School is Dad told us Charles Lingburg stopped in there one day.

 

[terry_g]

The U bolts we ordered for a job in the shop showed up Monday morning. Because there is a large
variety of different lengths widths and shapes the warehouse stocks the straight rods and bends them
to what the customer ordered. I guess the person picking the parts did not know this and sent us
four 30" long 3/4" rods. They were probably wondering why they are called U-bolts.
The brake pads for another job in the shop showed up Monday morning as well or one of them did.
The warehouse person did not know brake pads are supplied in boxes of four. They took one pad
out of the box of four and packed it with shipping paper and shipped it to us.

 

[jcdammeyer]

The U bolts we ordered for a job in the shop showed up Monday morning. Because there is a large
variety of different lengths widths and shapes the warehouse stocks the straight rods and bends them
to what the customer ordered. I guess the person picking the parts did not know this and sent us
four 30" long 3/4" rods. They were probably wondering why they are called U-bolts.
The brake pads for another job in the shop showed up Monday morning as well or one of them did.
The warehouse person did not know brake pads are supplied in boxes of four. They took one pad
out of the box of four and packed it with shipping paper and shipped it to us.

This was ordered from where?

 

[terry_g]

TW Distribution

 

[Canadium]

I’m talking to you, Canadian Tire. Products locked behind glass, so I need to wait for a clueless employee to unlock the cabinet so I can buy a 7/8” socket. And I can’t leave the store (after giving up on buying a socket) without having to elbow my way past the lineup of customers waiting to pay.

I'm actually quite sympathetic to bricks and mortar stores that now have to keep merchandise locked up behind glass because of a shoplifting epidemic. I have read that some stores in the US have even had to close up shop altogether for this reason. Most retail stores are now doing this to some extent even Princess Auto.

I recently ordered some stuff from Crappy Tire because believe it or not they had the best price on a quality product. I ordered online picked it up at their pickup/returns counter. Went very fast, didn't have to search for it in the store, fight crowds and get an employee to open the closed case and bring it to the cash out. Worked great and was an excellent shopping experience IMO. I will probably shop there again this way in the future.

 

[slow-poke]

I'm guessing this will resonate with my fellow CT shoppers. Same as above need a tool from behind the locked glass, not a single employe to be found anywhere except at the checkout. Finally after a good five minutes of searching I find this dishevelled looking kid who looks entirely hungover and ask if he can unlock the display. His response I'm not kidding " You know I have a lot on my mind today can you find someone else? " Perhaps his 15 year old girlfriend just told him he was about to be a daddy?

I don't know where they find most of these kids they don't know what ANYTHING is, nine times out of ten they give you the tilted head dog look and then send you to aisle 57 because your presently in aisle 2 and your unlikely to make the trip back to them.

 

[Canadium]

I'm guessing this will resonate with my fellow CT shoppers. Same as above need a tool from behind the locked glass, not a single employe to be found anywhere except at the checkout. Finally after a good five minutes of searching I find this dishevelled looking kid who looks entirely hungover and ask if he can unlock the display. His response I'm not kidding " You know I have a lot on my mind today can you find someone else? " Perhaps his 15 year old girlfriend just told him he was about to be a daddy?

I don't know where they find most of these kids they don't know what ANYTHING is, nine times out of ten they give you the tilted head dog look and then send you to aisle 57 because your presently in aisle 2 and your unlikely to make the trip back to them.

Yes for sure I've been there too and I imagine most everyone has. But have you ever been in their shoes and tried to do their jobs? Many years ago I did a stint in retailing and I can tell you its not an easy job. You are expected to help unload delivery trucks, check for damaged goods, check the bill of goods to see if it agrees with what actually arrived, restock the store shelves, rearrange and construct new product displays and keep the store clean both floors and stock shelves, etc etc etc. It is a list that could keep you busy for 3 days without interruptions and you are expected to do it all in one day while answering and assisting customers all day. Their are thousands of items in the store and there is no way in H*ll any normal person is going to remember where in the store they are all located or what they all are for but of course that is what customers inevitably want to know. Consequently when I go shopping these days at a bricks and mortar store and require assistance I don't really expect any intelligent assistance. If I get some I consider it an amazing bonus and I am amazed at how often it actually happens.

A couple of funny stories. My wife is an avid gardener and one of her favorite garden tools is a right angle bladed device designed to remove weeds that have taken hold in cracks between hard surfaces as in between patio stones. So one day she sent me off to CT to get a replacement for her. When I asked the employee in the store for the "crack weeder" they thought I wanted drugs or something! Similarly I went to my local grocery one time and asked for some citric acid. Its supposed to be a common grocery item. The employee again thought I was looking for drugs. In their minds any thing acid was a drug. Having studied some advanced chemistry at the university level this seemed to me like an unconscionable degree of profound ignorance. I guess tho you can't expect every one to know everything. I just get tired some times of seemingly being that extraordinary shopper that is always looking for things that no one else has ever heard of or understands, like Fahnestock clips...

 

[Brian H]

I'm guessing this will resonate with my fellow CT shoppers. Same as above need a tool from behind the locked glass, not a single employe to be found anywhere except at the checkout. Finally after a good five minutes of searching I find this dishevelled looking kid who looks entirely hungover and ask if he can unlock the display. His response I'm not kidding " You know I have a lot on my mind today can you find someone else? " Perhaps his 15 year old girlfriend just told him he was about to be a daddy?

I don't know where they find most of these kids they don't know what ANYTHING is, nine times out of ten they give you the tilted head dog look and then send you to aisle 57 because your presently in aisle 2 and your unlikely to make the trip back to them.

I have experienced this many times at pretty much all big box stores. Although very frustrating, I think one of the largest contributing factors is these are generally entry level (low-paying) positions and very few of the people willing to take these positions are given adequate training. It all seems to be companies just watching the bottom line. I had a manager tell me many years ago that if a company invests in good employees they will look after the customers and this will look after the bottom line.

I have had times where other customers have approached me and asked me for assistance. One lady said "You look like you know what your doing, could you help me?". I was taught to help others when I can and every time people appreciate it. There have been a few occasions where it got me paying jobs.

 

[slow-poke]

I think part of the problem is that when we were kids we were building tree forts and go karts, and too many of the new generation are spending their time on facebook and we chat, so when you ask them what aisle the emery cloth is in, they have no idea.

 

[Canadium]

I think part of the problem is that when we were kids we were building tree forts and go karts, and too many of the new generation are spending their time on facebook and we chat, so when you ask them what aisle the emery cloth is in, they have no idea.

It was always this way for me. My awareness as a consumer began when I was about 10 years old. I found some plans in a book at my local library for how to build a crystal radio set. It called for Fahnestock clips. I went all over town trying to source all the parts needed. When I asked for Fahnestock clips people looked at me as though I was from Mars. My Dad saved the day and found some. We built the crystal radio together.

 

[MecGen]

I was waiting on two very important quotes that were supposed to arrive Friday, they still haven't arrived.

Long weekends really pooch an entire work week. Friday I expect people to be non-responsive, but not to reply on the Tuesday is reprehensible. Do yall really hate making money that much you'd risk people going elsewhere?

I hear you 100%. The service industry has gone and will never come back.