Have you ever stopped patronizing a store for non-price/service reasons?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
61

I think that I’m gonna start giving out Jenny’s number, with a 900 area code, since businesses seem to require this info for some transactions.

As for the email address, no. Just no. I just tell them that I don’t believe in electricity (as I’m purchasing a video game or something similar). When we moved, my husband chose an electric company, and got an account set up for us. But he gave them my email address. I completely blew up, both at him and at the company. I told the company that I did not want them using that address, and in fact to erase it. They insisted that they needed an email address. I told them that there were still people who weren’t online. No, they needed my email address. I told them fine, I was blocking their emails, and to cancel our account. Then I told my husband that if he EVER gave my email out again, instead of his own, that I was going to fill out all those contest forms that I could find, in his name, and I was going to put his cell number on all of them. He’s as protective of his cell number as I am about my email address. So Bill had to find another electric company.

The thing is, he’d given my email address out before, reasoning that I check mine oftener than he checks his. And I had told him, each time, not to do it again. But with Bill, just verbally telling him isn’t enough, sometimes. I gotta go for the nuclear option to make my point clear.

62

Did you ever stop to think that the symbol MIGHT be used by unscrupulous non-Christians to take advantage of gullible right-wing religious fanatics? If not, maybe give it a shot, you could increase your business a few percent I’m sure.

63

Militia magazines? I’ve been a “gun nut” for decades and didn’t know there were such things, I might just subscribe.

Might it be possible you are talking about main-stream gun and hunting magazines? Might the vet have had a number of customers who brought hunting dogs in for checkups and such? Just a hunch.

64

Oh, sorry, so I can stay on topic - I avoid businesses whose owners contribute majority- or solely to liberal candidates/parties/causes. I do not, however, go out of my way to patronize right-wing-owned businesses. I prefer those who for the most part keep their politics out of their businesses, or contribute equally to buy influence with all sides. You never know who will be in power, after all, and I like folks who grease all skids equally.

65

Yes, there are militia magazines. Well, I consider Soldier of Fortune a militia magazine, and I’ve seen similar magazines.

66

Well, I see you’re in Ft. Worth, I’m in far North Dallas (Plano/Frisco in fact) - I’ve lived in Texas my whole life, so maybe it was just a cultural thing you didn’t understand. Where’d you move from? I suspect, again, that it was a vet who probably did a lot of business with hunting dogs and the like, so those magazine would likely appeal to his customers. Not trying to convince you to go back, of course, but just saying, not everyone who uses a vet reads Cat Fancy.

I have to admit I’ve never seen a vet with SoF on the waiting room table, but I might like to start patronizing such an establishment.

Also, among those who do read SoF - it’s not so much a how-to manual as it is an action-adventure type magazine, similar to the old Pulp magazines of manly derring-do you may have heard of. Nothing to worry about.

67

I stopped going into Ace hardware years ago because they started this obnoxious “co-pilot” thing where all employees had radio headsets and they would attempt to have someone with you at all times, and then hand you off to someone else. I’d tell the main guy that no I do not need help, only to be asked again every time an employee would see me unattended. OBNOXIOUS.

68

I need a T-shirt that says this on it.

69

If they ask for my e-mail address, I simply refuse. I don’t give a reason.

I will here though. I don’t want spam. I don’t want “offers.” I don’t want whatever-the-hell-it-is that they’re selling this week.

“Oh but we need an e-mail address in order to sell this to you.” No you don’t. You need my cash on the table. There it is–take it. Give me my change.

Deal done, and all without the store needing to know my e-mail address.

Just refuse. They cannot make you give it.

70

I really prefer to patronize small, locally owned businesses when I can, but some of them make it so difficult. There was a feed store not 5 min from my house, and another about 10 min away that I really tried to like. I just couldn’t do it. The closest one didn’t have enough sales of the kind of feed I used so I’d end up with bags of buggy or moldy feed, and then it was a hassle to return it. The 10 min away store had more traffic, but the place was plastered with handwritten signs with lots of underlining and !!! and " " and misspellings galore. All the signs were ‘You MUST…’ or 'DO NOT… ’ or ‘Absolutley NO…’ – not exactly a welcoming atmosphere.

71

When I worked at Babies R Us we were required to “greet and assist” beyond all reasonable limits.
There’s a survey attached to receipts, and we were supposed to get a score of 60% or better.
We greeted the hell out of those customers, and just barely got 60 in a good week. It was weird as well as annoying.

But as a consequence, I’m sensitive to it now, and frequently have to deal with it in other stores.
Home Depot has a policy of doing it on weekends, if you go on a Tuesday they leave you alone.

72

This might be a good time to call your local newspaper.

73

I agree with saje about small mom-and-pop businesses.

Usually they are the best, with the owner really caring about customers and going far beyond the call of duty to take care of customers.

…and then there are the arrogant jerks who feel that since they own the store, they can act rudely and you can take it or leave it. That’s a pretty easy choice for me.

There are a couple of musical instrument stores in my area owned by different families, let’s say “Smith’s Music” and the other is “Jones’ Music”

25 years ago I walked into “Smith’s Music” while I was looking for a keyboard, a nice one that would serve as a piano for me. I was 21, and probably didn’t look like I could afford one, and while I was playing the various keyboards a gentleman came over to talk to me. He answered a couple of questions, and then the nasty old lady who owned the store looked past me at the salesman and barked “Forget it, he isn’t going to buy it. Don’t waste your time.”
Indeed. I went to “Jones’ Music” the next week, was treated like a musician instead of a nuisance, and I bought a $1800 keyboard (in '88 dollars).

My wife is a piano teacher, and she buys lots of sheet music, student guides, and other things. She also provides many recommendations for musical instrument purchase. She went to “Smith’s Music” only out of necessity when she couldn’t find music anywhere else. The nasty old woman never treated her well. Clearly she had better things to do than to take care of piano teachers who had an aching need to buy large quantities of music and had influence on their students.

Ten years later the nasty old woman retired, and her daughter took over the helm at “Smith’s Music”. She was no better, speaking rudely to her staff and ignoring customers because it was always more important to conduct business than to take care of customers. I never set foot in “Smith’s Music” again.

I have patronized “Jones’ Music” for the past 25 years and continue to purchase all of my music and guitars there. What a great place. Also family owned.

What a difference attitude makes.

On the flip side, a couple of weeks ago I wanted to buy a new camera lens before a trip and couldn’t wait for it to come in from Amazon or BH. I searched for a local camera store and found one in Pennsylvania. A quick drive over the river and I was there.

What a place! The guys answered all kinds of questions, with patience, gave me knowledgeable advice, and sold me an excellent lightly used camera (a Fuji x100) that is serving me well. Two weeks ago I went back and bought a used 60mm lens for my XPro 1. Both camera and lens are fairly rare at camera stores, so I was happy to find them. And I got the same patient and knowledgeable treatment each time. I will continue to buy equipment from them where possible.

74

Sure, a bunch of times:

  1. One pizza place here is distinctly racist. It’s a national chain but a franchise, so it was just a specific store.
  2. I don’t go to any store that advertises its Christianity screamingly loud, often to the detriment of it’s employees. (Hobby lobby I am looking at you.) I don’t have a major aversion to shopping at a Christian owned store, I just don’t want to know your politics or religion. At all.
  3. There is a bike (bicycle) shop down the street from me that is the most rude and obnoxious bike shop but only to women customers. I went in there looking for a new helmet and they were surly and mean to me and then the same to two other women that came in, but when my SO went in, he said they were super helpful and polite.
  4. I have I think the World’s Largest Walmart near me. I HATE IT. I don’t much like Walmart as it is but for some things it’s just the cheapest. (For example, large plastic storage bins.) But I cannot stand the warehouse-y atmosphere of this, and it takes a looooong time to get any shopping done because it’s so huge, and I’ve had some really bad experiences with the cashiers there.
75

I’ve never seen a veterinarian with SoF in his waiting room, but then, I’m usually trying to calm down frantic animals.

As for where I’m from, I was born in Fort Worth. My parents moved to another state when I was 15, and I was miserable, and ran away. I called them and they agreed to let me live with my grandparents (in FW). When my husband and I got married, he was in the Air Force, and so we moved a lot. When he got out, guess where we moved to? Yep, Fort Worth. So, I’d say that I’m a Fort Worth native.

Maybe SoF has changed, or I might have conflated it with another magazine or two that my husband and his buddies used to pass around. I used to read the classified ads in the backs of the magazines, which hinted around that the advertisers needed to hire men that could solve stubborn problems.

76

A nurses aide serving a nursing home resident a salad,

Warning!

Actually bit off the corner of the salad dressing package and as I recall actually poured it on the salad.*

I actually ate that salad as a visitor…

77

GrizzWife refuses to enter a specific convenience store nearby because there’s a loud electronic chime that goes off whenever customers enter.

78

Any restaurant that has a large TV playing. It makes it hard to have a social experience, because people’s eyes just get drawn to the screen. I might go into the restaurant to talk with friends over lunch, but even though none of us cares about baseball, inevitably someone will stop chatting to stare at the big game on the TV. Very distracting and off-putting.

79

Stores which have a minimum value for credit card purchases. It’s not that I care that they have a minimum–it’s that I rarely carry cash. I lose interest in going places when I have to deal with the hassle of remembering to pick up cash ahead of time. Rarely is any store worth the hassle. There’s plenty of other convenience stores, sandwich shops, etc to chose from.

Restaurants which are stingy with normal condiments (pickles, ketchup, napkins, etc.). It makes me think they are trying to save every penny and getting the lowest price ingredients. I don’t want to be eating the cheapest piece of chicken they could buy.

80

Not a mom and pop operation, but musicians in NYC will probably remember the late Manny’s Music, on 48th Street.

They were infamous for unhelpful salespeople (at least unhelpful if you weren’t a rock star). Everyone who shopped there, and asked to have a look at a guitar or bass or whatever, has heard the salesjerk say “well, are you going to buy it?”

I remember when I was a high school kid and had saved up to buy my first decent electric guitar (a Telecaster), having it made perfectly clear to me that they couldn’t be bothered to take a guitar off the wall and let me try it unless I practically paid for it first.

So I didn’t buy that Telecaster there. I bought it somewhere else. And I never became a great guitar player, but I liked playing, and I liked guitars, and as I grew up and got real jobs and had some discretionary income, I bought more. But none of them at Manny’s.

I was very happy one day a few years ago when I walked down 48th Street and saw that they were no longer in business.