This always happens before the holidays. For some strange reason, there is a flurry of home improvement activity in our household. So, in order to maintain the tradition, my husband and I walked down to our Lowe's Home Improvement Center here in Brooklyn. Its not a pretty walk. Our Lowe's is framed by the elevated F subway line, and the infamous, fetid Gowanus Canal. But the sky was blue, the air crisp and a walk seemed appropriate.
When the store opened about two years ago, I welcomed it as an alternative to our impossibly dysfuncional Home Depot. But the clean, well layed out store has managed to loose its competitive edge over H.D. in no time. And believe me, Lowe's really did not need to try very hard to surpass its competitor. My disappointment started with the sorriest looking plants in their garden center. All through the growing season, the store was displaying flowers so bone dry that I was tempted to pick up the watering hose myself . More recently, I had attempted to buy a lamp shade, but everytime I searched the lighting isle, the stock was so low that I either could not find the right size or the right color. It was more than frustrating.
The reason for this last visit was roll-down blinds . Nothing fancy, just something to keep the sun out. It took us a while to find someone who could cut the shades to our required measurements. That done, we asked for the little wall-mounted brackets which allow the installation of said-blind. Not an unreasonable request, I think. But believe it or not, Lowe's was out of stock. " You can pick those up at your local hardware store", the not-so friendly salesperson told us without a hint of irony. Say what? Lowe's is sending me to my local hardware store? The only thing that went through my mind was: "Does Mazzone's have roll-up blinds, too?" I felt guilty that I did not try our small but efficient neighborhood store first.
I was so irritated by the entire big chain shopping experience, that I decided to speak up. Confidently, I marched up to the Customer Service desk and asked to speak to the manager. A few minutes later, a balding, rotund man walked towards me. I started my little speech by telling him that I had been shopping at Lowe's since it opened, but that recently, I had found my visits to his store frustrating. I explained that the stock for some items was meagre. Slightly defensive, he asked me to show him what I meant. So off we went to the lamp shade department. I think he was shocked himself when he saw the slim pickings on the display carrousel. I held up one of the more tasteful shades and told him that I would have bought this one, If...it did not have a big dent in it. I held the mangled shade right in front of his eyes.
" You are right, ma'am, there is no excuse. This item should not be out on the floor." I started to think that this guy was on the ball, until... "But, you know, this is not Long Island. This is Brooklyn." he continued " And the people here are animals. They trash everything." Well, I was stunned. First Lowe's sends me to my local hardware store, then they diss Brooklynites. Where did this guy think I lived? Long Island?
I quickly regained my composure: " You also make more money in this store than in any of your locations on Long Island" I replied. " And you are right. There is no excuse. I should not have to come back three times for the right-sized lamp shade. I hope that you appreciate that I am taking my time to give you some useful customer feed-back." With that, I turned my back to him and walked out of the store.
Minutes later, my husband and I were standing in Mazzone's hardware store. Within a few seconds, the cheery salesperson had located the wall mounts for the blinds and brought them to the cashier for us. We felt like valued customers. I know for a fact that in this store, they don't poopooo people from Brooklyn. They are locals themselves. So next time I need something hardware related, I will give my money to merchants who actually like Brooklynites.
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