The Joys of Retail Business

Yesterday I dropped in to visit with my friend Johnny Sellers at his EmbroidMe storefront just to catch up. It wasn't long before he was telling me the story of a woman customer who had come in earlier while he was out and had loudly berated the staff while picking up her item.

The topic of her ranting and raving was that they were not open on Saturdays, and her message among others was, "You are a retail business and all retail businesses are open on Saturdays -- and since you aren't open on Saturdays, you're bad, horrible, terrible people."

Johnny was upset and so we talked some about how and if he should respond. He wanted to tell her that he wasn't open on Saturday because after staying open on Saturdays for over a year and finding that he was not getting business and losing money, he had made the decision to close on Saturdays. He wanted to tell her that he often meets customers at the store on Saturdays to deliver items or take special orders. He wanted to tell her that he has even met customers at midnight when that's what they needed. He wanted to tell her that store hours are posted clearly on the door, and that they had agreed to a Thursday delivery anyway. And he wanted to tell her that she was abusive to his staff and that it was uncalled for. But as we talked, he realized that her tirade wasn't about being closed Saturday -- but that was just the excuse to blow up, and that to respond would not be helpful to him or to her. It was just a time to take a slap on the face and move on.

But, because he and his staff are my friends, I had to rethink some of what I expect from retailers and how I react when my expectations are not met. Our society, and me as part of it, has come to expect that retailers and service providers should be at our beck and call 24-7, that we should not have to wait in line or do anything else that might be inconvenient for us, and that any time we want, we should be able to blow up and let them have it, whether it is about them or whether we are carrying a chip on our shoulder left over from work or home or wherever. I made a mental note to be more reasonable, more Christ-like in my expectations and reactions.

It's so easy to let it be "all about me" for all of us. But it's not.