My friend Ava and I had gone over to the Mall
to pick up some Christmas gifts I had ordered to come into the store for pick
up. Her husband suggested that if we were near Penney’s we pop in and see if they had any jeans in his size. She
does not normally shop there except for him so we did. I will shop at Penney’s however, after yesterday they
are very close to once again being on my boycott list. Years ago in the 1980s
after refusing to remove an item from a mannequin and completing a sale they
chose not to and lost not only that sale but I placed an arm full of
merchandise on their counter and left. I did not return to shop there until a
random incident over 10 years later led to a meeting with a manager who
apologized for a store that was hot hers.
My first complaint is there is no sign of
Christmas in the store. There is the word jingle and Cringle and Santa. No
Christmas and no Holiday. It is Christmas people deal with it!!! This special
day of celebration would not be here if it were not called Christmas. No one is
pulling out all the stops and creating special cookies, drinks, decorations to
celebrate the birth of Tamara. There is no Happy Tamaramas.
My
second complaint is there was a sale going on in the store yesterday that had
all the appearance of a last minute idea. There were photocopies in black and
white of a sale coupon stacked in baskets held by sharply dressed mannequins at
the front door as you enter. 20% off if
you use your Penney credit card and
15% if not. That first of all is a problem for me. I am going to give you cash
and my reward for access to instant money in your pocket is a 15% discount. Yet
people who use your credit card and may or may not end up paying you get 20%? How about I do not shop and you get no money? The list of restrictions on products on the coupon
were longer than the legal mumbo jumbo about the coupon. No Levi, no Disney products
no this and that product and on and on it went. Maybe it would have been more
user friendly had they listed what we could use the coupon on. “Good only on
black socks store wide.”
My third complaint is about the cashier.
First of all as we walked up she was handling a challenge with a prospective
customer on the phone which she did with no hint of care or respect in her
voice. After she hung up she mumbled out loud a complaint regarding the recently
ended phone call. We were not the only customers/guests in queue waiting to
check out so others also witnessed this. As Ava presented her coupon the woman
states that the sale does not apply to Levis. Keep the coupon then says Ava I
still want the jeans. When the transaction was complete the clerk handed Ava
her receipt and then walked away leaving the bag lying on the counter. Now
maybe that is not such a bad thing to some people but in both Ava’s and my
world we are not treated that way and were stunned. At Neiman Marcus which is
where I shop for all my beauty products the clerk cashes me out picks up my
bags walks around the counter and brings them to me thanking me for shopping with
them and with the store. It is Number 2 on my list of reasons I will drive 45
miles out of my way to shop there.
Neither one of us felt welcomed or appreciated
by your cashier. You want to know what your problem is Penney’s?? I can understand
people having a bad day. I am ballsy enough to ask why they are cranky. I do
not know that just 11 hours earlier her husband came home drunk and admitted he
had been cheating on her for the past 8 hours with a woman named Pearl. I can
quickly forgive a slightly bad attitude if I know that as she opened her front
door to leave her dog ran out and into the street and was run over as she
starred in helpless horror.
One more thing. As we walked through Macy’s
whom I am still boycotting not one person greeted us or said hello, welcome,
thank you for coming in here today (the first reason I am boycotting). But, as
we wandered through Victoria Secret I was greeted and spoken to by every clerk
including Iris who said to ask if I needed anything. Which I did and the moment
I said out loud “Iris does this sale price include these larger items that are
also on this table?” She came right over, collected them and took them for a
price check. Do you want to know how many people greeted and spoke to us
throughout your store, both floors? NONE!!! With all of the choices out there
and places I can spend my money you should be stepping up your customer game
and outshining the others.
I probably will not be shopping with you this
Christmas season. That may not matter much to you but remember I am also not
shopping at Macy’s so my money is going to Kohl’s, Dillard’s and specialty
stores. Maybe I am not your demographic but again can you afford to lose
customers?
It is once again that time of year when I
need to find an evening gown for the Gala. I was thinking something blue this
year but the dresses I have seen so far are all black or ghastly muted colors
and not very pretty at all. Most of them look like Mother of the Bride dresses.
NOT wearing one of those. Maybe I can find an old Vogue pattern on ebay and
have a vintage 1959 evening gown made.
Something worthy of having been worn by
Joan Crawford at the Academy Awards. I
think I will hunt one down right now.
Cheers!
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