Tag Archives: retail

When is good enough good enough?

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One of the hardest things, especially when it comes to writing, is deciding when something is good to go. In the print world, once the type is set, format, and layout is done, it’s really, really done because somewhere you have a warehouse rack filled with printed, final products. Find a mistake in one of them and it’s tough shit until (if) you get around to printing a second run. The ebook is a different animal. Even though it’s published and available for purchase, you can change it innumerable times by simply uploading a new file to your retailers. I’m afraid the tendency there is to make editing an ongoing process and never let the book “just be.”

I think I’m getting closing in on that territory now. I’m happy-ish with the formatting and layout, happy-ish with the cover, and happy-ish, with the content. There’s a lot of –ish in there. Mostly because I’m not complete satisfied. I’ll probably never be completely satisfied, though, so at a point sooner rather than later, I’m going to have to give it up, hit the “publish” button and turn this little project loose on an unsuspecting world. Wanting to get it all exactly right on your first go around is probably excessive, but hey, that’s just part of my charm, no?

If nothing unexpected crops up, I expect that’s going to happen in the next week to ten days. I’ve been secretly shooting for an Ides of March publication date, but for several reasons (mostly involving my need to continue working at my day job), that goal is all but out of reach. With that said, I’m still finding the occasional error that needs fixing, but the period of wholesale changes and rewriting seems to be at an end. Hopefully those of you planning on picking up an early copy will also feel up to sending in some constructive feedback once you’ve had a chance to see what I’ve been up to for the last eighteen months. I think you’re all in for a treat.

A note to retailers…

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If you are a retailer facing what most are saying is the most foul economic climate in the post war period, the response to a customer walking in your door at 1:55 prepared to spend a few hundred dollar shouldn’t be, “oh we close at two.” Maybe you should find some time to focus a little more on “May I help you?” Really, though, go ahead and stick with your current customer relations model and let me know how that works out for you.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Something doesn’t seem quite right…

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I was in a position where I actually needed to go to Target today. Under most circumstances, I try to avoid that type of venue between December 1st and the middle of January, but I found myself there this morning needing an eclectic mix of groceries and sundry household goods. And with that, the stage is set…

While minding my own business and searching for the Wonder bread, it occurs to me that Christmas is supposed to be the happiest time of the year. People go to great lengths to show how jolly they are by decorating their homes and lawns, throwing parties, and exchanging $15 gifts with their coworkers. Since I’m a hopeless watcher of people, I noticed that no one around me actually seemed jolly. In fact they seemed downright miserable… jamming laden carts into one another, wading through scowling crowds to get to on section or another, scarcely keeping an eye on the kids they had in tow, unless it was to yell at them to come back.

This is the happiest time of the year and for some reason, something doesn’t seem quite right. It’s amazing what you can see when no one knows, or cares, that you’re watching.

Stupid poetic justice…

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So, next time I am bitching about not having anything to blog, someone please remind me to shut the hell up, please. This afternoon, I was expecting to take delivery of 42-inches of plasma goodness. The delivery guys were on target (yes, the Best Buy truck knows how to get to my house even though there are no maps with my neighborhood in them yet). The minute they started pulling it out of the box, I knew something wasn’t right… of course they were behind it, looking at the connections and hadn’t noticed what I was looking at yet… A simply “uhhhh… guys…” was enough to get their attention and draw it to a screen that wasn’t just cracked. It was shattered. Like a baseball through a window kind of shattered…

No problem they say, we’ll call the warehouse and swing by and pick up a new one and be back in an hour or so. They were even nice enough to call ahead and make sure a new set was waiting for them. An hour and a half later, they call back… There’s a problem. The set is out of stock. Now I know a little something about supply operations and being out of an advertised special the day before Thanksgiving is not a good thing to be, but I digress. To make what could become a long and painful rant slightly shorter, I ended up at the store with the “TV manager” trying to reach an agreement. After some extensive haggling and instance on recompense for my inconvenience, we agree that they will just give me the next higher model at no additional cost. Problem solved.

Yeah… not so much. Turns out this model was out of stock too. By this point I asked the guy to just go back to the warehouse and bring me a list of what they actually do have in stock and we’ll work from that. More haggling ensues, with corresponding increases in blood pressure and vocal volume. Finally, after two hours of dickering, finding out what they don’t have on hand, and my generally being obstinate until I got what I wanted, they agreed to a considerable upgrade. Mainly, I think, to get me out of the television section. Of course by now it’s after 7PM and they won’t be able to deliver it after the Thanksgiving weekend. Sigh. Let’s just say the Jeep has more cargo space than you think it does.

So, yes, my TV is here and working beautifully. Of course the stand I ordered with it still has to be delivered. In the grand scheme of life, it’s a minor detail, but you know how I hate it when things don’t go like clockwork.

Twice as long…

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Happily, I can report that my feud with Best Buy has been concluded satisfactorily. I have my appliances and a $25 gift card. I wasn’t actually trying to get a freebie from the corporate customer service office, but I’ll take it.

I am now the proud owner of a ridiculously large black refrigerator. The down side – and you knew there had to be one – is that the water dispenser in the door seems to have a slow and annoying leak. I’ve taken a deep breath and will hold on to see if it is something that will resolve itself as the seals and piping acclimatize to the cold. We’ll see…

Based on the experience so far, I’m not optimistic that will go according to plan. I may be a little jaded because as I picked up one end of the couch yesterday to move it out of the way, one of the legs fell off. Normally this is something I can fix myself, so I flipped the couch over to find that, in fact, the screws that are supposed to hold it to the frame were all stripped. I’m not going to go on a rant about using the right tool for the right job or anything here, but still. So, next Thursday, I’m going to loose another afternoon sitting around waiting on the furniture company to send out one of their “expert repairmen.” That should be interesting.

I have always heard the old saw that when it comes to home ownership everything takes twice as long and costs twice as much as estimated. While I haven’t really been surprised by the cost of things, I have found that everything really does take at least twice as long as it seems it should. Actually, twice as long may be a bit of a low-ball estimate.

Still, with all that being said, I am incredibly grateful and fortunate to have this place. Somewhere along the line, perhaps I’ll learn patience and tolerance of the stupid… But don’t hold your breath.