Better no customers than ignorant ones
Dec 24th 2004WallabyGeneral & laughter
Last-minute Christmas shopping this morning, with my dad along for directions and co-shopping. Went by one particular kitchen-supply store looking for _______ or ________ (details not yet available, in case my sister reads this before tomorrow morning). They didn’t have quite what I was looking for on the first of those, but it was close enough. While I was looking for the second item, one of the owner’s friends came in and they started chatting. (It was just us and them in the store then, so the owner doesn’t seem to be exactly overwhelmed with customers.)
“Oh, did you hear So-and-so is opening a new shop, over in ______?” the friend asks the owner. “Oh, that’s a nice location, I like being away from the central shopping areas,” says the owner of a store near the beach. “Better parking?” “Yes, and there’s fewer people coming in to browse. I just get so tired of people coming in and they don’t even know what they’re looking at. Honestly, if they don’t know what they’re looking for and how to use it I just don’t want to deal with them.”
I looked around, figured she wouldn’t really want to do business with me and put the thing I was going to buy right back on the shelf before walking out. At least she had a nice conversation with her friend; better that than (shudder) doing business with people who don’t already know all about graters.
Oh, and south Florida is NOT a good place to look for Christmas ornaments with turtles. Even sea turtles. In case anyone needs to know.