Originally Posted by Jan in VA

As a former shop owner, it hurts me to read this sort of thing, to hear of a student so unhappy. We always handed out a class/teacher critique form at the end of class -- and it was collected by the staff at the register, NOT by the teacher. The forms went into a sealed envelop for MY desk. Teachers with problems were not invited back to teach. If they chose to leave their contact information, students were contacted by me personally to work out any problems or to hear more details of their complaint. Conversely, teachers who were highly praised got that recognition as well!

Even though, for most shops, classes do not fill the coffers, they do create new customers, keep regular customers happy, and increase general knowledge in the quilting community. WHY on earth would a shop shoot themselves in the foot by offending even a small percentage of the students?!

I constantly find that I ran my shop a bit differently than most I hear about, and I was quite successful, with a happy staff. I had to learn quickly that business was business and friendship was bull; the customer was highly important, but keeping a happy, empowered, loyal staff was extremely important as well. Thankfully, (honestly!) we did not sell machines, we were a QUILT store and it was definitely enough!

Jan in VA (for those who care, owner of the now closed Silver Threads of Plano, TX.)