Rose of Sharon. To some degree you are correct. I worked in retail for many years before I stopped working altogether. I was a clerk on the floor at a family owned bunch of nursery stores with a turf dept and home accents dept. They are well known in the Lititz, York,Pa. area. They pride their company with customer service being the number one priority. I also worked in the home office in Lititz in the training dept. I taught the new employees customer service for our stores. It can be hard sometimes I know putting on that smile when your day is not the best etc. What I think these women are trying to say is it costs nothing to give a smile or just be pleasant to another human being. We here in America have grown to expect just the opposite I hate to say. We are amazed when someone smiles at us be they providing a service or passing us on the street. When we are treated with respect and yes that is what we are talking about here .. we remember that and pass it on to others we meet in our day. It also "makes our day" to be treated that way.There were many days I did not feel well or had an overloaded day before it began. People would come in and ask me the same question a thousand times. The point being each person that asked me that question did not know they were not the first one to ask me that same question that day. Even that morning. Yes. it is hard and we are all human,but common courtsey to another human being is never out of date and when you are treated with that respect we all deserve you can sometimes overlook the fact that that clerk waiting on you does not know ziltch about what you are asking. There should however, always be someone in the store at any given time during business hours that can answer any question asked by their buying customers. Even if it is only the manager and she is busy at the moment. You tend to wait and not mind if you are being treated correctly. Oh, I know not all customers are nice or respectful either. I have faced that many times over in my working years in retail. You would like to smack them,strangle them or just walk away. I know it goes both ways. But, you are providing the service and that should mean something no matter what. Why this long diatribe? I guess like many Americans I am tired of the gross disrespect we all give each other here in America for many years now. Just being kind to one another is not the rule anymore. This business with JoAnne's stores has just been brought to the board and aired and I guess I have had enough and felt this is my way to speak out.I truely think a lot of the complaints here are symptoms and not the real problem. If you notice most of these quilters start out with how they are being treated and go on to bad fabric etc.I think that so many people in so many states saying the very same thing states JoAnne's Stores have a problem period. I have experienced this in my store also.
My Best to all my fellow quilters on the board.
JS