So, not that I want to get negative on here or anything, but I think I will for a few minutes.
Our water bill is due the same day each month (this is not the negative part). I most of the time remember when that day comes up. Not always though, sometimes the date occurs to mee a few minutes before the office closes. Today was one of those days. We made it over in time, so no late fees charged. Yay!!!
The electric/gas bill on the other hand cannot pick a regular day to be due (this is the infuriating part). I never know what day of the month it will be from month to month, It gets moved around and on occasion has left us with the bill being due twice in one month. It does not happen often, but it has happened. I liked it when it was due about a week after the water bill was due, and I had a good shot at remembering to get them both paid on time. This last one arrived and I looked at the bill, and saw “15” of the month. Well, when it occurred to mee this afternoon that today is the 15th, I grabbed the bills and set out to pay them, only to realize that when I saw the “15” it was really a “12!” Great I get to pay a late fee, and it is no where near another bill due date for us to be able to remember to pay it on time. And, it gets even worse knowing that the bill does not get printed the same time each month, so there is no way to know that it will be arriving in the mail at a set time either.
How rude!
Not bill related, but while I am on the whining kick…. We went to St Louis a few weekends ago* and had a couple of interesting retail experiences.
The first experience: we went to the customer service counter and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited some more. Finally, we walked over to one of 4-8 employees, standing around, not helping anyone. We asked if that person would be able to help us out. She said she would page the customer service representative to the counter and told us to walk over there. We did as we were asked (told). We waited another at least five minutes, after the page was made. We saw the form sitting on the counter that we would need to fill out; we decided to be proactive and start filling out the form. We figured if it took that long just to get a person to help us, we would be sitting “forever” waiting to get the paperwork going. As I was filling in the last part of the form, we saw the customer service representative walk up to the counter. Yay, we were going to be assisted. Not! Another customer that walked in the door at the same time that the employee walked up to the counter was asked if she needed any help. (In my head: “Are you ——- kidding mee?”) CSR got on the computer and looked up some information for her and then walked away from the counter, still not acknowledging our presence, despite the page being for us and we had clearly been sitting there for quite a while, with no assistance. We almost walked out. At that time, the CSR returned to the desk and asked if we had been helped. No, that is why we were still sitting and waiting for her. She took our paperwork, typed on the computer** and got us on our way. I was a bit surprised that they had her as the CSR, not only for her inability to be helpful, but in regards to her hygiene. She had what looked like left-over chewing tobacco wedged in her teeth (she was not “chewing” at this time), and her finger nails were caked with stuff under them. I only hope it was not contagious, since she was after-all touching lots of things other people would purchase and take home. If I wasn’t ready to walk out while waiting for someone to help us, or after the CSR attended a customer that had just walked in the door instead of the people who were waiting and had had her paged (us), then the lack of cleanliness was almost enough to make mee do it. But I was feeling stubborn-ish and did not want to let my waiting be in vain.
The second experience: I was in need of locating a new brassier. I knew the size and style, I just needed to find one. Because this was a positive experience, I don’t mind telling the name of the place, the Motherhood Outlet Store. I found the item, I walked up to the cashier and she asked if I had tried it on first. I told her that I had not, since I was just at another place and found the item same style and size and tried it on, and it fit. She encouraged mee to try it on anyhow. And because we had just this summer given a seminar on fashion (of all things we could have talked about), and in the presentation we gave strong instructions to always try on clothes you will buy, I decided I should try it on. I did, and it did not fit. She told us that the clothes they have marked a specific way tend to have something wrong with them, sometimes it is a rip or a stain, and sometimes it is simply mislabeled. This time it was mislabeled, or miss-sewn, it was not a “uniform” or “symmetrical” fit. So, while we were unable to make our purchase there, we would gladly return there if the opportunity/need arose.
As we walked out of there we reflected on how the two experiences were so different, and how we would be much more inclined to return to the second store with ease, and be very hesitant to even step back into the first. We have considered, yet have not done this, writing letters to the head quarters for each of the stores telling our experiences and telling them why or why not would we be willing to return.
* I will post more about that soon-ish (I love that ending “-ish”)
** Much more better is that she mistyped part of the info, so we had to figure it out when we got home from the trip
