Welcome To Over The Counters

So, I'm finally doing it....

I have friends who have run a LiveJournal for ages, and still others who have managed all sorts of other blogs. For me, though, I never thought I really had anything to say, especially to keep up on a daily basis.

Until now, that is.

You see, after 15 years of working in retail (not to mention 30-some-odd of being a customer), I'm finding that I'm becoming rather jaded and cynical about the whole industry. I think that overall the retail industry has given up on customer service in favor of higher profits and expansion not seen since the days of Lewis and Clark. Not every company is evil, mind you...but heck, a good chunk of them are.

That's not to say that the average, everyday customer is so swell to deal with either. I'm finding customers today to be even more hostile and rude than they were, say, 10 years ago. Extremely demanding, ready to treat a retail employee as less than human and less willing to part with their cash than ever.

There's still hope out there. There ARE many retail environments that are both excellent to work and shop in. There ARE really terrific customers who help to offset those who would otherwise ruin our day. I'm also learning valuable lessons through my everyday experiences on both sides of the counter that are helping me to be a better employee as well as a better customer.

So welcome to my blog, celebrating anything and everything having to do with retail. Some of it is good, some of it is bad. To quote the great Bill Cosby on Fat Albert And The Cosby Kids: "If you're not careful, you might just learn something before it's done."

Hey, hey, hey!

Write what you know, they say. So I'll be writing about the retail world from all aspects. Sometimes I'll include news stories. Sometimes something witty, sometimes something (hopefully) profund and sometimes just something obscure off the top of my head. Sometimes it'll be a personal thing. Here's a guide to the meanings behind the various blog headings you'll see:

The Handbasket: A retail story indicating a person/business that is heading straight to hell thanks to the poor way in which they've chosen to conduct themselves. These stories won't be pretty, kids, but maybe it'll make you go 'hmmm....'

The Road To Hell: The old saying goes "the road to hell is paved with good intentions." These are the stories of people/businesses that came up with REALLY lousy ideas and proved that the finger that's supposed to be on the pulse of America is actually stuck somewhere closer to the vicinity of their colon...along with their head, I presume.

Redemption: These stories are about people/businesses that found retail religion and praise us all....they've turned their act around. I hope to find a lot of these stories.

Saints And Angels: These are the true do-gooders out there. The Saints are those who practice strong ethics and morals each day in the way they conduct themselves as either a customer or a businessperson. The Angels are those who smile down upon us and can possibly change our outlook for the whole day just by either giving terrific customer service or being a terrific customer. Let's all hope for a lot of these stories, eh?

As for me...I'm a retail manager for a well-known chain of stores in the art industry. As I'm only human, you get the fun of watching me go from Saint to Handbasket and back again as time passes.

So welcome to the wonderful Hell that is retail. I'm hoping you'll stick with this blog, drop your own thoughts and comments to me and help to make it an interactive experience.

Brace yourself.