Today I was scheduled to take my ds to see a movie while my dh and other ds rearranged his room and set up his new bed. Somedays I wish I could just stay home all the time. I have been very disgusted with customer service in the past few years. It is just getting worse and worse.
My ds and I went to see a movie at the nearest movie theater, which is 22 miles away from our home. I go there partly due to the convenience of being closest, it costs less, and the theater is owned by a local man. Customer service is generally good in this small town. This theater reminds you when calling to hear the current movies that you should be sure to arrive at least one half hour earlier, because they have a "non-disturbance, no-admission policy" which they enforce along with no gum chewing and no cell phones allowed. This is to protect the patrons from their movie being interrupted.
However, today when the movie was several minutes from being over, and this was not just "outtakes" -- the movie was NOT over yet. The cleaning crew came into the theater, turned the lights on and even though the movie was not over, people all over started getting up and leaving! I could not believe it! At least 3/4 of the audience left, about 1/8 of us stayed seated watching the end of the movie, while the other 1/8 stood in the aisles watching, realizing the movie wasn't over. But hey, since the lights were on, it apparently was over?!
So I went up to one of the young people cleaning up, and I asked if that was the norm for them to turn on the lights when the movie wasn't over. He said, "Yes, it is a policy we are supposed to enforce." I could not believe it. I was really wishing to find the manager. But instead, I found a child of about eight or nine manning the food station. Okay, great. The whole family works there. I was standing there fuming, dumbfounded, and my son led me out of the theater, not wanting me to make a scene. I then saw the young man who took our tickets, who listened to my complaint sympathetically. He offered to find [woman's name] and I asked who that was. He said the manager, but then said she was flaky, too. I told him it was just as easy for me to drive to the next nearest town's theater, another 10 miles away.
Next I went to a Kmart. I was on the hunt for Red Devil lye. Which apparently you can't buy it in real life anymore due to it being an ingredient for making Methamphetamine. My youngest ds is making goat milk soap. I bought the can of lye we had over a year ago, intending to make soap myself. But never got around to it. Anyway, so I went into Kmart, looking for lye and also looking at area rugs. They were too much, ranging from $50 to $80. I didn't find any lye, but as we were leaving, I saw some kitchen rugs that I liked. They were marked $6.99 on the shelf sticker. I thought that wasn't too bad, so I picked one out. I looked at the price on several, all were $6.99. I get up to the front of the store, and my items ring up to nearly $15. I'd only bought a pair of finger nail clippers and a candy bar which came to about $3.50. So the total was too much. I asked the cashier why it was so high and she said the rug was $9.99. I told her it was $6.99 on the shelf. She explained that the rugs probably go on sale tomorrow, and she can't give me tomorrow's sale price today. She looked around for an ad for tomorrow, but didn't have one. I looked at her, and said that I would like to void this sale then, because I expected to pay $6.99 for this rug, not $9.99. She couldn't do that. I had to sign the credit card reciept first, then we had to go to customer service.
When we got there, she told them I didn't want these things after all and needed a refund. Another lady came over and asked what was the problem. The cashier told her about the price difference, the lady said to just give it to me for $6.99 and refund my $3.00 and make sure the price was correct on the shelf.
Here's the deal... it has been this way all my life. If it says one thing on the shelf, but rings up at a different price, you have a PRICE CHECK done on the item. Or, you can take my word for it. I do not have any problems with a price check being done. I'm nearly always right, and I usually go with the person making the price check to help them find the item (and to make sure they don't rip off the tag that shows the price that I saw when I picked up the item).
This is Kmart, a company in trouble financially. And this particular one happens to have been closed down for the better part of the last year due to the roof caving in during a bad rain storm. I don't shop Kmart much, usually only going there if I can't find an item anyplace else. Do you think I'm anymore inclined to shop there now? Nope.
I ate crap at the movie. Popcorn, nachos and soda. I already know I can't stop myself, so I just eat and eat until it's gone or I can't stand the thought of another bite. At least this time we didn't get refills like we have in the past. That is a positive.
I was so brain dead, that I forgot that I actually bought the nail clippers at Kmart. I also told my other son on the way home that we were going to get him a candy bar, but didn't. But we did end up buying that stuff! Anyway, so I went to another store, looking for lye, and realized I still had not bought nail clippers (oh but I had...) so I had one of the cashiers watch my paid for groceries and went to buy another pair of nail clippers. I was frustrated to see that they only had STORE BRAND nail implements. Name brand doesn't cost that much more, I wanted REVLON, a name brand I know I can trust to produce a pair of nail clippers that won't break after 3-4 uses and trims the nail properly. So I'm still looking, and finally I see the Revlon brand are hanging at the front on a hanger thing. I was relieved and bought a pair of the deluxe version.
We next went to a fast food place and I ordered four items. The guy recited back three items, and something unintelligible. It sounded like he said "No beans?" I asked him to repeat himself and then I guess he just turned off his end because I sat there saying, "Hello? Hello?" and finally drove around. I asked him at the window if he got all four items and he again recited them back to me. That was okay, but still annoying that he ignored me.
So I pull out my fingernail clippers, to trim my nails. I can't keep long nails for a few reasons. Mainly because my nails don't really grow long too well, never have. I started keeping them trimmed as a teen because I found that kept me from picking them and ending up with sore fingers from the nail pulling off too close to the skin. And now that we have goats, it's easier to milk with trimmed fingernails. So I started clipping my nails, only to find that my NAME BRAND clippers that I had to have, are doing this weird thing to my nails. I don't know how to describe it, but the cut was causing the top layer of my nail to stick up so if I wanted to, I could separate off that first layer, thereby making that portion of my nail very thin. Not a good thing. So I found out that if I cut my fingernails with the clippers held backwards, that bad cut wasn't happening.
SCREAM!!! I tell you, customer service is DEAD!!!!
I AM going to write a letter of complaint to the theater manager. I'm sure I won't get any response. The last two letters of complaint I wrote, I never heard a word back from the companies. It's not like I write them all the time. Those were written probably three years ago, in late December.
But I am going to let Mr. Theater Owner know how I feel about his so-called policy. I can only hope it's NOT his policy. If it is, I will not go there again. I can pay a few more dollars and drive a few more miles to be able to watch the entire movie without being interrupted before it's over. The nerve! To be so fanatical about not disturbing the movie once it's started, but it's okay to disturb your patrons just before it ends. How rude.
BTW, on the way home my son told me if I go to bed when I get home I won't be so grumpy.
Until next time.
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