The other day I went to purchase window blinds for two windows at the home improvement store. I had written the width and length of the windows on a small sheet of paper. So I expected to go in, get the window blinds, and come right out.
However, buying window blinds at the home improvement store turned out to be a dissatisfying and stressful time. I found no one was available to serve me despite repeated requests for assistance.
When I approached the window blind aisle, a customer in a beige dress was standing at the beginning of the aisle.
“Is this the window blind aisle?” I asked her.
“Yes, but, there’s no salesman here. I’ve been waiting 10 minutes,” the customer said, sounding disappointed. I waited with her for another 10 minutes. Then I left her and went to the kitchen area where I knew an associate would be sitting at a desk.
In kitchen, I told the black female associate I needed help with window blinds. She said she would call someone to help me. A Spanish male associate who worked in kitchen stood near the stock room. He heard what the black female associate said and told me he would like to help, but I might want the blind cut, and he didn’t know how to do that.
At that moment, I became angry. The Spanish male associate used his inability to cut the blind as an excuse not to get involved. The strange part about his comments was that no one asked for his help.
I went back over to the window blind aisle and waited. After waiting 10 more minutes, the customer in the beige dress and a young man about 18 turned into the aisle. They stopped at the vertical blind section. She asked him several questions about the vertical blinds. His replies were, “I don’t know,” “I don’t know,” and “I don’t know”!
She sighed and said, “I wish someone was here to answer my questions.”
I moved closer to them because I wanted to ask the 18-year-old a question before he disappeared (Young adults walk fast).
“Are you the person who was sent here to assist a customer?” I asked.
He said, “Yes, but I don’t know anything about window blinds. The person who knows about window blinds is at lunch, and he should be back soon.”
Then he disappeared. The customer in the beige dress walked off. I felt unhappy with the poor customer service of the store. I moved towards the front of the store to find the manager. I asked a person in an orange apron who darted past me where could I find the manager. She said the manager was at the service desk.
At the service desk, a white female was behind the counter. She was busy exchanging items brought back to the store and making refunds. There were several people lined up at the service desk-a woman in a blue dress, a Spanish man, a black man, and two black women, one of whom was pregnant.
I didn’t wait in line. Instead I moved next to the person the white female was helping. “There’s no one to assist customers in the window blind aisle, and I want to see the manager,” I said in the calmest voice I could muster up. I was nervous, and I felt my head beginning to ache. I became annoyed with myself because I forgot to ask the white female if she was the manager.
When she finished with the customer next to me she went to the telephone. She talked to someone, came back to the cash register, and waited on the next customer. She didn’t say anything to me. So I waited. The black pregnant woman pulled a desk chair over to the line and sat down. The white female called on the telephone again. She told me to go to flooring and someone would meet me there.
To be continued …
