>I work for a pet store.  I'm proud to work there.  We're not petco or
>petsmart (who wants to be them), just a small store with the two owners,
>myself and two teens who's only job is to play with the critters and
>clean cages.  We've refused many people before, and have thrown a couple
>out of the store.  People get more than an earfull when they buy a pet
>from us, and if we don't like the answers, they leave with nothing.
 
Why would this get you kicked off?  It's an honest opinion, some of it is
fact, and it doesn't abuse anybody on the list.  That's a good post in my
book.
 
This is a sad statement about the corporatization of America.  The boards
and shareholders of the big corporations generally care about one thing -
profit.  Concern for the customer and concern for the product are often
among the first things to get sacrificed.
 
I truly lament the passing of the mom & pop shops.  The care for the
customer and the personal attention you got.  The relationships you
established with the business.  The personal attention to the business
by its owners.  There are bad apples among the independents, too, but for
the most part they are much more focused on quality product and quality
service than the large chains.
 
I'm glad to hear that your shop is one of the good ones.  The problem
is that those are all too rare these days.  They have been bought out,
chased out, or just plain forced out of business until some of us only
have the large chains left to shop from.  (Here, we also have a small
local chain - 3 stores - who is far worse than the big chains.)
 
Has anyone else noticed that the supermarket (once just that - a "super"
market) has all but replaced the grocery, and now we take them for
granted?  "Bigger is better" seems to be the great American mantra.
<sigh>
 
Roger & the Fibonacci Ferts
[Posted in FML issue 3798]