04-03-2007, 02:59 PM
Just to segue a bit:
There's some things out there that are starting to scare me about where our economy is going. I'm in retail so it's even more so...
When I run my son over to the carpool about 6 miles away on the freeway, the highway is wide open at rush hour. It used to be that if you started out 5 minutes late you could be screwed on meeting the carpool on time because of a rush hour stoppage. Not any more, at least for the last 6-8 months.
I went to an America's Tire Store to have my 2/3 worn out tires rotated and balanced for the last time. It was about 1:30 PM; the bays were all empty and the changers were all standing around. I thought, great! I'll not have to wait. They descended on me like vultures, telling me my tires were just absolutely dangerous to drive on, desperation in their eyes....the manager even got involved in the lie. I told them, "you're not selling me a new set of tires today, guys; so just drop it; I worked in a tire store in college" "Now balance and rotate as per my contract with you when I bought these here". Resignation now in his eyes, they proceeded to do as told by the manager. I felt sorry for them.
Is this emblematic of a retail pull back...when you don't have to even elbow your way into one of these low-priced tire places?
So maybe it's quiet around here because the working guys that usually kill time here are now actually working a little harder to save their jobs.
There's some things out there that are starting to scare me about where our economy is going. I'm in retail so it's even more so...
When I run my son over to the carpool about 6 miles away on the freeway, the highway is wide open at rush hour. It used to be that if you started out 5 minutes late you could be screwed on meeting the carpool on time because of a rush hour stoppage. Not any more, at least for the last 6-8 months.
I went to an America's Tire Store to have my 2/3 worn out tires rotated and balanced for the last time. It was about 1:30 PM; the bays were all empty and the changers were all standing around. I thought, great! I'll not have to wait. They descended on me like vultures, telling me my tires were just absolutely dangerous to drive on, desperation in their eyes....the manager even got involved in the lie. I told them, "you're not selling me a new set of tires today, guys; so just drop it; I worked in a tire store in college" "Now balance and rotate as per my contract with you when I bought these here". Resignation now in his eyes, they proceeded to do as told by the manager. I felt sorry for them.
Is this emblematic of a retail pull back...when you don't have to even elbow your way into one of these low-priced tire places?
So maybe it's quiet around here because the working guys that usually kill time here are now actually working a little harder to save their jobs.