I Know What I'm Talking About, Why Don't You?

So I walk into the pet store looking for one of those filters for my dog's pet fountain. Yes, I have a fountain for my dog. Don't judge us. What my baby wants, she gets. She refuses to drink water if it's not fresh. So what else am I supposed to do? Anyway, that's a discussion for another day. So as I was saying I walked into the pet store looking for the filter for the fountain. I can't remember which pet place I found them in the last time (that old age kicking in) so I have two places to choose from. The first one I try looks as if it could be shut down at any moment. And near the back looks like porn is being run out of it but I think it's where they keep the "fish". Needless to say I want to get in and out of there. So after checking around for myself I can't find the filter. Before I leave, even though I hate to ask, I find a long-haired hippie type clerk who already doesn't look like he knows much but I try to keep my judgmental opinions to myself. For all I know he's the owner of this lowly lit establishment. So I ask him if he knew if they carried the filters. 'What are they called again?' is what I get from him. For me that summed it up. He knows nothing. But my skeptical mind gives it another shot and explains to him they are pouches that filter the water for the fountains that they carry. I mean, why do they carry the fountains without selling the filters? Maybe, I'm the ignorant one for expecting so much. He gives another look around and we both conclude that they don't sell them. Great. So I'm off to the next pet supply.

I head across the street to the second pet store. Where I live is small and I have to go across town in order to hit each of these pet stores. But by some reason I can't understand they chose to put the pet stores across the street from each other. Why not have one on one side of town and one on the other? Again, I'm just pushing my luck and asking for too much. Anywho, I'm headed to the competition. I go inside with the positive hopes that I will find what I'm looking for. After all this is my last resort. I head to the dog section and peruse all the items displayed before me. The hodge podge of supplies overwhelms me so I try to take my time and individually scan each item to make sure I don't miss anything. Soon my impatience gets the best of me so once again, I ask for help. Since this establishment has a more professional appearance I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I find a young lady with a studious look about her and feel pretty confident she can help me. There goes that discrimination again. I was just as wrong as ever. She was just like the hippie 10 minutes back. Didn't have a clue what I was talking about but they sure had those fountains aligning the wall. What is going on here! And as I walk out defeated and unsuccessful in a purchase something catches my eye as I'm leaving. Guess what it's the filters. Now why on earth did it take me seeing it by chance to find these stupid things? Why didn't she know that they sold them?

And if you're answer is because it was a pet store you're sadly mistaken. Weeks later I head to Wal-mart in search for a wireless adapter. I like to think I'm somewhat intelligent but not about everything so before I go I make sure I know exactly what to call the item that I need. I get there and head to electronics. Still with the naive assumption that someone will help me and I will be in and out. I search for the item myself for about 20 minutes before I decide to give up. Giving up is not one of my strong suits. I attribute my stubborn ways to being a Taurus. But here's another example of me not succeeding again. I bite my lip and look for help. Now I've noticed this guy stacking and rearranging the whole time I’ve been trying to find what I need. Maybe, just maybe, he'll know what I'm looking for and where to find it. Wrong. He searches a bit and each time he takes me to an incorrect item. I would make that scrunched up face, give a shake of the head and say, “no that's not it.” I explain to him in as much of layman terms as I possibly can what the item does and looks like. He finally tells me to hold on and goes to get reinforcements. He comes back with this entourage of goons, I mean, store clerks that look more like bouncers at some nightclub. One of them neanderthalishly points to what he assumes I need and they silently left in the group they swaggered in as. Again, I give the grimace and shake my head and say no. At this point I want to scream at the top of my lungs that just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I don't know what the heck I'm talking about. So one final attempt to help me brings us one step closer to what I need. He still was pulling and pointing out the wrong items but when I glanced at the bottom shelf it was like the heavens opened up. There it was. My torture had come to a head. Hallelujah! I can now go home.

I believe that the clerks of today are just warm bodies they’ve hired to mindlessly tag and stock items and nothing more. From what I can see, training has gone down the drain. I get the fact that things change and items move but nobody in the store knows where anything is? Nowadays you ask 5 of them where something is and they all have that blank look on their faces. Is it because the youth these days can really care less? Or perhaps people are just lacking in their initiative to learn where things are in order to help the customer. Maybe those days never even existed. Forget service with a smile, I just want service.