An Open Letter

Dear Lucky Magazine,

I have enjoyed your periodical for several years now and I subscribe. My job in academia occupies a lot of time, and skimming your magazine for new stuff while I dry my hair every morning is a joy.

Now you have made me angry.

In your Lucky Girl section (page 56 of the February issue), you feature the essentials of Audrey Dettmar, a 24-year-old pastry chef. Her shoe pick probably fits my life better than hers (and her suggestion to pair these with knee-high socks is just wacky). I would also call them spectator pumps rather than brogue pumps; however, either way they would work with suits or jeans. Great multitasking shoes, especially for spring travel. Good price as well.

I went online  to get a better look and, perhaps probably, order them.

They were NOWHERE to be found on the Bass Shoes site. Nor any other shoe site out there.

I know part of your job is to drum up advance demand for new products. This is how a waiting list forms. I can accept that. What makes me angry is Audrey saying these are one of her essential items when THEY CANNOT BE POSSESSED YET.

I hope you are happy. I now find myself wandering over to bassshoes.com every day or two looking for these shoes. I am, officially, obsessed.

I realize scanning the bit of page above probably breaks a gazillion copyright laws (although I have given clear attribution), but this item wasn’t pictured on your website, so I could not link to it. Nor could I link to it on the Bass website (see above). Thus, I was left to violate the law with my trusty scanner.

It’s all your own fault, you know…

Sincerely,

P

Thanks, Shopping, and Goats…

I gave thanks for many things last week. For football, family, friends, and my health, especially my kidneys. We also gave thanks for living in a land of plenty where a feast can be had and children can be educated.

Today is “Cyber Monday.” We all know about Black Friday, the “official” kick-off of the solstice-holiday shopping season. Cyber Monday began a few years back when most homes had mere dial-up connections for their computers. Monday at work, with a high-speed internet connection, folks would e-shop via those computers during lunch hour and other breaks (never on the company’s time, I’m sure).

Black Friday sales were up 11% this year, perhaps the result of steep discounts and promotions (although something really great would have to be free to get me dressed and at the store by 5am). Cyber Monday is unlikely to overtake Black Friday (or Christmas Eve) as the busiest shopping day of the year, in part because high-speed internet access is everywhere now. As Allan Sloan said on the radio this morning:

Black Friday is a sport and Christmas Eve is always the biggest day in terms of dollars, and that's just panic-driven. So Cyber Monday or Cyber-whatever will move up, but it's not going to rival these other things. But it's a great invention, and the marketing people who invented it should be proud of themselves, cause we're talking about it.

My spouse and I shopped yesterday, crossing a number of gifts off our list. I also made a decision to get my office people something small for a personal gift, but then do something charitable as well. 

I bought a goat.

This urge began last week when I heard a story about a girl in Uganda. Her family received a goat from Heifer International. That goat gave birth to 2 kids that they sold to build a home. The goat produced milk that the family sold to generate income. Soon they were earning enough money that they could send their daughter, Beatrice, to school. She did well, and has now become the first college graduate from her community. The goat subsequently produced a female kid that was passed on to another family in need (a Heifer tradition).

The Heifer International gift catalog includes livestock at all price points. In addition to the animals, the organization provides educational seminars so the families can care for the animals in an ecologically responsible way. They now include bees among their gift choices, as well as tree seedlings for reforestation programs.

Your kids will likely prefer Mr. Squiggles, a hot-selling Zhu Zhu hamster. But someone on your list might prefer a water buffalo…

Do I Really Look Lost?

I have observed a disturbing trend in stores lately. I walk into SuperTarget, grab my cart, and head off for the first thing I need. Sometimes I go straight there and then decide which size to buy or how many items to purchase. Other times I get distracted along the way by items I didn’t plan to buy (that’s why they have those bright shiny displays).

So I am in the aisle with product #1, and here comes the employee.

“May I help you find something?”

Even as I’m bagging zucchini or taking a box off a shelf, I must appear lost. Sometimes I have to bite my tongue to resist the urge to scream:

“I found what I want, but you’re in my damn way!”

Yesterday, after 4 or 5 employees had accosted me in a period of 10 minutes (in the bread and soup aisles), I suggested politely that this behavior annoyed me. The current helpful associate explained that they were to ask every customer they encountered if they could help them find things.

Now, there are times I can’t find something. I appreciate having help, and I never have trouble finding employees at SuperTarget (or other stores with similar strategy). I shop at SuperTarget instead of Walmart because the store is better organized and staffed. Every few months some shelving area gets rearranged. It slows me down temporarily, but ultimately gets me to notice other products. If someone is offering to assist me every 5 minutes, I am less likely to browse and make unplanned purchases. My husband thinks this is a good thing, but I suspect it is not the ultimate goal of management.

Telling every employee to ask every customer if they need assistance is overkill. I suspect if inquiries were limited to shoppers in main aisles who were not moving along (in other words, looking a bit lost) that the “target audience” could be served. Shoppers who are browsing products or moving quickly through the main aisles (like a cheetah chasing a gazelle, their target in sight) probably do not need the assistance and may resent being slowed in their quest for stuff.

OK, I feel better now. I will quit ranting.

Photo courtesy of PhotoXpress.com