Thanks For Not Wanting My Money

I need a new desk set for my home office, so I shopped around at the three big chain stores (Office Max, Staples, and Office Depot) for something that would fit just right. I found a great L-shaped desk, hutch, and table at Office Max last week but waited until today to go buy it. So I'm in there, ready to drop $800 into their cash register, and nobody wanted to help me. Usually I can't shake those guys off when I just want to browse. Now when I actually need some help they're all on break. So I finally attracted one guy's attention, but he greeted my order request with a blank stare and a mumbled, "That's not my department." I went to the register and the lady said, "I've never ordered furniture before." Up came the manager who studied the order form like it was the first time he'd ever laid eyes on it. He scratched his head, looked around the store like the Furniture Fairy was going to descend from the ceiling to help him, then finally said to me, "If you come back on Monday maybe we can call the company to see if they have any of these in stock."

I glanced around to see if a robbery was in progress and these were the bad guys posing as employees. Nope, they were just your basic "I'm not making any extra effort here" minimum wage employees. I thanked them for not wanting my $800 and went down the street to Office Depot to re-check their desk selection. To my surprise, they had the same exact desk set and I just missed seeing it last week. At this store the employees were all over me. After one of them ran off to get a manager to help with the order, two others came up to ask if I was being helped. Things were starting off very well. As we're filling out the order form, I noticed the price tags are much lower than over at Office Max. Then, when we entered the order numbers into the computer, the prices come up even lower because they're on sale.

I ended up spending $450 on the same exact desk, hutch, and table that would've cost me $800 at Office Max. And I received excellent customer service from the Office Depot employees. Good prices, helpful staff... I believe that's how you earn loyal customers.