ABT: I did (for one summer) so not to the extent that you have, but at least more than none. I have friends who were store managers, and I’ve heard from them how much it can suck being in retail.

I hear you, and I certainly wasn’t suggesting that it’s all right for customers to do what you’re talking about. I watched as one of my relatives wandered around for a good 15 minutes after a store closed “looking for something.” That behavior embarrassed me. I do my best not to pull that behavior.

Notwithstanding that, though, slamming the door on a customer says, “My need to get out of here is greater than your need to shop and greater than my boss’s desire to make money.” Now, if you keep the doors open, and the customer ends up buying a lot of stuff, you could say to your boss after the customer leaves, “Gee, I’m glad we stayed open! That was a big purchase!” That way your boss will at least remember it. No guarantees, but it can’t hurt. But otherwise, bending a little will help keep you off the short list to be let go. (But you probably already know this.)

Have you ever worked in retail? Well i do full time. And it makes me look at thing from the perspective of a customer and a salesperson.

The main thing I want to comment on is your door slamming comment. I don’t know about you, but when closing time rolls round I want to go home. But in retail i’ve experienced someone who just needed “one thing” wander around, and keep a whole crew of people from going home.

Would you like to stay at work longer than you have to because of one asshat who can wait until 8am the next day?

I opened a bank account and deposited $300, the minimum. A month later, I walk into the bank with a cashiers check for over $16,000 to add to the account, and the teller says they’re going to put a 10 day hold on the money. I tell her it’s unacceptable.

The supervisor comes over and explains that it’s their policy. I explain that it’s as good as cash, and I’ll allow one business day to verify it’s real, and that’s all. I also explain that I have already written several small checks on that amount, and I have contractors doing work for me the next week and they’re going to be paid out of that money.

The supervisor goes to the Vice President and comes back saying that they’re going to hold it for 5 days. I say no, and tell them to call the issuing bank to verify the check.

The supervisor asks if the check represents me closing an account with the other bank. I tell her, no, I have several current accounts with the bank, this is just one account that I closed. She says she’ll have to talk to the President. I tell her to get the President out here right now to talk to me.

She comes back with the 5 day hold thing again. I hand her my checkbook, from the bank that issued the cashiers check. I point to the 800 number on the check that she can call, and I tell her to talk with Shelly, the person who issued me the check.

She says she’s going to talk with the President again. Before she leaves, I tell her: “This is how it’s going to be. You’re either going to add that amount to my account now, so I can write checks on that, or I’m taking it somewhere else to open an account where I can write checks on it. That’s how it’s going to be.”

While she is with the President, I figure out how much money I have to put in the account in cash to cover the checks I’ve already written. I get the cash ready to put in the account so when I get more grief, I can make a final deposit in cash and then close the account and take my cashiers check elsewhere.

She comes back and simply says: “Mr. Schwan, we’re all set.” I confirm that he statement means that the bank has accepted the check on the spot, and then I tell them that they have retained me as a customer.

It didn’t take me until I got back out to my car to realize that it was just too hard trying to be their customer, and the 10 days of using my money without paying any interest is simply a scam. The next business day I took some of my cash and opened another account at another bank and will be closing the troubling account after I’m certain all the checks have cleared.

We shouldn’t have to work so hard to be someone’s customer, and we need to be better at exercising our own policies, just like a business. I’m in charge of my own financial resources, and I have policies too. My policy is simple: make it hard for me, and I’ll do business elsewhere. You need my business, so you better act like it. That’s the whole idea of a competitive marketplace – it gives you choices.

Clair

After using Norton AntiVirus for a couple of years, I upgraded my software using a rebate coupon they offered. It was a lengthy process to follow in order to get the rebate (i.e. jump thru hoops) and I followed it precisely. Having unfortunately learned the hard way over the years, I also photocopied everything “just in case”.

Well, “just in case” happened. They declined my rebate and stated that I had to reapply again, even after I already sent them the original copies. I kind of wondered if this was happening with others and was going to complain to the Arizona Attorney General since I had photocopies of everything. But, I didn’t think it was worth the time and effort, so they got away with it.

However, I’ll never have a good thing to say about Symantec and will never buy another one of their products. In the long-run, they lost out by not keeping me as a customer.

My way to slam the door on your customer? Make paying for your product or service a pain in the neck.