Dear Friends,
Are you a shopper? What I mean is, when you need something do you compare prices, reviews, and delivery? Do you schedule your shopping? I know many of you shop from home from your computer or a catalog, but today I want to speak to those of you who actually leave the house, and those who may remember the days when, with the exception of the Sears Catalog and a few other catalogs that reached out to you via your home mail, you shopped at a lot of Mom and Pop stores, and stores that today would be specialty stores, Bunt’s Sporting Goods, Joe’s Meat Market, Iacobino’s Deli and Meat Market, American Auto, Smilin’ Dave’s Candy and Magazine’s, Jack Frost Ice Cream, K.P.’s Hot Dogs, Mom’s Pizza, Celano’s Music, and a few stores that carried a variety of items, Woolworth’s, or a (Neighborhood) five and dime, Sears, and the local mechanic who repaired your car, and carried and not only sold oil, anti freeze, and transmission fluid, but actually filled your vehicle with what it needed.
If they supplied gas they pumped it for you while checking your oil – tires – and cleaned your windshield. In other words you shopped with sincere human contact, you knew their name and they knew yours. Did you have your newspaper delivered or did you (Dad’s) buy the daily newspaper from a news stand on the street or a boy on the corner. It was a very different time then, often I was sent to bring home milk, bread, bacon, eggs, and more, I walked, and when I went into the store they knew my name and who sent me, they bagged (paper) or boxed it for me and I would take it home. I never had money it went on our account, occasionally if it was a larger than normal order the owner would put a five cent popsicle on top of the order and say “Your grandmother OK’d it.”
Today our purchases more often than not are made on a computer, many things from catalogs. Clothes, shoes, cleaning supplies, gifts, food, drinks (non alcoholic), tools, and ratings are closely checked along with cost of delivery. You track it coming to you like tracking Santa on Christmas Eve, and if it doesn’t fit or you aren’t happy with something you just call them and push one for English and after a few more push button choices a voice comes on the line and if you are lucky, their broken English is not so bad that you are eventually able to take advantage of the free return policy. So “What happened to the good old friendly days” you ask? Answer, push one for English, push two for tracking, push three for technical support, four to speak with an agent. What button do I push to reach friendly and helpful? Sometimes we get lucky and we say thank you, do you?