Economy on Shopping Season

What is the economy going to do on the shopping season?

Being that I have worked in retail and currently work security at Short Pump Town Center I have some really good stories of people shopping on black friday and the whole Christmas shopping season for that matter. But, as I worked this past friday for 12 hours I got to thinking about the state of the economy in the world today and how that will effect shopping over the holidays. I had not heard it yet, but sitting beside my grandmother at thanksgiving dinner, and she is telling everyone that a neighbor had told her not to buy gift cards for people because you can never tell which companies will exist after Christmas. I can tell you from experience, no one was scared to go shopping this friday. If it wasn't more busy than last year, it had to be just as. Which was good to see. With the stock market up and down it will interesting to see what kind of shopping season America has. So I want to know; What are you doing this christmas shopping wise? Are you spending the same, or cutting down buying gifts?

Left to Take the Blame...

This summer I completed my first internship in New York. I was looking to do anything to be noticed in this new environment in a positive light. I got there early, stayed late, and did any job they threw at me. So, one evening I am walking out the office door and Cynthia, the designer’s personal assistant, lets out a huge sigh of frustration behind me. So, I turn around and ask if there is anything I could do to help her, and she quickly accepted the offer. She was preparing inspiration images for the designer to take on the plane to Italy the next day to begin working on designs for the new collection. She had about 50 images to scan, resize or touch up in Photoshop, and print. So, we each took 25 images and began working.

It was now 9:00, and Victoria, the designer, came into the studio looking for her inspiration pack. We had just sent everything to the printer, so the work was not finished. Victoria was livid and started to yell. I was completely mortified, and I turned around to look at Cynthia and realized that she had snuck out and left me there alone in the room to take the blame. Victoria yelled at me for about five minutes about responsibility and pride in your work and I promised that I would get the work done as soon as possible and get it to her at her home. So, she left the office, and Cynthia and I continued to work.

We finally left at 10:30 and Cynthia got into a taxi without even thanking me for staying to help her with her job, which I got blamed for being incomplete. She also left me to take the subway to Victoria’s apartment to drop off the work. I was so angry and frustrated with the situation. But, I quickly learned to watch out for myself early on in my internship. I never did anything to resolve this problem because it would have looked poorly on me to complain about another employee. But, both Cynthia and I know what happened and I came out knowing I was the bigger person and have no regrets about the experience.

So, you shipped it back to China?

During my periods of insomnia and excessive spending habits, I have found my “frien-enemy” to be amazon.com. They have an amazing tool that allows you to save your bank account information to utilize the “1-click purchase”. The 1-click purchase allows you to click only once to purchase, then immediately obtain a confirmation of your order through email.

Because of this wonderful tool, I often purchase things, such as clothes, bags, books and various gadgets that “look fun”. However, there is a cost of my sleep-shopping, I forget what I have purchased and seem to always delete the handy email that indicate the estimated time of arrival of the item.

This past week I received a note card from the US postal service in my mailbox, indicating that they missed me for a package that needs to be signed for; and that they will try to redeliver it, however, did not indicate another date that they would do so. The card stated that if the package is not signed for by 10/30, then it would be sent back to the sender.

This simple note card raised many questions, like if they had attempted to deliver it and obtain a signature, why was the card in my mailbox, and not at my door? Moreover, packages can be dropped off at the rental office, which is directly beside the mailbox, why was not it left there? Moreover, if they had actually tried to deliver the package as the card indicated, what time had it been? Because I work overnight, I am always home during the day.

Well, the result was the package being shipped back to the sender… in China! Unfortunately, I was unable to locate any products purchased during my sleep shopping that would have been from that area. I can only imagine if the package could have been a surprise from my BFF, Cathy, who lives in South Korea, but travels to various countries in Asia all the time.

I guess that it will always be a USPS mystery.

It's About Who You Know

We’ve all heard the old saying “it’s not what you know, but who you know” and this can be rendered true in regards to communication. When it comes to job and opportunities, it all starts with the right communication and hopefully with the right people.

Recently, I was struggling with some major life decisions, especially what am I going to do after college, what about graduate school, and possible career. After speaking to a few people—about three—the connections just came flying in and I’m amazed at what I have accomplished in a matter of weeks.

I went from only having a faint idea to having regular email and phone conversations with people in the FBI, the forensic science unit, police departments around the state, and with various people in the United States Government—all whom are working with me to find the right place and right job (or internship) that fits my needs. Communication has been the basic tool in my minor self discovery trip and due to my branching out through communication I have a clear path ahead—if everything goes my way.

None of this would have been possible if I did not take that first step and professionally consulting with a few professors and other professionals about the steps to take. So next time when somebody tells you it’s all about who you know, listen!

Fiji, anyone?

I recently read about a problem that happened with a popular and sucessful travel-planning company wherein a fare to Fuji was improperly posted as costing nothing, save taxes.

Bloggers and reporters doing what they do, this error was publicized far and wide on the internet. Many people took advantage of this error and booked very inexpensive flights to Fuji.

This travel company was faced with a dilema. Do they lose thousands (maybe tens or hundreds of thousands) of dollars and honor the tickets booked, or do they admit that there was an error and refuse to honor the tickets?

The company decided that they cared more about their customer's opinion of them than their potential losses. They issued a letter to the ticket-holders stating that they hoped that the travelers had a fun time in Fiji, and that they would never let an error on their website compromise their customers' experience with their company. To top it all off, the letter was humorous, stated that they were sure that the general public were aware that the fare price was an error, but that they would never renig on a promise to a customer.

Because I found out about this situation from a document shared with me by an independent contractor for a company that I'm affiliated with, I have no documentation to support this story. If nothing else, you can take this as an allegorical example of the message that "the customer is always right". Whether or not you think the company was foolish in their decision, you have to admit that this is exemplary customer service at its best.

Find Me a Job

So I am an extremely poor college student. I have the privilege of having my college education paid for through a sports scholarship but still need to work to be able to support myself through any normal persons life. In the last few months we have found our country in a pretty devastating place. Fuel is now pretty cheap but everything else is much more expensive which puts a burden on myself and I'm sure other college students. Governor Kaine has recently stated that the state of Virginia will decrease its budget by 5% in the upcoming year, which might not seem like too much but the figure actually comes out to 10.1 million dollars. VCU has already put out statements that they are preparing to cope with the budget cuts although where the cuts will be made is not yet been made clear. This will effect all of us.

So, in the midst of this national "money" crisis I need a job. At this point I have drastically lowered my expectations to where I would choose to work, and still no success. I have been all over the Richmond Greater area and still nothing. Everyone just tells me to fill out an application and we'll call you. A week goes by I do the follow up thing and they tell me the same thing. I feel bad for college students in these times that are looking for some king of income and can't find anything. The government is bailing out big businesses because of their money blunders, which I understand somewhat the necessity to do so, but still I feel there isn't any help for college students who work to support themselves through this. If anyone has any answers, I'm all ears.

"Coach: Overpriced and Overrated"

Last September I visited a Coach store in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I found the most amazing camel colored boots that I had ever seen. I decided to purchase them and leave them in the box until it was cool enough to start wearing them. It was December before I wore them. I stepped out of my apartment that day and cut across the grass to get to my car. This is when I realized that these boots were NOT made to wear outside at all because they were covered in dark brown spots from the dew on the grass. I ran upstairs and tried to dry them with a hairdryer, but of course the spots did not budge.

I went to Coach the next day and explained my situation. I explained that I would like to either send the boots to coach and see if they could repair the leather and waterproof the surface, or return the boots and get my money back. The sales associate had no idea what to do, so she got the manager to help me further.

The manager reached the counter and that is when my personal battle with Coach began. The first wrong thing that she said to me was that leather always spots when exposed to water and that is just a fact of life with leather products, which is untrue because I have never experienced this with any other leather product. Coach does not even sell a waterproofing agent to prevent this kind of problem. She then tried to sell me a moisturizer that would darken all of the leather to match the dark spots. But, I would have bought dark brown boots in the first place if that were what I wanted. The manager’s next bad move was when she told me that the boots looked perfectly wearable to her alluding to the fact that my problem really was not an issue at all and that I should just go on my way and be happy.

Coach puts you in a Catch-22 because if you let the product spot you will be unhappy, but if you waterproof anything you have to use a product that is not coach because they do not make a waterproofing agent. But, if you use a foreign waterproofing agent Coach is no longer responsible for anything that happens to your product thereafter because you used a foreign product on a Coach item, even if your issue has nothing to do with water damage. That to me is twisted logic and blows my mind!

The manager decides to take my boots for store credit, but I do not have my receipt. She was able to find my exact purchase in the computer, but that was not enough proof for the exchange. She then offered to order the same pair of boots and ship them to the store. But, why would I return my boots for another exact pair so that I could run into the same issues all over again? After some haggling she decided that she would not give my money back, but she would give me a full store credit. At that point I decided to agree, so I began shopping to spend my credit and be on my way. But, as I was shopping she called me to the register and told me that the boots are now actually 50% off and that she could only give me the discounted price since I had no receipt! I was so angry and I refused this and demanded a better solution.

I decided to send the boots to the “Coach Repair Center,” which does not actually repair anything they just determine if the product is repairable or not. A month later I received a letter notifying me that the boots could not be repaired, so they kept them at the repair center. In return they gave me a store credit valued at the sale price of the boots. I was so angry and wrote a letter to corporate about the situation, but still nothing was done. I am still fighting this battle that began last year, and I am not giving up! In short, from this experience I learned not to shop at Coach again and that it is overpriced and overrated!