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Why Yes Sir, That's How Commerce Works

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  • Why Yes Sir, That's How Commerce Works

    Air conditioners were a hot selling item yesterday.

    Ha. Haha. You'll never in a million gazillion years see what I did there.

    Day one we had air conditioners and they all flew off the shelves. Fans, too. I directed more than a hundred customers to the fans and AC units. Day two, the shelves were empty. All except for the smallest fans that only the desperate were willing to purchase because lets face it, the best those things will do is blow the hot air on you.

    Don't get me wrong. I am not unsympathetic. But a couple customers ranged from the incredulous to the full on dick-with-butterfly wings.

    Some of it is on the coworkers who answered phones and told customers that we had a truck and were expecting air conditioners. All of our store managers made it abundantly clear that they were to stop doing this but it still kept happening.

    A lot of customers did not understand that, no, we could not hold a unit for them. It's first come first serve. There was plenty of time to prepare for this heatwave and we had plenty of air conditioners at the beginning of June.

    Oh, there were a handful of air conditioners that arrived before the regular inventory truck. We did put those out along with some box fans. And I guess customer heard about this because he came in and said to me,

    "But I called four hours ago and they said you had some."

    To which I replied, "Yes we did have them four hours ago. But they sold out."

    The guy proceeded to swear up and down and he couldn't believe that we sold out of them so fast. I couldn't believe that he expected he was the only customer in the entire region to be sweating balls right now.

    And just to be clear, this wasn't just us. All of the stores in town that had an air conditioner for sale had sold them. Most people understood that while I was sorry that we didn't have any left, it was also not my fault. Others made rather stupid comments like,

    "Well when I was here yesterday, you had a bunch of them on a pallette. Did you move them?"

    Yes, I wanted to say. We moved the economy with them.

    Others still insisted we must have some outback. As if there would be any economical advantage in keeping a high commodity item in the back when we could sell it right there and then for a profit. They're air conditoners. There's no street date on them.

    Today I'm keeping a tally. I'll let you know how many requests I get.
    Don't waste time trying to convince someone that the sky is blue.

  • #2
    Quoth TheWolfEmperor View Post
    Today I'm keeping a tally. I'll let you know how many requests I get.
    I'll guess double digits, especially if the heat continues.
    I'm trying to see things from your point of view, but I can't get my head that far up my keister!

    Who is John Galt?
    -Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

    Comment


    • #3
      You should always buy a fan or air conditioner at the beginning of May, so when you actually NEED it, you'll HAVE it.

      And who wants to take bets on how many of these customers will end up returning their units once the heat wave finally snaps, because it will NEVER BE HOT AGAIN after that?

      Comment


      • #4
        Failure to prepare on their part doesn't constitute an emergency on your part.

        This has been said hundreds of times here, but it applies as well as ever.
        "Life is tough. It's even tougher if you're stupid" Redd Foxx as Al Royal - The Royal Family - Pilot Episode - 1991.

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        • #5
          Now a person with brains would put Mr.Blowy away somewhere safe .say in the shed..so next year when the heat arrives again there it will be nice and handy to go again
          The Copyright Monster has made me tell you that my avatar is courtesy of the wonderful Alice XZ.And you don't want to annoy the Copyright Monster.

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          • #6
            I'll be honest, I can think of twice where I've been that person who's staring sadly at an empty shelf when the fans used to be. We had gone years without a hot summer here, and I'd given some fans away when I moved apartments. Anyway, I didn't interact with any employees, just walked to the aisle, was sad, and left. It's my own fault. Last year I saw it was going to be hot for the foreseeable future, and looked around online for cheap window fans. Bullseye had one left at my location so I did the buy online, pick up in store. Then I know it's there.

            I can't imagine living in an area with regularly scorching hot summers and being like "I AM HOT. YOU GIVE COOL. WHY NO GIVE?!?! ANGER!"
            Replace anger management with stupidity management.

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            • #7
              In past years, by the end of May-early June you couldn't find a window fan or air conditioner around here for love or money. Last couple of years, someone at corporate at several chain stores miraculously realized that "hey, people still buy fans and A/C through the summer! Why didn't we think of this before!?"

              So they continue to stock window fans, and we went to a certain orange apron store last week to get a replacement for my sister's bedroom A/C unit. They had 'em, had quite a few in fact. By now, who knows? I'm just gobsmacked that the various stores have finally realized you need to continue to stock these things past June 1st.
              When you start at zero, everything's progress.

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              • #8
                Quoth Monterey Jack View Post
                You should always buy a fan or air conditioner at the beginning of May, so when you actually NEED it, you'll HAVE it.

                And who wants to take bets on how many of these customers will end up returning their units once the heat wave finally snaps, because it will NEVER BE HOT AGAIN after that?
                AND - for double bonus points - will complain on the next heat wave, 3 weeks later, that the store not only has none (or just the $600+ units), and the budget unit they had "rented" is not being restocked until next April.

                It was amusing to watch the expression on the guy's face when he realized the great money-saving plan had backfired.

                B
                "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."- Albert Einstein.
                I never knew how happy paint could make people until I started selling it.

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                • #9
                  Quoth Bandit View Post
                  It was amusing to watch the expression on the guy's face when he realized the great money-saving plan had backfired.
                  Don't these people realize that it's gonna be hot again NEXT summer? A well-maintained air conditioner should last the average person a decade or more, so the $300 or so they spend is gonna break down to less than $30 per year. Same thing with a basic fan. Who can't afford twenty or thirty bucks for a basic stand-up fan?
                  Last edited by Monterey Jack; 07-04-2018, 04:23 AM.

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                  • #10
                    Quoth TheWolfEmperor View Post


                    "Well when I was here yesterday, you had a bunch of them on a pallette. Did you move them?"
                    Would it be rude to ask "THEN WHY DIDN'T YOU BUY ONE WHEN YOU WERE HERE YESTERDAY??"
                    Customer service: More efficient than a Dementor's kiss
                    ~ Mr Hero

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                    • #11
                      Final total for tonight was seven. I'm a little disappointed but if I had been counting how many people asked for pool floats I bet the number would be pretty high

                      I'm just lucky that I live in an apartment that was once a garage, located next to a river. It still gets hot in here but not oppressive, and it hasn't effected my sleep patterns.
                      Don't waste time trying to convince someone that the sky is blue.

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                      • #12
                        Quoth Pixelated View Post
                        Would it be rude to ask "THEN WHY DIDN'T YOU BUY ONE WHEN YOU WERE HERE YESTERDAY??"
                        I am a food stamp eligibility worker. I have been told by management that responding to someone yelling "WHY DO I HAVE TO DO THIS AGAIN?!?! YOU ASK FOR THIS EVERY TIME AND ALWAYS MAKE ME COME BACK!!!" is not to say "If we ask you for this every time, maybe you should expect that we will do so again and bring what we will ask for? Apparently, this embarrasses our clients because they have a brief moment where they feel stupid and causes more yelling.

                        We have lived in self owned homes for longer than 30 years. They have always had central cooling and heating. Once in a while, something would happen at the very worse time of the year and we would be sweating or shivering. Because we live out in the sticks, it could take days to get someone out to look at our unit.

                        I'm saying this to confess that I have also done emergency runs to big box stores hoping to find something cheap to use until things were fixed. If they didn't have anything suitable, I didn't throw fits, I just moved on.

                        After our personal emergency was fixed, I donated everything so it wouldn't get shoved to the back of the shed and die of heat death (takes about a year out here) before we needed it again.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Quoth Monterey Jack View Post
                          Don't these people realize that it's gonna be hot again NEXT summer? A well-maintained air conditioner should last the average person a decade or more, so the $300 or so they spend is gonna break down to less than $30 per year. Same thing with a basic fan. Who can't afford twenty or thirty bucks for a basic stand-up fan?
                          and that "doing a little planning ahead" by oh maybe having a spare fan around just incase of a failure is a sound life planning lesson????? I have 2 in-window fans and 3 box fans going at all times during the warmer weather. I have an in-window A/C unit in my bedroom that I run when I sleep (not needed all day long and I am trying to keep my utility bill down).

                          The local Voldy-Mart has basic 20" box fans for like $16.

                          Yeah I need another window A/C unit for another room but I can live with that for another year.
                          I'm lost without a paddle and headed up SH*T creek.
                          -- Life Sucks Then You Die.


                          "I'll believe corp. are people when Texas executes one."

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                          • #14
                            Quoth Pixelated View Post
                            Would it be rude to ask "THEN WHY DIDN'T YOU BUY ONE WHEN YOU WERE HERE YESTERDAY??"
                            Probably would be. Especially if done while pummeling them about the head and shoulders with a pool noodle.... But it's fun to imagine!!!
                            “There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged.
                            One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world.
                            The other, of course, involves orcs." -- John Rogers

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                            • #15
                              I feel in desperate need of a portable but in April and May I didn't know I would. A wall unit comes with the apartment and I did test it. It was blowing cold. I just didn't realize until the heat wave that the difference between the air going in and blowing out was not great enough. It's about 9 degrees and it should be 15-20. I put in a request and they came and got the unit out today so I have nothing but a fan at the moment. Tomorrow is the holiday and it's going to be brutal. I don't think I'll get a new AC until the weekend. If I get desperate enough I will probably buy whatever I can find. I always did want one for the bedroom anyway.
                              "Is it hot in here to you? It's very warm, isn't it?"--Nero, probably

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