The Problem with Recruiting Companies

When my employee resigned resigned last year, our human resource manager decided to use a staffing agency to replace her.   She went with a prominent agency who sold us on temp-to-perm. The perfect candidate had just walked through their door and could start the next day. We wouldn’t even have to interview her. Instead, we’d conduct a working interview – evaluate her work for one full day for free.  If we felt she was a good fit we’d keep her, if not they would provide a new candidate. 

I reviewed the candidate’s resume which looked promising.  She had 7-years of solid accounts payable experience. She had left the payables job a year ago after a management change. Since her degree had been in marketing, she had decided to try to get into her field by taking a job in retail.  After a year of working retail she now thought she had made a mistake and wanted to get back into accounting.  I agreed to the working interview.

My current employee had two weeks remaining of her 3-week notice. I wanted her replacement to get as much training with her as possible. When the temp she showed up the next day – five minutes late – I introduced her to my current employee who immediately began the training process.

At the end of the day I met with the temp.  We talked about her accounting background. She provided some great ideas to improve the efficiencies of our payable systems.  Of course I was impressed.  She did say she would have a hard time making our 8:00 start time because she needed to wait until after her daughter was on the bus.  We agreed to an 8:15 start time. After working for us 90-days, if all went well I told her we would offer her a permanent position.

She was a great employee for about a month.  Then the 8:15 became 8:30.  Sometimes it was 9:00 and even 10:00.  There was always an excuse and most of the time she called in: she had a tooth ache, she needed emergency dental surgery, her daughter missed the bus, she was sick, her daughter was sick, her car wouldn’t start, her sister needed a ride, her car wouldn’t start again and lastly she had forgotten to take out the garbage. I’d had enough.  I gave her a warning.  She needed to be at work every day on or before 8:00 for the next 3-weeks, not 8:15, but 8:00 or I was not going to make her a permanent employee.  I also gave her work related goals.  Forget about all those great ideas she had; she wasn’t coming close to keeping up with the daily work. 

The next day she was 5 minutes late. She continued to be 5 – 10 minutes late every day for about two weeks.  Then she woke up with a stomach ache and called in saying she would be a couple of hours late.  I was done. My boss didn’t even get a vote – he still liked her ideas.  I called the agency requesting a new candidate.  The agency provided a new temp in two days.

The funny thing is in follow up conversations with the agency they told me there was a note in my previous temp’s file:

She had called 2 weeks earlier (the day I had given her the warning) and asked the agency to reassign her.  She didn’t like our processes and didn’t want to work for me.

No one at the agency had bothered to let us know. 

We were offered discounts for our new temp.  They also performed a background and reference check on our previous temp. Based on their discoveries, which they wouldn’t share, they weren’t going to use her again.

My new temp worked is a gem and after 90 days she became a permanent employee. 

One day shortly after my new temp became permanent she shared her experience working with this employment agency. Her job with my company had not been her first temp-to-perm position. She had been with a different company previous to ours.  This company offered her a permanent position.  She told the agency she didn’t want the job.  She didn’t like the work and her office was in the basement.  It reminded her of the mailroom in the movie Elf.

http://www.simblissitycottage.com/2014/03/transitioning.html

The agency wouldn’t take no for an answer telling her to think about it.  They called her a few days later and gave her one of the strongest sales pitches she has ever been subjected to, but she stayed firm and said no.

Now I know why the agency never told me us my previous temp had asked to be reassigned:

They were trying to change her mind.

The problem with recruiting agencies (or at least this one) is that they are only concerned with the sale. They don’t seem to care about the companies they are working for or their recruits.  They just want to earn a commission.  And what is up with not performing background and reference checks prior to a permanent offer?  I was told this is standard policy. I can’t help but wonder if our HR manager would have recruited this candidate instead of the agency we would have spotted something and not wasted almost three months of training time.

Have you had a bad experience with a recruiting company?

How not to be a victim of a scam or crime

Fraudsters, scammers and thieves seem to be out in full force this time of year.   Here are a few I came across this week along with  preventative tips:

Nicole of The Budgeting Babe was pickpursed (similar to being pickpocketed only her wallet was removed from her purse instead of her pocket) See My Wallet Was Stolen Last Night:
As Nicole dined at a Chicago restaurant two men came in and without waiting to be seated sat at the table directly behind her.  At one point the man behind her got uncomfortably close. Then five minutes later they both got up and left the restaurant without ordering anything. It wasn't until an hour later when Nicole searching for her wallet to pay her bill noticed it was missing.   In the meantime, the thieves had used her credit cards to charge items at a nearby Target.

This story comes a few weeks after this article appeared in our local paper. Elderly women were the target of purse thieves while shopping.  Two men distract a woman by asking her questions, while another man takes the wallet from her purse. 

The article recommends shoppers protect themselves by paying attention to where they keep their valuables.

Don’t walk away from carts with your purse in it and don’t leave valuables on the seats of your car in parking lots. You are a target.

If Nicole could turn back the clock I am sure she wouldn’t hang her purse on the back of her chair hidden behind her coat - she has been doing this for years and feeling falsely protected.  Nicole’s thieves seem to have been only interested in her credit cards and cash, but she can’t be completely certain they will not sell or use her personal information.  In her post Wallet Status, she provides preventative tips that would have helped minimize her loss:

- Clean her wallet after running errands.

- Keep only the credit cards she needs on a daily basis in her wallet. I would also remove checkbooks, medical cards and other IDs such as social security cards.

- Keep her wallet in a zipped compartment.

- Don’t take her full wallet with her when she goes out.  Just take the basics.

Stephanie of Graduated Learning was falsely accused of denting a car:
This is a weird one.  Earlier this week Stephanie tweeted, “Someone at work left a note on my windshield telling me I caused $1k in damage to their car citing dents I’ve had on my car for several years.” 

Initially, I thought this was a random scammer looking to harass and intimidate Stephanie until she gave him money or personal information to make him go away.  This is what professional con artists do – they search for an easy target (a female driving a car with dents) then harass them until they get what they want.  In this case Stephanie’s note guy ended up working at her company, though she didn’t know him personally.  After receiving a second note and leaving him a voicemail letting him know it wasn’t her, he texted her saying he would follow up the next day to better understand the fresh looking damage on her passenger fender and bumper that matched the damage on his car.

Tweeters concerned about Stephanie’s safety advised her not to meet or talk to this guy alone. They recommended she go straight to her company’s HR department and report the incident. She followed their advice and HR/Security ended up telling the guy to stop bothering her.  Hopefully he doesn't contact her again, but what an exhausting experience for Stephanie.

If someone you don’t know falsely accuses or harasses you, don’t hesitate to report them to authorities.  You do not need take this.

Mileage odometer on used car was rolled back:
An acquaintance recently traded-in his Pontiac Bonneville for a vehicle he purchased from an out-of-state dealership he found on Craigslist.  A few days later he spotted his former Bonneville (identified by a scratch he recognized on the advertisement's photo) also listed for sale on Craigslist.  There was just one little problem, his vehicle had had 175,000 miles on it.  This vehicle was advertised as having only 69,000 miles. He was sure it was his former vehicle.  The ad was from a dealership a few miles from the one he had worked with.   

He did not report the illegal odometer reading to Craigslist out of fear of retaliation. He also didn't think the odometer on the vehicle he purchased had been tampered with since he had verified the mileage on free CARFAX Odometer Check.  

The Carfax website provides the following tips to help used car buyers detect odometer fraud:

• Ask to see the title and compare the mileage listed on the title with the vehicle's odometer. Examine the title closely if the mileage notation seems obscured or is hard to read.
• Compare the mileage on the odometer with the mileage indicated on the vehicle's maintenance or inspection records. You may also want to examine the mileage listed on oil-change and maintenance stickers. You may find these stickers on windows or door frames, in the glove box, or under the hood.
• Get a free CARFAX Odometer Check to help uncover potential odometer rollback.
• If the vehicle has a traditional mechanical odometer, check that the numbers on the odometer gauge are aligned correctly. If the gauge's numbers are crooked, contain gaps, or jiggle when you hit the dash with your hand, the vehicle may have been involved in odometer tampering.
• Examine the tires. If the odometer reads 20,000 or less miles, the vehicle should have the original tires.
• Look at the wear and tear on the vehicle – especially the gas, brake and clutch pedals – to see if the wear seems consistent with and appropriate for the number of miles displayed on the odometer.

A company is charged $2500 in late fees and interest on credit card payments made prior to the due date two months in a row:
This company mailed the credit card payments seven days prior to the due date, but their checks did not clear the bank until the day after the due date.  The first month the credit card company refused to reverse the charges and as a consolation offered a higher rebate on future purchases for the next two months. According to the company's next statement this additional rebate had not been put in place and the company was again charged $2,500 in interest and fees.  The company complained and the customer service rep again refused to reverse fees and offered an additional rebate.  Emails threatening to cancel the corporate account have been ignored. 

I came across this informative post from a former customer service rep with a leading national credit card company. The rep provides the following secret to getting fees waived:

If all else fails, RAISE HELL!! Customer service reps are NOT ALLOWED to disconnect (we were diligently & secretly monitored and scored on our performance) a call unless the customer is being verbally abusive and using lots of profanity. So get mad and go on-and-on, the rep will just get sick of hearing you that they'll waive the fee just to shut you up!! Keep in mind that I got 200 calls a day with approx. 80% of them being IRRATE customers. I was starved for satisfied customers that didn't yell or get aggressive.

Tomorrow I am informing the employee in charge of company credit cards to call the credit card company one more time, to be courteous yet persistent. This employee should go on and on and on about how much the company purchases from the credit card company's gas stations each month, how the payments are always made at least seven days prior to the due dates.  She should list every payment made this year giving amounts, due dates and payment dates.  She should inform the rep how upset the company’s owners are and that they want her to cancel the account and most importantly she should talk about the additional rebate the company never received.  All the while repeatedly asking for the fees to be reversed, for $5,000 it is worth a try.

If the company continues to use this credit card company, all future payments should be made on-line.

Have you been the victim of a scam or crime similar to those I've listed above? Do you have any additional preventative tips?

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Not Understanding Hertz Refueling Policy is a Costly Lesson

We received an excellent deal on a car rental booked thru priceline.com for our recent trip to California.  Hertz accepted our bid for a full-sized sedan at $30 a day with unlimited mileage.

When we arrived at San Francisco’s SFO airport the Hertz rental counter was crazy busy. After waiting in line for at least 30 minutes, our Hertz representative was courteous and attentive.  She recommended we sign up for the Fuel Purchase Option (FPO) which she felt was the best refueling deal. We would purchase a full tank from Hertz at a price competitive with local fuel stations (currently around $4.49 a gallon) at rental.  When we returned the car the fuel tank should be as close to empty as possible, since we’d already pre-purchased a full tank of gas. Despite Clark Howard's advice to never prepay for fuel, the thought of not having the hassle of refueling before our return flight was appealing. Yes we both agreed, sign us up for that.  We were told our vehicle, which had been upgraded to a Jeep Liberty, would be ready in about an hour and we would be asked if we wanted the FPO option at that time.

After only 10 minutes, our vehicle was ready.  We were handed our Hertz contract along with the keys to the Jeep Liberty and were whisked off to the stall where our rental awaited us.  It was only after we had left the airport that I realized we were not asked about the FPO option.  Perhaps that nice Hertz representative had automatically signed us up for it.  Our rental contract said something about fuel and services at $9.29 a gallon. Something was not right, we would have to call and get clarification the next day.

Unfortunately Consumer Cellular, my cell phone carrier, does not have coverage in northern California.  I thought for sure I had checked into this before we left, but after losing cell phone coverage shortly after leaving San Francisco I realized I had not.  We decided to operate as if we had purchased the FPO option and talk to Hertz about the incorrect fuel price in our contract when we returned the car.

We filled up our Jeep Liberty's fuel tank the day before our vacation ended.  We had one final day of sight-seeing in addition to the two hour drive from our inn in Cloverdale to the airport.  We would attempt to return the vehicle with an empty fuel tank.

Traffic through downtown San Francisco on our return trip to the airport was terrible.  Plus, our GPS did not recognize streets that were closed due to construction or those that did not allow for left turns between 7:00 am and 7:00 pm on weekdays. After many GPS recalculations, we arrived at SFO’s Hertz car return with no time to spare.  My husband did a quick check-in as I grabbed our bags.  We reviewed our final Hertz bill as we ran to our terminal.  We were charged an additional $9.29 a gallon for 9.75 gallons of fuel totaling $104.66.  

We barely made our flight.  If we had stopped to refuel the rental car, we would have surely missed it.

Obviously the exorbitant refueling charge is mostly our fault for not understanding Hertz’s policy, but I feel Hertz should have verbally informed us of the refueling option stated in our contract when they gave it to us.  With each trip we take my husband complains more about the “travel” part of traveling and how he doesn’t want the hassle any more. Hertz you are not helping my case.

How about you?  Have you ever misunderstood a vehicle rental company’s refueling policy? Or do you follow Clark Howard's advice and always return your rental with a full tank of gas?

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Ann Taylor Loft’s Return Policy Sucks

I have been slow to buy new clothes since losing weight last summer. Instead I wear either clothes that are too big or my former skinny clothes that are now over five years old.  I wanted to make sure I could keep the weight off before investing money in a new wardrobe. A couple of days before Easter I decided I needed a pair of pants that actually fit.   I found two pair at Ann Taylor Loft, a store I usually don’t shop at because their styles usually don’t work for me.  (Call me old fashioned, but I prefer Mom Pants) See examples:

One pair I wore to an Easter brunch the other I thought would be perfect for summer.  Last week I was all set to wear my new linen trouser pants to work before taking one last look in the mirror.  Argh! The pants looked terrible on me (to be honest they were a questionable purchase when I tried them on in the store, but I thought with a long linen shirt they would be okay). They were a tad tight showing every bulge. Plus, they really were too long.  Deciding I could not be seen in public wearing them; I returned them to the store. 

Ann Taylor Loft's Return Policy:

Unfortunately Ann Taylor’s return policy sucks. After 60 days they only give you the item’s current selling price either in the form of a merchandise credit or as a merchandise exchange. The good news is the credit never expires. 

Why is that good news?
Since I don’t ever plan on ever shopping at Ann Taylor Loft again I am planning on giving the credit to a friend who loves the store.  She will be able to take her time using the credit.

Lesson learned:

I need to educate myself on return and other company policies before making purchases at stores where I don’t normally shop.  Here is a list of links that will help all of us become more educated consumers:

Top Ten Worst Company Policies To Be Aware Of:
Money Crashers has put together a list of crazy company policies that border on rip-offs.

Gift Return Worst Practices: Retail Return Policies That Lose Customers:
I was aware of Best Buy and Target's return policies, but not Barnes and Noble.  Seriously B and N if we forget to include the packing slip when mailing back our return we forfeit both our refund and our purchase.

The 5 Worst Retailer Return Policies:
20 Something Finance lists 5 of the worst.

Kohl's is my Kryptonite
Kohl's actually has one of the best no hassle return policies out there. I am including this post from Stephanie at Graduated Learning because she does a great job showing us how Kohl's gets us to keep showing up at their store. 

Do you have a bad return experience you would like to share?

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That dress looks great on you!

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That dress looks great on you!

A member of my husband’s family is getting married this summer which means I have to begin the dreaded task of shopping for a new dress. I asked a friend who’s into fashion where she would look for a dress. She said,

“Funny you should ask I just bought a dress for a June wedding at The Limited. I’m not sure about it though. The dress falls above my knee and I hate showing that much leg. The salesgirl assured me I looked great in the dress and suggested I wear tights with it.”

Tights in June!* She was unsure, but the salesclerk was very persuasive and eventually convinced her to buy it. As she was checking out she overheard one of the salesgirls whisper to another, “Go tell Kelly in fitting room two she looks great in that shirt.” What the hell. They say that to everyone.

What terrible customer service. I’ve had salespeople in the past tell me something does not look good on me and I can’t tell you how much I appreciated it. I would return to a store where I trusted the sales staff any day over a store that convinced me to buy something just to make a sale.

p.s. If anyone has any suggestions where a 40-something petite gal should shop for a dress to wear to an afternoon summer wedding followed by a formal reception let me know.

* Apparently nylons are no longer in style.

He's polite, he doesn't make excuses, and he doesn't lie.

While discussing overdue accounts at a recent meeting, my boss made the comment he liked working with a particular customer even recommending the company extend his payment terms, “He’s polite, he doesn’t make excuses, and he doesn’t lie.” Unfortunately, honest non-abusive behavior such as this is rarely observed in our slow-paying customers.

This scenario reminded me of a chapter I had read in Stacy Horn’s book, Waiting for My Cats to Die: A Memoir. Stacy had received a hostile note from a customer who had become unhinged over an unpaid bill for services from her company Echo. In response she wrote:

It’s the rare person who says, “Oh God, I’m sorry, I wasn’t really using my account, I meant to close it.” No. Not only do they owe you money they have to be abusive about it on top of it. Then they have to come up with something to justify their hostility, like “Echo was so slow this month, and the phone lines keep disconnecting me.” Anything to prove that you’re the asshole, not them. But I’ve finally accepted that this is the defense that people adopt when they are in owing-money mode. This is how they cope.

I’ve been known to become unhinged a time or two myself especially when sneaky fees* appear on my cable or cell phone bill (not to mention the customer service rep who refused to accept my credit card payment until I located my password), but not every company is playing gotcha with sneaky fees. The majority of business owners are trying to sell you their product or idea at a fair price, so they can pay their own bills. If you can’t pay your bill on time or are no longer interested in receiving a service you legitimately signed up for why be abusive about it?  Be polite, don’t make excuses and don’t lie. You might receive better service in the long run.

*To learn more about sneaky fees and what to do about them I suggest reading Bob Sullivan's Gotcha Capitalism: How Hidden Fees Rip You Off Every Day-and What You Can Do About It.

Cheap laptop not always a deal

I would like a wireless laptop. I don’t need a laptop; my desktop computer works fine. I just like the idea of blogging from my couch. I wouldn’t need anything fancy only wireless internet, a good battery, and a new version of office. Oh and of course I don’t want to spend a lot of money.

My co-worker’s son who has a small home-based computer business offered me the following deal:

Hi Savvy:
I was talking with my mom the other day and she mentioned you may be interested in a laptop. I hate to sound like a salesperson, but I do distribute a formerly corporate owned refurbished laptop. It is an AWESOME laptop for anything outside of video gaming. I carry them for $320, but for you I’d be happy to let one go for $280. This would come ready to use out of the box, with office 07 and full antivirus/anti-spyware.

What a deal! I can almost picture myself sitting in front of the TV blogging away.

Fortunately, I stumbled across Mr. Credit Card's  guest post "Not all deals are created equal" on Simply Forties.

He writes about electronic retailers who sell cheap out-of-date products on Black Friday:

There is nothing inherently wrong in selling old models, but one of the problems I have encountered is buying an old laptop that had "new software" installed on it. If you looked at Black Friday 2009, there were a lot of laptops going for under $200. Yes, under $200. But the problem was they had Windows 7 installed on them! Unfortunately, there wasn't enough memory in those laptops to really run Windows 7. Folks who bought those laptops would be shocked that they took so long to boot! When they add Microsoft Office and a Norton Security Suite, they will find their new laptop runs like a snail! Additionally, many Black Friday deals lure you to buy a product and then the product does not work until you buy additional software!

Thank you Mr. Credit Card! You’ve just prevented me from making a $280 mistake.

Duped by Pottery Barn's aggressive marketing campaign

I like to think of myself as a smart consumer, but I believe I was duped by an aggressive marketing campaign when I purchased Pottery Barn’s "Sausalito" dinnerware:

Approximately five years ago, I drove to the mall in search of a decent set of dinnerware for an upcoming dinner party I was hosting. I came home with 12 place settings of Pottery Barn’s "Sausalito" dinnerware in natural. A friend had received a similar set as a wedding gift and I had loved the simple modern style. I was sure the heavy earthenware was durable and would last for years. It cost more than I normally would have spent, but it was Pottery Barn so the quality had to be good. I soon added a gravy bowl, 3-piece serving bowl set and a serving platter to my collection.

Unfortunately, this set has brought me nothing but problems. During my five years of ownership, I’ve replaced cracked dinner plates so frequently my local Pottery Barn store suggested I upgrade to their porcelain dinnerware and use the Sausalito plates for display purposes only. One plate cracked, making an explosive popping sound, during a dinner party while a guest was serving himself a plate of food. Also, recent plate replacements are so abnormally large I am no longer able to close the cupboard door tightly. Prior to the recent holiday season, I attempted once again to replace a cracked dinner plate only to discover Pottery Barn has discontinued making the Sausalito dinnerware in “natural” my color. After scouring the countryside, I was able to locate eleven plates in Miami, but ended up ordering only one. I have had enough; the next time a plate cracks I am replacing the entire set with a standard size durable set of dinnerware.

What I don’t understand is if Pottery Barn’s Sausalito dinnerware is so fragile why do customers continue purchasing it?

I think the answer can be found on the Solas Web Design blog where they write:

For $139.00, Pottery Barn offers their Sausalito dinnerware setting for 4. Yes, Pottery Barn’s pottery has become vastly popular, due to an aggressive, well-funded marketing campaign, but what is the actual value of the end product that shoppers receive? Though colorful, their dinnerware, serving ware, etc. is a mass-produced, made in Asia product. It feels machine-made, and frankly, doesn’t strike me as a cut above the place settings you might find at K-Mart for 1/3 of the price. My feeling would be that Pottery Barn can set a value like the above on their products because their advertising has created a mystique or buzz about their brand name. But the Martha Stewart products Kmart stocks, also mass-produced, have been slated as being for folks who live on a budget, because, after all, they are being sold at Kmart. Perhaps Pottery Barn consumers feel that they are spending their earnings on the finer things in life, because the corporation is slating themselves as such.

Yet, in the end, Pottery Barn customers are purchasing fast-food-quality pieces for their home, at a high price tag. This isn’t Blue Willow China. They won’t be passing it onto their grandchildren. Economists call us a throw-away culture and I’d say both the items manufactured by Pottery Barn and Martha Stewart’s factories in Asia fall into this category.

How was Pottery Barn able to create this mystique or buzz about their brand name?
In an old Reveries Magazine Hillary Billings Pottery Barn’s former vice president of product design and development says:

In the early nineties, nobody in the specialty retail world was addressing home furnishings. The only consumer choices were to go to mass-market retailers, like department stores or to an Ethan Allen, most of which weren't providing stylish furniture. They were presenting assortments that were very mainstream and weren't very interesting. Or you had to hire an interior designer and spend exorbitant amounts to enter the stylish arena of home furnishings.

There was nothing for the consumer who didn't want to hire an interior designer or didn't have the money to, but had an interest in style that was more sophisticated than what the department stores were selling. It offered a clear path for Pottery Barn to build a business.

So how was I duped?
I have mentioned previously I am decorating challenged, plus when I bought my dinnerware I was in a hurry looking for a quick purchase. Pottery Barn made shopping for dinnerware easy. They didn’t have numerous styles and patterns to choose from and the Sausalito with its hand glazing and visible brush strokes looked so sophisticated; little did I know it was mass-produced in Asia. Also, I didn’t realize buying good dinnerware isn’t as simple as just walking into a store and picking out the first set of dishes that catches my eye. There is actually a lot to consider. Instead of purchasing a quality set of dinnerware, I was purchasing the great “Pottery Barn name.

How about you, have you ever been duped by an aggressive marketing campaign?

The "repair vs. replace" decision

Last weekend, my dryer stopped working; I'd push the start button and nothing would happen. We checked the cord to make sure it was plugged in properly, the circuit breaker and all of the connections. Everything seemed to be in order.

We were then faced with the “repair vs. replace” decision. Several years ago, my husband repaired a used late 70's model dryer that went on to last ten more years. Encouraged by this experience and sensing there really wasn't anything seriously wrong with the dryer we decided to get it repaired.

The repairman initially found our dryer’s problem perplexing. He knew it wasn't taking in enough voltage, but couldn’t figure out why. He too checked all the connections, discovering the problem only after performing a diagnostic test. A couple of wires on the inside terminal block had come loose. Apparently, this happens over time. The cost to fix the wiring was $10. The cost for the diagnostic test was $79. Total cost with tax $94. It seemed a little high for a couple of loose wires, but my husband feels any repair bill under $100 isn’t too bad.

After he left my first thought was could we have fixed it ourselves? I played around on this site, but was unable to find the correct solution to the problem. Plus, if the repairman was perplexed, I doubt my hubby would have figured it out.

That was all great until this weekend. Our dryer now starts, but it no longer provides any heat. So, here we are again faced with the “repair vs. replace” decision. We received this dryer three years ago from my mother-in-law when she moved out of her home. No one knows for sure how old this dryer is, but estimate it’s at least 15 years old. We found the average life of a dryer to be 13 years on this site.

We called the repairman asking for his recommendation. He said the problem could be the element, the switch or the timer. Over the years he has seen two outcomes; he repairs the switch then two weeks later the timer goes. Or he repairs the switch and nothing else goes wrong for another 5 years. In our case, since we think the dryer is at least 15 years old he recommends buying a new dryer. He did suggest testing the dryer on a different dry cycle with an empty dryer.

Of course that didn’t work either. It looks like we wasted $94; hopefully we can make it up on a new more energy efficient dryer.

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Is it me or is it the Crate & Barrel Table Runner?

I will be the first to admit my interior decorating/housekeeping skills are not exactly on par with Martha Stewarts, but I can’t help wondering if this latest episode is entirely the result of my inadequacy. Last year, I received a gift of hand painted candle holders and have been searching for a table decoration to display them with ever since. A few weeks ago, I found this table runner at Crate & Barrel. The flowered pattern is a perfect match.

After removing the runner from its tightly wrapped plastic packaging, I noticed it was deeply creased. The label indicated the runner was made of cotton; its embroidery made of rayon, so I set my iron on low and began ironing. It wasn’t long before little iron marks started appearing in addition to the creases. Thinking I was ruining my new table runner, I searched the internet for: “How to iron rayon"

On the purse blog I found:

Never iron rayon right side out without a pressing cloth to protect it. Rayon will gain a shine to it if you iron it directly. Either iron the inside of the garment or use a pressing cloth on the outside.

I then ironed the runner from its back side and placed a cloth on its right side while ironing the top. After about twenty minutes the creases remained as well as the little iron marks, only now the runner also refused to lay flat. I quit. Even my husband thought it looked worse than before I had started.

I complained to my more domestic friends, asking if I should take the runner to the dry cleaners. They recommended I steam it or better yet take it back to Crate and Barrel and have them steam it.

Since I don’t own a steamer, I called the store where I had purchased the runner explaining the crease problem. The sales associate’s first comment was all of our table runners are packaged like that (I hadn’t asked; apparently she has had this complaint before). She suggested I wash it then iron it. When I politely asked if by chance the store could steam it for me she responded with:

"Well, you can’t come in today we are too busy (I hadn't intended on going in today). We need to focus on our in-store customers."

And

“If you give us your phone number we'll call you when it is a good time."

Hello. Aren’t I a customer? Although, I am seriously considering never being one again. Also, I work full time and can’t exactly run to the mall when it is convenient for them. And finally, was it really necessary to package the table runner tightly in fancy plastic packaging (which I’m sure cost me at least an extra five bucks). I can't imagine too many customers appreciating the extra work.

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You need your customers more than they need you

Just wondering why

You need your customers more than they need you

While vacationing in St. John, my husband and I had the pleasure of meeting Richard Meyer, the proprietor for "The Lime Inn". We discussed the economy and inquired how the recession had affected his restaurant. Without hesitation he replied, “Business has been slow.”

Vacationers are traveling to St John, especially now that it is spring, but they are spending all of their time at the beach. Retail sales, restaurant activity and chartered excursions are suffering. I understood spending your entire vacation at the beach, but couldn’t comprehend why tourists were not eating at the restaurants. Groceries on the island are quite expensive (about double what I pay in Milwaukee); since food is expensive anyway, why go to all the extra trouble of shopping, cooking and cleaning up?

Upon further investigation, we discovered travelers are not buying food on the island; they are bringing it with them. They pack steaks, chicken, and sandwich fixings all in an ice chest then check it as one of their checked bags.

A couple of days later, we visited Richard's restaurant, The Lime Inn, which surprisingly was filled to capacity. The group ahead of us was told there would be an hour wait ‘til they could be seated. They left. Richard spotted us, apologized for the lack of tables then offered to have us sit at the server bar or the customer bar saying, "I need you more than you need me." We choose the server bar. This ended up being one of our favorite vacation experiences. Katy, the bartender, not only served us our food, but acted as a quasi tour guide recommending vacation hotspots and giving us insight into what it’s like living in St. John. Plus, the food was excellent. I highly recommend the Shay’s seafood sausage appetizer.

With discount chains such as Wal-Mart, Costco, and McDonalds pushing out businesses in every major city and small town, it is important in a down economy to distinguish your business through customer service. Take note of Richard’s sage observation "I need your more than they need me.”