Back home again

My spring break was fairly uneventful. I did get some knitting done, pictures to come later.

Spent the better part of the day doing (and cursing at, and crying over) my income taxes. (Mine are complicated because I have investments - money I can't really touch except for a Major Emergency (or retirement), but which I must account for. And pay a chunk of the dividends of. And may I offer unsolicited advice? Never, ever, ever, ever invest in a PTP or any other arrangement that produces a Schedule K. My dad encouraged it (an energy-resources corporation) and I don't know - after reading about five sets of instructions and doing four supplemental forms - if I've done it right. I don't know whether to go into the local Jackson-Hewitt franchise with all my paperwork and hope and pray they have a little time to look over it, or just send it in and plead ignorance if I'm audited. ("Sir, what do you expect? I'm only an academician.")

I will also note that what small return I saw on the investment in no way paid off for all the agony. Then again, it may be a small enough amount of money that if I screwed it up, the IRS will figure it's not worth going after me for that extra $10 or whatever.)

I also did a little shopping - some of it necessary. The big old knockoff of a Vera Bradley bag (the brand was Maggie B or somesuch) that I had carried for some 10 years broke its zipper and I needed a replacement. I also wanted to replace the 15+ year old navy blue trenchcoat I had - it had developed a three-corner tear in the front (those are very hard to repair well), and it was just worn and beat-up.

Well, I guess this shows some of the range of customer service. Replacing the bag was relatively easy: after a fruitless search at a couple large mall stores, my mom (who was with me) suggested we try the Mole Hole (this is part of a chain of gift stores but I do not know how widespread the chain is.)

The woman - who may well have been one of the owners - showed us everything on offer, and then led us back to the wall (yes, an entire wall) of Vera Bradley bags. It turns out those were actually more reasonably priced than some of the less-satisfactory (to me ) other choices. And she pointed out that last year's patterns were 20% off, presumably because the real style mavens wouldn't want a year-old fabric.  Actually, my favorite design - kind of a pseudo-Indian pattern, with a border print with elephants - was one of those. The woman was friendly and helpful, and I found what I needed. So we got it, paid, and were done with that.

The coat was considerably harder to find. Several of the larger chain type stores, when I asked, the person vaguely gestured over to a rack of discounted winter coats and said, "Something might be over there, feel free to look." No, no actual RAINcoats, which was what I asked for. (I will note that the woman at Macy's was the most helpful of the lot, but ultimately, she couldn't help because they had none in stock. (She did offer to special-order one, but if it didn't fit, I'd have to drive to the nearest Macy's - Dallas, I guess - to return it.)

The Bergner's, which was once seen as a somewhat upscale store, was where I ultimately found one, but wow, was the customer "service" ever unhelpful. The first woman was involved in a conversation with someone, then took a person who had a complicated return....so I went to the next nearest register, where the woman grudgingly ended her conversation with a co-worker - then proceeded to stop twice during the transaction to talk to someone. (I tend to think that unless it's an emergency, you finish up with the person you're helping, then you help the next person...) And this was NOT a cheap raincoat. (I guess that commission sales in department stores are a thing of the past....)

I also had to get a couple Clinique items from the counter there. Easy, right? Nope. I stood and waited and finally one of the other counters' (L'Oreal, maybe?) sales staff asked me if I'd been helped. I said, "No, I have not" perhaps a bit more sharply than I might otherwise have - but I was really frustrated at that point. Finally someone wandered over to help me. (If they are going to keep all the cosmetics behind the counter - no self-serve there - it would be really helpful to have 2 people on duty, for when one needs a break)

So, I don't know. I don't know if there's some beef between labor and management at Bergner's, and the staff is taking it out on the customers, or what. My father noted, when I complained to him, that in their town, unemployment is really low and it's hard to get people willing to "hustle" when in a lower-paid job. I don't know. I do know I don't want to shop there again. Maybe instead go to Coldwater Creek, which is smaller and I've had better experiences at, or Von Maur, which, while it is more expensive, still (I think) prides itself on knowledgeable staff. (And they may still do commissions for the staff who bring in lots of sales, I seem to remember someone telling me that....)

Still, when you go to what passes as the modern incarnation of the big old downtown department stores (may they rest in peace), you don't expect (or at least, I don't expect) the same kind of inattentive and borderline rude service that you expect at a "discount" place like Wal-Mart. I'm not ASKING for a servile employee to follow me around and spout flattery, but I would like to buy a "dressy" raincoat without the person ringing me up stopping mid-transaction to converse with a co-worker....I should probably e-mail Bergner's about it, though as I said, I'm really disinclined to shop there in the future, so I don't know how much weight my complaint would carry.

I will also note that this afternoon at the Kroger store, the guy ringing me up barely acknowledged my presence other than to mumble the total at me; he was talking about some party with the person bagging groceries. So I guess unemployment must be low in Sherman, also...