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| - Little Hardware seems to be the kind of place where you could find just about anything hardware-related, in a down-to-earth "ma-and-pa" environment that soars leaps and bounds above its big-box competitors (Lowe's and Home Depot). Unfortunately, because a hardware store is the kind of place where good customer service is necessary in order for an infrequent customer to know where his or her desired merchandise is located, Little Hardware falls flat.
My recent trip to Little's proved that it is possible for a team of employees to collectively flat-out ignore a customer. Three salesmen had the opportunity to say so little as, "I'll be right with you" as they were all helping other customers. After about 15 minutes of roaming the aisles for what I needed, I approached one of them, who after finishing a transaction, saw me, said nothing, and turned around and walked away. The second salesman ignored me completely as he was cutting keys for a customer. The third walked towards me, passed me as I asked him where the certain product was, and he pointed in the general direction; "They're on that wall." As he continued to walk away, I asked him specifically what I was looking for, and he turned halfway around and said, "no." That was my cue to leave.
Amazon, here I come. Sorry, Little. I have to assume your business hasn't been operating this way for 93 years, but you can forget about going forward unless you teach your employees to be more courteous.
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