Mums the Word

Put on those special glasses Pedro, for the first time ever this week's newsletter is printed in color! Yes indeed it may not be noticeable to the normal human eye but gosh darn we have stepped ever so slowly into 1998. Last week while printing the final proofs of the newsletter our old HP printer made a screeching noise and came to a grinding halt. Thus eagle eyed readers might have noticed even more errors than those that appear in our average issue. There simply was no way to print corrections. While frustrating I spent my time debating whether the saying should be "In perfection lies imperfection," or whether it should be "In imperfection lies perfection"? Both made equal amount of sense at 3:00 a.m. Sunday morning. So after accepting life's latest challenge/ frustration and putting yet another newsletter to bed, I was left with a dilemma. Without a printer it would be mighty difficult to produce a newsletter. I could use my mother's computer which lacks compatible software and thus would create a different looking publication, or I could drive all the way in to Stillwater and use my work PC. Or I could pry open the wallet and either fork out the dough to repair the printer or buy a brand new one.

Utilizing another computer seemed the best option for it would afford me some time to make the final decision. Yet clearly it was not a long term solution. Fixing my old printer was perhaps the most logical solution for I knew the reliability and quality I could expect. Still it seemed silly to shell out the price of parts and labor on a five year old piece of computer equipment when the advances in technology seemed sufficient enough to buy a new printer (color!) for a competitive price. So I did some shopping and pricing all the while trying to stymie the impulse buy impulses. I ended up at the Roseville CompUSA. I looked at a variety of printers from simple black and white inkjets to multifaceted printer/scanner/fax machine units. My attention focused upon a NEC color inkjet which seemed to produce a quality print out balanced against a reasonable price.

I checked out the Web for information on that specific printer. I asked my computer "guy" about NEC products. He had nothing negative to report so I decided to take the plunge. I returned to CompUSA following a rather long day (a broken tooth and a broken lawn mower which I won't go into here). I was set in my decision of buying the NEC printer with the condition I see an actual printout to determine quality and with the need of an answer as to whether CompUSA's three to five year service plan was worth the extra cash. (I'll admit here that I was open to the possibility of being talked into buying a much more expensive printer if they could convince me the fax/scanner options were worth it.) So I returned to the store, went straight back to the printer aisle and waited for some assistance. No salesperson was in sight so I wandered back to the nearest counter (software and hardware upgrades) where I asked the clerk for help. He informed me he couldn't assist me but that he would page someone. Several minutes passed and he tried his intercom announcement once again, "MOD to printers for customer service..." After waiting a few minutes someone finally returned his page and he was instructed to tell me to stand by the printer and flag down a salesperson when they became available.

So I stood by the printer I wanted to buy and waited. And waited some more. I saw a salesperson assisting another customer so I approached him and asked if he could help me when he was available. He grunted. So I waited some more. Meanwhile a woman walked out because she couldn't find any help and another gentleman muttered to his son, "This place sucks..." I decided I would wait around to give them ample chance to correct the situation. The hardware manager, Steve Hirman finally appeared in the area so I asked him for help. He was assisting another customer and walked away. I waited some more. I flagged down a stock person and asked him if he could help me. He couldn't but for the first time during my visit I actually encountered an employee that seemed to care that I was a customer.

Hence my frustration. After talking to Mr. Hirman I was told three of his employees had not shown that evening and he was short handed. But it was clear he had no clue as to the nature of my frustration. He explained to me that CompUSA was a "self service" type of store clearly indicating that the prices were what mattered to his customers not the level of service. (CompUSA where we sell products that work better than we do...) The lesson I was learning that he didn't seem to comprehend was that the problem was something far more basic than the credo "the customer is always right." It was about basic human interaction and the need to see that someone at the store actually cared about the quality of work they performed. I almost felt like apologizing as a customer for being a burden and interfering with their more important work. I would have but all the employees I encountered seemed a bit cranky. The prices may sell the products but to have a group of employees so undercut by management philosophy destroys any job satisfaction that can possibly occur.

I don't expect my bad experience to stop anyone from shopping the company and this one location in particular. I bought the printer and they got their money from me. I've even thought about writing to the CEO of the company and thanking him for my new printer which I'm fairly satisfied with. "Dear Mr. So and So: I am writing to tell you how happy I am that I purchased an NEC printer from your company for such a great price. I would have thanked one of your employees if only I could have found one..."