Now, yesterday I needed a new gasoline can in order to feed my lawn mower. I buzzed over to Ingersoll, selected a plastic gas container above a label showing a price of $5.95 and proceeded to the checkout, where the computer rang up a price of $14.95. Returning to the shelf and carefully examining the label I saw that $5.95 was for planting soil. The cans had ended up on the wrong shelf. I paid and left for the gas station.

Imagine my dismay when I got home with a full gas can to discover gasoline all over my trunk. The container had a pin-hole leak in the bottom. Furious, I set the container on edge in the driveway to prevent more spill and returned to the hardware store. A friendly young clerk asked how he could help. I explained my predicament – that I needed to replace a defective gas can for a new one but could not return the old one until I replaced the gas from it to the new container. The fellow suggested that I just pick up a new can, leave my name and address with the checkout clerk, and come back with the defective can. Problem nicely solved.

The checkout clerk, however, asked the shift manager how to handle the transaction. The manager said I would need to pay for the new can and then get a refund upon return of the defective one. When I mentioned the solution proposed by the clerk he said, “He is just part time. I’ve been here twenty-five years and I know that the owenrs want.” I offered to provide information from my drivers license for security, but was not going to change the manager’s mind. I was highly upset. It wasn’t about the money. It was about principle and treatment of a long-time customer. It wasn’t as though I were a stranger – all three people have seen me in the store many times.

Further infuriating me was the answer to the question as to how to get rid of the gasoline and odor in my trunk. The manager said he could provide the name of the manucturer and I could go after them for the cost of clean-up!

The young clerk had it right. Help the customer and offer a reasonable solution.

I’m going to have to rethink my loyalty, as well as have a few words with the owner when I return the defective can today.

Will Limkemann
www.siqualtd.com