Elderly Instruments - 1 of my favorite places

I had the privilege of interviewing Keith - sales manager of Elderly. More on that to come, but since I take pictures I would like to share. For everything guitar, banjo, ukulele, and more tucked away in quaint Old Town Lansing, Michigan you will find Guitar Mecca.
Their web site: http://www.elderly.com/
Everyone there is awesomely nice and they will guide you through everything from a guitar pick to a $30,000 vintage collector piece.

This welcomes you.

When you go, ask them about I. O. O. F.

Jimi jammin'

Elderly Instruments 1100 North Washington Lansing, MI, 48906 USA 517-372-7880

Showroom hours (Eastern USA time zone) are: Mon-Wed 11am-7pm, Th 11am-9pm, Fri-Sat 10am-6pm, Closed Sunday.

11:11 1.11.11

One More Time W/ RadioShack

I was stumped. I decided not to take a chance and responded with the full name that I was given.

Robin Shelander,

I assume especially passionate is a positive spin on what seems to be a trend in retail to be especially invasive in order to up sale. Being in the service industry I fully understand the philosophy of trying to guide customers into possibly something a little bit more than what they were looking for. However, I feel this could be done in what I would consider a more symbiotic manner.

The location of the store is: 401 North Clippert Street Lansing, MI 48912 (517) 337-1853

Having shopped at this location over the years I've definitely noticed a change in not only merchandise, services and sales practices the latter has made the task of shopping more of a chore. You are not alone in this trend. There are other business that have caused me to be leery about how I spend money. This incident I've brought to your attention was a pinnacle of frustration bringing together all that I find most annoying with what used to be a simple task of going to the proper store to find that one thing.

Thank you very much for acknowledging receipt of my correspondence. I realize this one event will probably not change the world but at least now I feel someone has been enlightened to something that I have found has been bothering many of us ''shoppers''.

If you feel a phone conversation would be beneficial please let me know and I would be happy to give you a call.

Thank you for your time,

~Melik

A Response From The Shack

Or is it. I noticed that the name is RadioShack, not Radio Shack or The Shack.

Good morning Melik,

Thank you for reaching out to RadioShack to communicate your frustrations about your shopping experience on December 29th.   Our stores do strive to offer outstanding customers service and inform our customers of the many services and products we offer.  My apologies if you were working with an employee who was especially passionate about the scope of our offerings.  

I hope you will share with me the location of the store where you were shopping.  Balance is important in building relationships and trust with our customers.  Your perception of the employees skill set is tremendous information that we would like to share with the staff at the store where you were shopping.   Each day offers learning opportunities, this would be a great one.  The choice is yours and I respect your decision.

If you would like to speak with me directly instead of emailing, please feel free to call my number listed below.  Otherwise, I wish you the best in 2011 and hope you will reconsider shopping at RadioShack in the future.

Respectfully,

Robin Shelander
Customer Service Supervisor
RadioShack Corporation
817-415-0479

Radio Shack - Thank you

This is a copy of an E-mail that I have sent to Radio Shack several times with no response commenting on a recent experience there.


Dear Radio Shack,


The last time I saw you was last Thursday 30 December. Thank you for being conveniently located. Thank you for having hours that kind of match my crazy work schedule. Thank you for having toys, electronics, accessories and those weird watchmacallit doohickies. And thank you for having a staff that is knowledgeable about most of what I am looking for.


I know you want to analyze your clientele but I don’t want to give you my phone number, address or E-mail address. I guess I’m okay with giving you my zip code but with so many businesses doing that I just wish you would take my cash. That’s right – if you could be polite, say hello, and tell me how much my purchase will be please just take my cash and give me what change is due.


If I come in asking question so that I can get the one thing that I need to finish a project I wish you wouldn’t ask me a bunch of questions that do not matter. If I ask you where the routers are located if you basically grunt and point I’m okay with that. Does it really matter who my internet provider is? Does it really matter if I have a cell phone? Does it really matter what type of computer I’m using. I simply asked you for a four port router. If you would have went straight to what size space are you trying to cover I would have been okay with that. But you didn’t you told me that if I changed my cellular phone provider with a great data package I could use the phone to connect my computer to the internet. I tried to be polite, but not only are your questions bothering the heck out of me it seems you have halitosis.  Come to think of it – it is none of your business how much I pay for cellular service. Furthermore it is none of your business how much my internet provider is charging me. It is none of your business when my cell phone contract requirements will be satisfied.


I realize times have changed Radio Shack but if you are going to annoy the hell out of me you could at least give me some information that I can use like the difference between N technology and G technology. You never even mentioned that because you kept saying you can beat whatever price I am paying. I’m sorry but you have no idea what I am paying and it is none of your business.


So Radio Shack, if I do visit you again and ask you a question I will simply repeat myself until you answer my question. If I have more then I will just repeat the process. Your soft hard sell based on commission barrage of questions has become VERY annoying.
Thanks for being there all these years Radio Shack but when or if you see me again you’ll have to forgive me if I seem cold, rude and unwilling to be pumped for information as if you are an agitated bill collector.


Thank you,
~Melik


A few days later I purchased what I needed at Best Buy.

I Got Shafted

How many times have you taken a ride on an elevator? We have a lot of trust in something that we cannot see much of. There is a lot of machinery that goes into making a 'lift' work.

All this seemed really cool when I was taking the picture. I hope it translates.

Howell, Michigan - I kind of got lost

And I was frustrated so I drove around until I found something interesting to freeze frame. In short time I found this...

I do believe it is a can recycling place. This is how they empty trucks.

That's huge.

Makes me wonder what was.

I know it is 'just the sun' but have you ever thought how you would describe the sun to someone that has never seen it before.

How would you describe the sun to someone that has never felt its warmth? The sun is life.