| > He might have made a worldwide empire which drives the economy, but he also helped wreck small-town shopping alongside costco and walmart, and their international cohort of economically efficient traders. I'm of two minds about this: 1) Yes, exactly what you described happened and wiped out a lot of decent, local jobs 2) Holy hell, the vast majority of local businesses were mindblowingly horrible. From customer service to selection, they were just Bad with a capital B. My go to story (I have many) was a local auto dealership who accidentally broke the back window on my parents car. No big, shit happens. Until this conversation: Dealership comes out to talk to me at 11:00AM: "We're done with the car repairs, but, sorry, we broke the rear passenger window." Me (waiting in the coffee area): "Well, that's annoying. But, no big, I'll pick up the car tomorrow then." Dealership: "Um. It won't be done tomorrow." Me (eyebrows just shot up): "Would you care to explain why it won't be done tomorrow?" Dealership: "Well, the window isn't in stock locally." Me (skeptically): "Okaaaaaaaay. So, then get it from Pittsburgh." Dealership: "Um, it's not in stock there, either." Me (starting to get steamed): "So, then get it from New York or DC and finish it the day after." Dealership: "Well, they don't have stock either." Me (getting well and truly wound up): "Really? I find that excessively difficult to believe. My mechanic in California is probably awake right now. I'm about to call him to find this window and have it sent here via FedEx if required. If I call him to look this up, am I really going to find that there is no stock?" Dealership: "Erm, well...they have it in Pittsburgh, but it's an extra $20 to have it shipped tomorrow since our normal shipment just came yesterday and we're not scheduled for another one until mid next week." Me (hitting the roof): "So, let me get this straight: your mechanics broke my window and I'm going to be down a car for almost a week because you lying dipshits are worried about 20 fucking dollars. GET THE GODDAMN WINDOW, ASSHOLE! I will pay the twenty dollars myself, if necessary. However, I WILL find someone at GM and make his life miserable until he calls this dealership's owner and makes his life miserable. GET MOVING AND GET THAT WINDOW NOW!!!" This was around 5 years ago. While I still occasionally have an absolute gem (my favorite candy store from my hometown, for example), my general experience is that local customer service is worse than the big companies--something that you wouldn't think possible. |