Have you ever returned to a place that you'd completely sworn off? The 62nd & Keystone Avenue location of Goodwill's thrift stores had made my list of places that had lost my business forever.
I was serious. I'd had HORRID experiences there ranging from lazy employees to poor management to decidedly non-disability friendly business practices and interiors. While I wouldn't say I'm a huge fan of Goodwill, I have always supported their mission but found this particular location to be abysmal. After my last visit in February 2015, I successfully avoided this location and focused my Goodwill shopping on the Pendleton Pike location and occasionally others.
After my rather scathing 1-star review in February, I was contacted by Goodwill about my experiences. To be honest, I was impressed with their fair and honest response to my concerns. Though, to be equally honest, my feelings were so strong that my willingness to revisit this location was still non-existent. I felt heard, and that was great, but I had better experiences elsewhere and those other locations are close enough to my home that I didn't mind the extra five minutes to get better service.
Yesterday, I was really needing to purchase a couple of things and it was getting late. After initially resisting, to the point of actually driving by it once, I pulled into the 62nd & Keystone Goodwill and broke my vow of "never again."
I wheeled into the store and was greeted, actually greeted, in a friendly manner by an employee who was clearly in some kind of supervisory role. I immediately wondered "Does he know I'm the one who complained?" After all, there's likely not a ton of customers in wheelchairs who come in (though I have seen others).
While I will admit that I was visiting about 90 minutes before closing, rather than my usual afternoon visit, the atmosphere was almost eerily different. Oh sure, it was busy and still chaotic, but employees were calm and helpful, supervisory people were obvious and active, and lines were moving in a fairly steady manner.
It was toward the end of their 50% off day and, yeah, the shelves were a bit disheveled and sizes weren't quite in their labeled order. However, I saw employees actively working on it and, even more delightfully, I saw employees enthusiastically helping customers with even the quirkiest of requests.
I saw employees respecting supervisors and supervisors communicating with and supporting their employees. I saw everyone actively engaged and employees actively seeking out work - There was a point where a line started to form and an employee to the supervisor "Do you want me to open up?"
WOW.
I happened to go to a register on my way out where one of the supervisors was working...a price had come up wrong and it was immediately caught and fixed.
Again, I was impressed.
I saw a young man with an intellectual disability working amongst all the employees. You could tell that he commanded a little more supervisory attention than most of the others, but the supervisor was calm, guiding and helpful. This, in turn, models for him appropriate workplace demeanor and problem-solving. Bravo.
There's part of me that wonders if this is just a matter of having come in on a different shift, but my gut feeling says "Nope, something has changed here." From my entering the store through my shopping and all the way to check-out, this Goodwill shopping experience was vastly different and significantly improved from anything I'd ever experienced at this location.
Was it a 5-star experience? Nope. In fact, they lost another star when I had to wait almost 30 minutes for someone who'd parked in the blue-striped lines (In a Hummer, of course - it's a stereotype but an accurate one) and were so close that I didn't have room to get in my car from the wheelchair. In fact, both blue-striped spots had cars in them. They need to make sure the accessible spots are clearly marked and the blue-striped spots should likely be clearly framed out and labeled as "No Parking." After all, it is illegal in Indiana and if I'd been a jerk I'd have called and gotten the customer a $150 ticket. While I'd contemplated going all the way up to a 4-star, this major faux pas is easily avoidable and not particularly expensive.
However, I am pleased that after this experience Goodwill at 62nd & Keystone is being removed from my "never again" list and my gratitude goes out to those who've worked to improve this store's atmosphere, service and overall experience. read more