A big fan of the bargain bins for CDs, but I have a few issues.
First of all, and this is for all of the Exchange stores: the stickers.
It is impossible to remove them without damaging the packaging! I'm a huge collector, so when I find something rare at your store, it's heartbreaking because I have to decide between how badly I want the item and how much I care that half of the cardboard sleeve (vinyl or CD digipaks) will be missing after I try to remove that horrible, horrible sticker. There have been countless times where I've passed up decently priced items solely because of the fact an Exchange sticker is on there.
Second of all, select members of your staff.
We'll start off with a specific member. I believe his name is Matthew? He seemed like he was a manager. We walked in 14 minutes before closing (I was very attentive of the time, because I knew it was close to closing time and I don't want to be a jerk) and went immediately to the section where the items I was looking for would be. This guy walks over and says, "do you know what you're looking for? We're closing soon." I look at my phone (to check the time) and say, "yep, 13 minutes, and yeah, deciding between a few things in this area." He chimes in, "actually, it's more like less than ten." I discourage myself from showing him the time as provided by satellites, because, you know, I get it. I have limited time, not a problem. Instead I say, "ah, alright. Well, I'll let you know if I need a case opened."
So then he asks, "how are you paying? Because we might not be able to ring you up since we've already counted the register."** "I've only got a card..." "Oh, alright, good, let me know what I can find for you." So now we really are down to less than ten minutes. A woman walks in and he goes over to her, giving her the same "do you have a specific item in mind" spiel. Except she had a title, so he took her to where it was, then tried to strike up a conversation, "oh, you've never seen this? Oh, it's a classic." She gives friendly "uh-huhs" and he continues, "where do you live? Have I seen you here before?" She replies, "oh, uh, well I just live right across the street, I come in sometimes." Notice that it is now about 7 minutes until actual close. He goes on, "oh, really? Maybe I could uh, come over and watch it with you some time?" I look at my counterpart and we start laughing. "He couldn't possibly be hitting on her..." "No, he totally is..."
So finally, she turns him away and checks out the movie and leaves. He, with his attention back to his job comes by to harass us about leaving again. I point out we were waiting for him to finish his discussion to unlock a case. So he unlocks it, we get the item, and then he puts it behind the desk for one of the other three workers to check out for there is one person being helped at one of the three open computers (which I assume were shutdown), then goes off to check where we were.
As he does this, the other employees start to make fun of him and his attempts at picking up women at work. This includes, "so she wasn't too fat or too skinny, huh?" "Yeah, I guess she was just right." He replies something along the lines of, "she was close, but too thick for me." Really classy stuff. Top notch. It made me regret my purchase from the place.
I had already been on the fence about the place from the stickers, but now after this derogatory talk about girls being too fat or skinny for this guy to hit on while he is managing a store, I've had it.
I won't be returning to the Willoughby Exchange anytime soon, if at all.
An issue I've had with all of the Exchanges I've been to (Lakewood, Willoughby, Cleveland Hts., Parma) is that the employees seem extremely paranoid when it comes to theft. I'm sure this is how they're trained, what with the crazy security of locking cases and all, but the constant hovering and their desire to always take the stuff you have up to the desk for you is just not something I care for. Mostly because I usually have records and so many people just don't know how to treat records (plus when they give you a hard time for wanting to check the condition of a record! Oh man, that's just so crazy. I can't even go into that.). The last thing I want is an employee damaging a rare record because they manhandle some poor vinyl. Again, another reason I'm wary of any Exchange location: I always feel like I'm a criminal. I just want to give you guys my money for the stuff you underpay other people for!
**Is it standard practice to close the registers before you are closed? Would I have been turned away if I wanted to give you $36 in cash? In every customer service job I've had, we've kept the register open until after closing. read more
