HileThoughts

I have been spending an inordinate amount of  time on Missouri’s Interstates, 44 and 70, driving back and forth across the state. Today I stopped by a rest area on 44 East near Rolla. Outside was a rather interesting opportunity – a “Rest Area Report Card.” So I grabbed one to give them some feedback. As I looked at the card, however, there was not enough room to tell them what I think and, in honor of the summer travel season, thought I would expand on my thoughts just a bit.

First, being a man of a certain age, I need to stop frequently as I drive long distances. This has provided me with a good range of experience with rest areas in various states. For example, in Paducah Kentucky  the rest area is built into Whitehaven a small antebellum mansion. Along the same highway (Interstate 24) the rest area at the Tennessee border is built into a beautiful original log cabin. Even when there are no historic sites handy, Illinois, Kentucky, and other states have build lovely modern facilities that are pleasing to the senses. 

So what about Missouri’s rest areas? Well, contrary to the title, they were probably not really built in the 50’s. However, they all seem to have tumbled out of some sort of time warp (like being in a White Castle at 2:30am) being build a wonderfully solid ceramic blocks that I remember from in my grade school restrooms.

Inside the only thing they have going for them is that they can be easily washed down with a fire hose. While it didn’t have an offensive aroma, I did make me what to get out as quickly as possible while touching as little as possible.  My favorite architectural detail are the mirrors – some sort of shiny metal. Evidently, the state is thoughtfully protecting us from seven years of bad luck if we were to break a real mirror. As a whole, it would not be out of place in a prison.

The rest of the area is quite acceptable. The grounds, parking, eating areas, etc. It is really only the restrooms that are an embarrassment to the state.

Back to the report card. there was one set of “you have to be from Missouri to understand” question response options. For such questions as “Would you like Tourist Info” The responses are “Yes,” “No,” or “Waste of $$.” Clearly what people think who stop in our rest areas must be “My, Missouri must be a great state because the sure don’t waste their $$ on frivolous services that would make their rest areas more pleasing to the visitor.”

So for my short evaluation – bulldoze the restrooms and build something that people will be pleased to visit rather than feeling as though they were visiting a local prison.

I have long decried the foolishness of our litigious society. This week I was offered the opportunity to benefit from such a suit.

I received an official postcard offering me money because I had a first generation iPod nano. First I was slightly irritated. The day before I had talked to the repair center where I sent my recently broken nano. The cost of repair, $125, the cost of a replacement $133. So I told them to pitch my old unit. Not wanting to completely forgo the offer I read further and fond that in fact I did not need to actually have the nano. Great – free money!

So I settled in to read the fine print. All that I was required to do was to agree to the following statement.

Yes my nano did have scratches. The shiny backing was no longer pristine. As a mirror it was not as distortion free as the day I took it out of the box. Yet did this scratching “impair my use or enjoyment of my iPod nano?”

It is an audio device! In using it I listen to the podcasts it contained (never did use it much for music recordings). So no, the scratching did not impact my listening. What about my enjoyment. Well I suppose that if I thought of is as “my precious” and spent my time stroking its immaculate features my enjoyment would have lessened. But my enjoyment was based on using it at the grocery, while waking the dogs, while cutting the lawn, while driving to Jefferson City, …. So that was a no as well.

I did consider that by not checking the box I was enabling other members of the class to get my portion of the settlement $s. By so doing I would increase the reward to people who file foolish law suits. But even that seemed like a cop out.

So, call me foolish, but in the end I could not bring myself to check that box. What would you have done?

As a customer I am interested in the way in which I am treated by businesses. Among other criteria, I patronize businesses that provide good value and good service. What follows is a tale of my last interactions with a business that I had used for many years, National Tire and Battery (NTB). I tell this story through my email correspondence with NTB.

Last week I went to the NTB at [address removed]. I had a slow leak in a tire that I wanted to get fixed. I have been patronizing this particular NTB for a number of years. They asked for my phone number and found my records in their computer system.

The problem was a nail on the edge of the side wall which was unpatchable. I agreed to a new tire with a total cost of a little more than $200. After about an hour the mechanic came to me in the waiting room and told me that the lug bolt had broken when he was remounting the tire. He said they would fix it and that his parts supplier would be there in a ½ an hour with the new bolt. After the bolt arrived the mechanics realized, that it would take a machine shop to press the bolt into position, that their machine shop did not take business that late in the day, and that I would need to bring the car back the next day and leave it for a few hours while they did the repair. While this was obviously not really convenient I agreed to return the next morning to leave the car.

At this point the new tire and wheel were on the car with the missing lug bolt. I was ready to leave when they presented the bill. I do not pay for work that is not completed and since they had broken my car it seemed reasonable to me that I would pay after they fixed and it was ready to go. This did not seem reasonable to them. As they said there was nothing to prevent me from "simply stealing the tire." In a few short moments I had gone from an aggrieved long time customer to a thief.

I understand that things happen when working on cars and, while I was not happy that the lug was broken, thought that they dealt with that difficulty appropriately. However, I am extremely upset about being treated as a thief. It was clear from my behavior that I was not out to steal a tire. It was clear that, since I was in the database, they knew I was a previous customer. I also presume that they could have looked at those records to see how many years I had been coming to this store.

Perhaps they were following company policy, perhaps not. But I drive by other tire dealers to get to their shop. Treating me as a thief makes me want to take my business to someone who treats their customers with common sense and respect.

After that request I received the following:

I am writing in response to your email. First I want to apologize for myself and staff causing you to feel the way you did on your recent visit to our store. I can assure you that we were not trying to make you out to be a bad guy. [Name removed] was just trying to protect our company assets they our policies state. I hope that everything was resolved with your vehicle to your standards and I hope to see you in the future for service and or tires. Again I do sincerely apologize for anything that was said that made you feel unhappy, it certainly was not our intentions. Please feel free to give me a call if there is anything I can ever do for your.

So I got my answer and responded:

Thanks for the apology. You confirmed my suspicions that you were simply following policy with the statement "protect our company assets they our policies state." It is clear that your company does not realize that their assets are their customers and not their inventory. By valuing a tire over a customer you company has lost my business (I guess that my wife and I have another 40 years worth of tire purchases to make) and that of my children. I will be patronizing a company that places their customers first.

So NTB did make sure that they got paid for one tire, as opposed to the risk they would have faced trusting a long term customer for a day. However, they have lost my business, and that of my family, forever. To me, this seems like a poor investment - but hey, as far as they are concerned I am just a thief, so who cares what I think.