Out of focus

Ready ... set ... shop. Photo Jennifer Weber 2007Last night I and about two dozen other ladies were paid $100 apiece to take part in a focus group.

We were also fed a light and tasty dinner in pleasant surroundings.

It was fantastic; I wish I could do it every day.

Receive money in exchange for eating and talking? Top that.

The topic was shopping … and to say I am qualified to hold forth on that subject is an understatement of epic proportions.

The client's $100 was well spent in my case … and if the passionate responses of my co-conspirators were any indication, it was well spent in their cases too.

This just in: women love to shop! They know what they want and they know where they like to buy it.

The major southeastern retailer -- the identity of which was revealed late in the evening -- who ordered the study happens to be a store where, once upon a time, I enjoyed shopping. 

Some of them may even have lied.

Now I go there only for cosmetics … and that's because I am very fond of the lady who works at the Chanel counter. As such she works for Chanel rather than the retailer.

The retailer could learn something from this lady about how to treat a customer.

The upshot is that, ironically, the last place I'll spend my $100 is at the store whose powers-that-be paid me to clue them in as to why I don't shop there.

You see, a couple of years ago I reported nearly forty depositions in a single lawsuit … a case in which this particular retailer was the defendant.

In my opinion -- based on hundreds of hours spent listening to and transcribing sworn testimony by employees of this retailer -- is that they care even less about their customers than does, say, Wal-Mart.

And that's saying something.

Of course I cannot share details of the case. Let's just say that the intentional irresponsibility of this retail quasi-giant played a significant part in causing terrible injury to a small child.

And let's add that, from security personnel to counter clerks to section administrators to store managers to corporate executives, the many employees of this retailer who were placed under oath and deposed in the case were … how shall I put it ... less than remorseful.

My impression of the company's leadership was that they were superficial, greedy, disingenuous, callous, and arrogant. They seemed shockingly indifferent to the welfare of those who favor them with their patronage.

Some of them may even have lied. 

Horrors! Lied under oath? You mean, people really do that?

Yep.

I ask you: can you remember the days and hours you worked last week?

At least two of these employees claimed they couldn't. Plausible? Not to me.

I work in different law firms and courthouses and towns and cities every week, and even I could tell you where I was last week. 

I might have to think for a few moments … I might even have to recline and put a cool cloth on my forehead and space out to Il Divo for ten minutes … but I do believe that eventually I could dredge up that arcane information from my archival memory bank.

Trust is a terrible thing to lose.

So anyway, the subject retailer is apparently interested in updating their traditional-to-stodgy image and overhauling their shabby-stuffy stores and even rethinking their outmoded logo, in hopes of luring even more parents of small children through their doors and to the cash registers.

They won't get me back.

Once certain ties -- however tenuous to begin with -- are broken, they are difficult if downright impossible to mend.

Especially when I pass by a half-dozen places I would rather shop en route to one of the few places I would rather not spend either my time or my money.

Life's just like that. You get a chance to prove you've got what it takes. If you do well in the first round, you may advance. You may wobble, bobble, or hobble, yet still be given the benefit of the doubt one, two, three, four times.

But if you persist in your nonsense and refuse to acknowledge where you've been wrong, inevitably the cords that would have continued putting money into your pocket become irreparably frayed … then break altogether.

if a retailer -- or anyone else whose mission it is to draw individuals into their circle of influence and/or profit -- seeks to engender loyalty, they must first consider the needs, desires, and sensibilities of the ones whose fealty they wish to secure.

It behooves them to place others' safety, comfort, and peace of mind before their own, even -- or perhaps more so -- when it may not pay off in cold, hard cash.

In addition, when faced with a situation in which they have dismally failed, they must avoid that lethal mix of condescension and contempt often demonstrated by those who -- if their own actions and reactions are to be taken at face value -- count themselves among that special few to whom the rules do not apply.

Trust is a terrible thing to lose. Loss of trust costs you something.

Forget it at your peril.

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If you'd like to take part in a focus group and be paid to eat and talk, go here and fill out the form! Good luck!

Comments

[Audrey]

Great job schooling this retailer! Way to give them some advice they can use. And also some advice we can all use.

Hopefully they'll contact me and I can make $100...woot woot!

[Jennifer]

Audrey, I do hope they'll call you (I'm sure they will) because you'd love doing this! It was great fun and I hope to participate again. Extra $$ always a welcome sight!