Burglar Repellers, part 1
Twice in the last 10 days I’ve been flipped off by businesses who claim to want my business–twice.
Now I’m not talking about any kind of reaction they may have had concerning my behavior, I didn’t do anything to get them riled up, all I did was show up to give them my money, and they showed me the door. The first place it happened was at my local Chevron station when I pulled in to fill up my soovee.
We’ve got a 2005 Ford Excursion, the one that carries 9 passengers, the one that Ford used to make a lot of money on and when they stopped making it due to a misguided sop to environmentalism their bottom line started oozing red ink.
Ford has a history of such boneheaded decisions. About 12 years ago they revamped the #1 selling car in the country, the Taurus, and they revamped it right into the crapper.
Anyhow, the soovee’s 36 gallon tank was very low, but as I was checking the oil and washing the windshield, the pump shut off, on its own, at $75.00. With high-test gas going for about $3.00 a gallon, that only gave me about 25 gallons, and I probably needed to buy 33 or 34 gallons to fill my tank.
But the pump wouldn’t budge past $75.
When I went inside to find out what was going on, I was told that if I needed more gas, all I had to do was reinsert my cc into the machine, start a new transaction, and I could get more gas.
Then I guess I asked a stupid question. Why do I have to do that? Well that’s their policy, I was told.
Why are you inconveniencing me this way? You want me to take out my cc again, take the pump handle out of the filler tube and put it back in the machine, and start a whole new transaction? Why not just let me buy all the gas I want, whatever that amount is?
Well, that’s just our policy.
I couldn’t tell if I was talking to the owner or not, and I didn’t feel like asking. You know what, I said, it’s my policy to try and live my life by avoiding stupidity as much as I can, and your policy is just plain stupid. There’s plenty of gas stations around here. I’ll find one that doesn’t require me to engage in stupidity on a regular basis. Adios.
The more I think about it, the more I can’t believe it. All of American business is trying as hard as they can to sell as much as they can to every customer they can, but Chevron thinks it has a better way. Chevron thinks that if they add a little inconvenience to the process, the rest of us will think it’s charming and keep going back for more.
Criminals keep going back for more once they find a nice neighborhood. Once they make a big score at your neighbor’s house, you can bet they’ll find your house very charming and very inviting.
To make their visit as enjoyable as you can for them, pick up a few surprises at www.daneseselfdefense.com/homeprotection.htm.
We’ve got very effective and inexpensive burglar repellers. Things like window alarms that sound off when your window is tampered with or broken. Door jammers that prevent your back doors or side doors or main door from being forced open. We’ve got all kinds of stuff that will just ruin a burglar’s work day.
That’s just OUR policy.
Tomorrow I’ll tell you about the other time that a business that spent hundreds of dollars to acquire me as a customer then turned around and slammed the door in my face.