Hardware store
I was redoing my bathroom cabinets and needed some hinges. I brought the old brass ones to a local hardware store where a friend of mine works to order some chrome ones. He found the ones I needed in a catalog and assured me that they would be in within 5 business days.

10 days later, no call from my friend yet. I stop in to the store and my friend tells me that he hasn't placed the order yet. "Why?" I asked, confused.

"Because the company doesn't take phone orders, we'd have to fax it in."

"So why didn't you fax it in?"

Get this: "Because Ms. Diane will fuss at me if I use any paper to place an order."

If a second friend hadn't shown up and said that he'd handle Ms. Diane, I would have taken my $40 elsewhere. The hinges arrived within 5 business days.

What kind of Ms. Diane will lose $40 in business over a piece of plain paper? And what kind of jobsworth will lose $40 in business for his store over a piece of paper? I love to tell that story to boost the business of their competitors.
( setimret likes his metaphors mixed, not stirred, Mon 16 May 2005, 17:33, Reply)