the stick, the stone and the puddle

one would think that walking into a bargain store will result with finding items are reasonably cheaper prices than other higher end stores. while one would assume that the customer service will be cheaper…one would not expect the staff to be completely ignorant to the customers.

today, february 7th, at around 1:30pm i walked in to a ‘army & navy‘ store in new westminster. i had a bit of time prior to meeting friends for coffee and i decided to check out the ‘canada’ gear the new west store had on display. making my way through the rows i feel a sharp pain in my left foot. i stop and take a look and i walked on a security pin. a pin that is about half an inch long and very sharp. it went through my shoes and punctured one of my toes. i took the pin out due to pain and went to the salesperson at the cash. she called the manager, who came looked at me, saw the pin and walked away. nothing said, didn’t seem to be concerned whether or not i was ok. only asked the salesperson at the front if i was ok. he not only walked away after, but started moving through different alleys and seem completely oblivious that i just got injured in his store due to lack of care from his employees. i was stunned. i asked again if he was the manager, only for the salesperson to confirm. then i demanded some alcohol wipes so that i could at least wipe the tow. the puncture did not cause bleeding, but i wanted to make sure i at least wipe it. after about 5 minutes, a carefree employee shows up and asks me if i want the alcohol wipe? i get instructed to wait for her on the side as she will be back. after providing me with the alcohol wipe, she asks if she can write up a report. obviously she should…i got injured in their store! while she tried to be somewhat helpful, she clearly was unsure of what to do, what the procedure should be or what her role is as a first aid person.

i was expecting the manager to at least be interested or show some sort of customer service given i just got injured. i was expecting him to bring a report or at least call for a first aid right away. i was not expecting him to walk away. i guess the method of bringing cheap prices to customers is by saving money on proper training or decent selection of employees. i hope that their customer service department can be at least be a bit more professional about handling safety issues in their store. sometimes it may help to be in the states, as you can sue…or perhaps if my reaction was to take a picture of the foot, but then again the first reaction was to remove the pain causing item.

this is most likely the last time i walked into a ‘army & navy’ store.