jakorte's blog

March 19, 2008

On about the third supply run, I came to this conclusion: there are two types of people who enter the Slidell, Louisiana Lowe’s.

The first group is the Striders; those who move purposefully toward exactly where they need to go, obviously well versed in what exactly they require and carrying the exact knowledge that whatever it is, really does exist.

Then there are the Mission Volunteers; wide-eyed, dead stopped two feet inside the door, squinting to read signs without moving too far in to unfamiliar territory, unwilling to commit to a direction lest they end up wasting time at the completely wrong end of the store.

It’s not too hard to spot us, but the customer service in this store is beyond anything I have ever experienced. Strategically placed about six feet inside the door, the customer service booth cradles the most generous employees Lowe’s has to offer. They aren’t afraid of you or the amazingly far-out questions you might ask.

I can’t tell you how much valuable time we saved by taking advantage of these folks. They always knew where to send us. Plus, they always knew the correct name for whatever widget we were looking for, so that when we did find our aisle, we could semi-intelligently ask someone to be directed to the right item.

We were only misdirected once, and we didn’t even get the chance to figure it out. We were directed to Aisle 3. We hadn’t ever even completed the short sprint over there, when our latest customer service hero came running towards us, apologizing for leading us astray. We were supposed to be headed toward Aisle 16, she told us. We were grateful and impressed, and happily redirected our sprinting.

jak