So what are your hobbies?

I used to have hobbies, but they all got real expensive.....too much for my pitiful budget.

I still do some sewing every once in a while though. Gave most of my fabric and crafting/sewing stuff to a friend. I still make totes for friends once in a while, if my hands can stand the strain.

I really loved ceramics when I was in high school. I wanted to do some ceramic pieces for a friend this year, but it seems ALL ceramic shops have closed down. The stupid thing is, there are a couple listed online as still being in business, and they have current customer reviews online, but for some reason they never answer the phone or emails. If they ARE still in business, then it must be a bad business, because they can't even be professional enough to answer their phones or emails.

The only other ceramic places I find are on the other side of the metroplex, and I'm not driving that.

I had other hobbies for a while, collecting stuff....but the money just wasn't there anymore, so I've got what little I've collected since the 70's up for sale on ebay right now.

Even painting got expensive as hell. So, I just gave up.

I play Bookworm on my pc, so thats probably the only hobby I have anymore.

itissteve said:

My experience with businesses like that is either they truly are bad at customer service -- in which case they'll be out of business quickly -- or (more likely) they've got all the business they want and they don't mind if they never respond to new customers. Sad either way.

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Yeah, I was in retail for a long time when I got out of High School.
Some places I worked at didn't care about new customers as "we make our monthly goals, so why work any harder"? I'm like..."ARE YOU SH***ING ME"??? The people I worked with would get irate with me because I helped ALL customers, not just the regulars who kept the place open. According to them, **I** made **them** look bad.

In some other places I worked, these employees had a paycheck, thats all they cared about. Didn't care HOW they got it, as long as ALL they had to do was show up for work. Customers aren't going to be customers long, if you don't give any service.

But that was "back then". Nowadays it's standard procedure to go into a store and have the employees look at you nasty, run off and disappear to the back of the store, run you over with dollies and carts, or just plain pretend you aren't there. And customers don't care....because it's practically every business nowadays.

I stopped shopping Kroger YEARS ago because of their hatred and violence towards customers. I stopped shopping Walmart a couple years after Sam Walton died and his kids sold their souls to the Chinese and the company went to hell. There are a LOT of companies I will never set foot in. And a few that I will never stop shopping.

And I can't tell you how many stores I CAN'T shop in, simply because when I walk in the front door, the employees scatter like cockroaches when you turn on the light.......and you can't find anyone to help you. Which makes it impossible to do or get certain things, because you HAVE to have actual customer service from an employee.

And I really don't like online shopping for actually buying stuff. I'm "old fashioned"....I like actually going into a store and getting what I need or want, especially clothes, because I've always been a weird size and have to try on everything first.

I keep seeing stories online about all these companies going under and filing for bankruptcy. They blame the economy or Amazon. I know it's for another reason......NO customer service.

Chaidragonfire said:

Nowadays it's standard procedure to go into a store and have the employees look at you nasty, run off and disappear to the back of the store, run you over with dollies and carts, or just plain pretend you aren't there. And customers don't care....because it's practically every business nowadays.

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I don't know as it's customers "not caring" as it is resignation that that is the retail world today, at least in the stores most people shop.

However, customers brought some of that on themselves, by "showrooming" and by moving their business away from butcher shops and local hardware stores and clothing stores and even department stores to discounters which are set up to treat the (minimal) number of employees they have as interchangeable.

Chaidragonfire said:

I keep seeing stories online about all these companies going under and filing for bankruptcy. They blame the economy or Amazon. I know it's for another reason......NO customer service.

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The flip side of that coin is that there's virtually no customer service at Walmart or Target or Costco or Lowe's and yet all of those businesses are thriving.

I think the companies which are dying/dead have shown some common characteristics: leveraged buyouts which left the stores unable to move in new directions, maintain inventory, or even keep the stores clean; very rapid expansion into new areas or lines in which the stores had no expertise; or a lack of a unique selling proposition, leaving customers no solid idea of why they should shop at that store when they could find those brands and that (lack of) customer service pretty much anywhere and probably cheaper.

On-line, with its wide assortment of goods, rapid delivery, and crowd-sourced recommendations is formidable competition. But, yeah, on-line alone didn't kill a lot of brick-and-mortar retail.

itissteve said:

I don't know as it's customers "not caring" as it is resignation that that is the retail world today, at least in the stores most people shop.

However, customers brought some of that on themselves, by "showrooming" and by moving their business away from butcher shops and local hardware stores and clothing stores and even department stores to discounters which are set up to treat the (minimal) number of employees they have as interchangeable.


The flip side of that coin is that there's virtually no customer service at Walmart or Target or Costco or Lowe's and yet all of those businesses are thriving.

I think the companies which are dying/dead have shown some common characteristics: leveraged buyouts which left the stores unable to move in new directions, maintain inventory, or even keep the stores clean; very rapid expansion into new areas or lines in which the stores had no expertise; or a lack of a unique selling proposition, leaving customers no solid idea of why they should shop at that store when they could find those brands and that (lack of) customer service pretty much anywhere and probably cheaper.

On-line, with its wide assortment of goods, rapid delivery, and crowd-sourced recommendations is formidable competition. But, yeah, on-line alone didn't kill a lot of brick-and-mortar retail.

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I LOOOOVE Target, I've never ever had a problem with them. Well, except one location, but it's in a really uppity, snob ridden hood where everybody thinks their poop smells like roses. I don't go there. Otherwise, every Target I've been too, the employees say "HI" and ask if I need anything.

Usually the "warehouse" places like Costco aren't going to have service employees unless you are at the pizza counter, bakery, deli, tire center, or pharmacy. You are on your own otherwise. But the few times I've been with a friend that has a Costco card, the employees are readily available to you and don't run and hide when they see you coming, like they do at all the other warehouse type stores.

Lowes and Home Depot are two different worlds. If I go to Home Depot, I'm all on my own. The employees see you coming and scatter. At Lowes, they smile and at least say "HI", even if they don't ask if you need anything....they are available, unlike Home Depot.

And yes, one of the biggest problems of todays retail industry is high turnover. And thats because there is NO training. They just stick these people behind registers or on the floor and leave them. No training, no explanations of what is expected, no instructions on how you speak to and help customers, etc....

I switched from retail food to corporate office Admin back in 1999, and it's the same. They just stick you at a desk, give you your login information and walk off. You have to learn everything yourself.

When graduated high school and got out in the job world, there was orientation when you started a job. You had to sit through two days of videos telling you what the company expects, how to act, how to treat and talk to customers, how to dress, and what it is the company demands in return for giving you a job there.

Since the late 90's, I haven't had ANY kind of orientation, except for my part time/weekend job I had at Hallmark. No training of any kind, no instruction, no expectations given to me, no dress codes, no nothing. Just "your hired" here's your job...... and they walk off.

I'm surprised that anyone is still IN business nowadays.

Like the DQ they just opened by me. I've been there a few times and the employees there have nasty attitudes, can barely form coherent words, and have these looks on their faces like they are either going to jump over the counter and stab you, or look like dead zombies. The don't say "HI", they don't ask what you want, they don't say "Thank You"......they just GLARE at you until you order something, then GLARE at you some more until you pay, and then throw your food at you.

And thats pretty much how it is at every place I go to, except Target and the grocery store I go to. I find a store that still has a decent level of service and sentient human employees, and I tend to stay with them. And they are a rarity to find.

VeeJay said:

Chaidragonfire

Your bags are great. Have you considered on-line selling? I make journals and art books and have sold a few on Etsy. Before that I sold quite a few small watercolors. This venue isn't all that expensive, a small fee for uploading to your "shop" and no other cost unless you sell something, for which they take a small percentage.

Your bags are lightweight which would keep the postage cost down (always a plus when selling online).

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Thanks you guys.

Yeah, I opened an Etsy store, and I've had an Ebay account for many years. Had LOTS of looks, but no buyers.

And I make one of a kind totes. I refuse to make the same tote twice, so all the totes I made were "one of a kind".

I gave them all away to friends as gifts.



I've also tried to sell what I called "VooDollies". Big, stuffed voodoo looking doll things.

Again, people wanted them, but weren't going to PAY for them. And again, I didn't make any two alike, they were all different.