dear galen weston,

Why am I so faithful to your corporation?  When challenged to write you directly as a tactic for seeking employment I can't help but reflect on my years of loyalty to the Loblaws corporation and wonder why.

I 'sit' on your consumer panel and clearly as a single working adult urban woman with no kids you're not listening.  Your panel consists of asking me to participate in surveys that appear to be written only for a single desired outcome and not to gauge actual consumer interest.  We have never met.  No one has ever responded to my suggestions, which to be bold, I think are pretty useful.  No one has asked what I'd like in a supermarket.

Then again I keep frequenting your establishments.  So I am, in part, to blame for our continued dalliance.

Part is learned behaviour.  Part is convenience.  Part is liking your points program and PC line.  So in some ways you, as Loblaws, have done well in capturing an audience.  But after several decades we appear to be having relationship growth pains.

Urban locations are key to your success of keeping me as a consumer.  But they are also the cause of the strife.  In the smallish town I grew up in yours was the only downtown location.  So my ‘car-free’ family shopped there.  I continued the tradition when I moved to Toronto because by then it was rote.

However of late you miss opportunities to innovate those urban spots, instead pouring money into suburban stores and frankly I'm starting to feel dismissed.

Massive expansions and super stores aren't feasible in tight urban spaces I realize.  But instead of studying the habits of your small urban stores you tried to whack as much as you could in one store narrowing the aisles to almost impassible.  And perhaps I'm in the minority but does a small store really need almost half of the available freezer space for frozen pizza and ice cream?  Seems that space could be used more advantageously.  

PC brand is good and often of quality but your stores lack of a decent selection of ready made fresh food ala Fresh Co and Sobey’s.  If I see another rotisserie chicken with a side of wedge fries, I’ll, well, I just don’t buy them.  What about pasta dishes, baked chicken and fish, bean chili or, whatever else might be easily packaged, to take home and eaten that night?

Urban locations have slowly started to pop up, but why is it so much more expensive at these locations?  Yes I’m paying for convenience but to the tune of almost a $1 per product?

What happened to your almost secret delivery service?  It wasn’t convenient, you had to shop before 5 on a weekday or on Saturday, the day I loathe to be at the grocery store, but at least I could pay to have everything brought to my door and for less than the cost of a cab.  I assume it wasn’t popular because nobody knew about it.  Which leads to my biggest question; why no online shopping?  If you’re not going to set up in easy access locations or offer delivery that’s available after a long workday, then online might be the answer.  You know everything I buy from my points program.  Analyze these purchases and start to assess what you might offer.

You have prime real estate in many cases, probably purchased lucratively in the 70’s and 80’s but they need a reboot.  Broadview for example, and while it would kill me for you to close it to do construction, it set back 40 feet from the side walk for no discernible reason, and that’s without considering the parking lot next door, or building up.

In the end Galen, you, as a corporation, know who I am, as I’ve let you by participating in your points program.  You have a long term fully realized idea of my purchases via my PC credit card – all that data at your disposal to consider and shape a customer profile.  I’ve been loyal and I’ve been paying attention to you, and yet I feel like you haven’t been listening to me.

to e or not to e?

Believe it or not I’m not entirely sold on internet shopping, which when you know that I consider shopping my ‘cardio’ seems a bit off.  Mostly I wonder if the items for sale are as good as they appear online.  In past experiences I’ve been nailed for random import fees, seriously it was a different rate based on the day I ordered.  We’ve all heard the stories of excess shipping across the border, among the many things.  

I’ve had success ordering books, CD’s, DVD’s and even the occasional kitchen appliance online, but you pretty much know what you are getting, no big surprises.  Now if my favourite grocery store would get themselves on line, along with my favourite drug store I’d order from them in a heartbeat and save myself a load of time and aggravation and yet those particular needs go unfulfilled.  And yes I know we have an online grocery store in Ontario but I’ve never quite been able to switch to their ‘brand’. 

Of course the other downside to going online is that I have a particular friend who I like to go shopping with.  We get our girl time in, I get my cardio trying things on and I have a trusted companion who will tell me I look like a deranged school teacher in that.  She’ll also push me to try something out of my comfort zone so I’m reluctant to give up that.

In the name of curiosity I gave it a whirl, trying, specifically, online clothing and shoe shopping to see if I was missing anything.  First go was an impulse purchase, a dress from Sears, I guessed the size, zoomed in on the very blurry ‘fabric swatch’ and expected the worst.  And it turned out I got myself a pretty cute $30 dress that fit.  I had to pay a nonrefundable $4 for the privilege of picking it up at the local store, but otherwise it would have been twice that for delivery.  So while I’m stoked at my find I’m wondering why I have to pay for the processing.  I don’t have to do so when I shop at the store and I didn’t get delivery.  I suppose it’s based on the old catalogue model and if I was in rural Ontario I might not mind, but considering the 2 way TTC travel to go to the store I’m not sold on the nonrefundable ‘delivery’ fee.

Next item was a pair of shoes from the The Shoe Company, the discount face of Town Shoes.  I felt confident because I already owned the same pair in another colour.  This time I could get free delivery to the store or pay for delivery when my order was under $80.  I chose to pick up as there was a location easily accessible to me.  In spite of the fact that it took about 5 days to take delivery the transaction was pretty smooth.  And now I have a new pair of spiffy blue Converse.

Having recently tried on most of the store at Ricki’s, on one of those ventures with the good friend who tells me like it is, I had decided I didn’t want to pay full price for a couple of things.  So when they went on sale for 40% off I jumped online and made my discounted purchases.  They offered a special flat rate of $4 for ground shipping from the Prairies, although with my bill over $100 I would have thought it was free, but I was wrong.  However the package showed up within 2 days which satisfied some of the instant that I prefer in my gratification.  What did through me off was that the products were still in their ‘shipped from far away’ plastic, which was very off-putting.

With my credit card getting full, I tried one more place on the advice of a friend who had tipped me off about Montreal retailer Simon’s.  Their online selection seemed decent, prices where good and they offer free shipping over $50.  I bought a few things, and only had to return one for a size exchange.  Their site offered something interesting, the composition of each item so you could determine if items had stretch or not.  The website didn’t offer exchanges per say but within minutes of asking for assistance via their online chat feature I had an e-mail in my inbox with the return label, no questions asked.  My return was prompt, and I was e-mailed upon the receipt of my return.  Their products were compactly but nicely packaged, with the clothing folded neatly, wrapped in tissue to keep it apart from the shoes.  On the replacement order I asked for my purchased to be in a free gift box, just to see what that comes like.  All in all for a retailer I have not had personal experience with, I was impressed.

So where does this all go?  I’ll still always want to wander the mall with my friend if only for the camaraderie and free fashion advice.  And nothing will ever replace the act of feeling the quality of fabric and the look of the colour in person.  But I will admit I’ll take a second look at online.  So far as the budget will allow.

no, no, no, thank you!

As much as I gripe and whine about the day to day slights of poor or none existent customer service, I do actually appreciate the little things that get done for me as I go about my day to day.

So without much ado here’s a heartfelt Thank You for the guy who makes sure I get two copies of the free paper every morning and wishes me well.  To the girl at County Style who fixes my coffee on Sunday’s and always asks how I am.  To the owner of the Sugar Maple across the street who holds a copy of the Saturday and Sunday papers for me to ensure I get them each weekend.  To the various girls at Shoppers who always seem to have a good idea of a well priced, good product that will do the thing I want it to do.  To the cashiers at Jerry’s supermarket that will always trade me for a newer $5 bill so that I can use the change machine at the laundry matte next door.  To the staffers at Global Pet Food who always looks up the name of the food I buy my cat because after 2 ½ years I still can’t remember.

It often really is the little things that count.

why size matters

Anyone who has ever purchased clothes knows that size isn’t consistent.  In fact there is no such thing as a size ‘standard’.  Each manufacturer sets their own sizing and, usually, tend to stick with them.  As a woman, you’ve undoubtedly learned who ‘fits small’ and who doesn’t.  

And if you haven’t been living in a cave you’ll also be aware that over the last ten years of so, you know that sizes have been increasing, but while staying the same – which is to say that the size 10 you bought a few years ago is the size 6 you bought recently. 

If you’re like me you don’t weigh yourself very often but instead use your clothes as a gauge of your weight gain or loss and mostly was a decent way to judge.  When things start to feel a little tight it’s time to lighten up a bit.  And this is why I’m currently in a bit of a conundrum about the role the clothing manufacturing industry has in the management of my waist line.

Now realistically, nothing, but somehow that doesn’t sit so well with me.

For some reason I am pretty good at maintaining my weight.  Over the course of my adulthood I’ve pretty much been the same size.  As I’ve mentioned before, my office moved away from the more populated area of the city and in so my habit of running a few errands over the lunch break wasn’t possible anymore.  The reason I mention these facts is that I seem to have added a few pounds over the last year, unwanted ones   However, I have also seemed to have reduced my clothing by a size.

I’m no math wizard, but that does not add up.

Weight is a ‘massive’ issue in North America, one that I’m not going to go into beyond my own experience. And this is where I start to question if it is reprehensible that clothing sizes continue to grow in girth but stay the same in name – giving us all a false sense of the facts.

Recently I tried on pants at a store where I shop in a regular basis.  They manufacture their own brand so the sizing is relatively standard year to year.  But this time, some of the garments I tried on where two sizes smaller.  I had not lost the estimated 20 lbs required for that much of a size difference.  And I was stunned.  So stunned I mentioned it to the store manager.  Fortunately this seemed to be an isolated incident but it still makes me wonder how much the recalibration of sizing affects the weight of North Americans.

In the end there’s probably nothing to be done except maybe uses the scales instead of the waist band to gauge my size. 

ttc – truly trying commuting

The best advertising campaign the auto industry never ran was the public transit experience.   Nothing has pushed more people toward car ownership as well.

I complain a lot about the TTC.  My friends will attest to this.  But when you look at my beefs about 70% of the have to do with people's behaviour and the balance with the service itself, so while, yes we are dealing with, on a daily basis a system that essentially stopped developing in the 70s and tries to cover massive territory; that doesn't explain the lack of manners. 

On a recent trip, using the Greyhound bus to Kitchener, to visit a friend I overheard two students discuss the lack of manners on the transit in Toronto and posit how bad it might be in NYC.  Difference, in my experience on NYC subways - which is limited yes - is that people don't do the things Toronto riders do. On my midday travels in NYC no one blocked doors or tried to get on before everyone got off, people moved into the cars and only stood for their stop after leaving the prior station.  C'mon Toronto.  We're better than this.

Aren't we?

It is said that in a dense populous one needs to be more polite to make the society function.  And while Canadians do have an apologetic reputation it all seems to get dumped into the fare box and out comes the dufusness. 

In dealing with this old infrastructure with narrow platforms, stairs and mostly not working escalators and nonexistent elevators, could we all just use a little common sense.  Remember ‘Walk Right, Stand Left’?  It was removed because someone managed to successfully sue the TTC after falling on an escalator.   So we all suffer the fool who decides to buck the trend and stand on the left in spite of the fact that everyone else is standing to the right.  Arguably sometimes the outcome of these suits is great.  Those station arrival announcements that started a few years ago?  The end result of a case ruling outcome of a visually impaired rider trying to navigate the system with his disability – and in the end really quite useful. 

There are places where the needs of the few result in change that assists the many.  On the other hand, does anyone remember when the TTC tried to do away with WheelTrans, the service for people confined to walkers and wheelchairs who had difficulty with the main system?  Those affected protest in the form of showing up at rush hour to Bathurst Station and attempting to board streetcars with their assistance gear.  The result was a very long rush hour, and they got to keep their WheelTrans after very effectively showing that they really couldn’t use the system the way it was.

Unfortunately this is what also lead directly to those new low floor buses that the TTC is outfitting their entire fleet with.  For those of us, like me, who end up using the outer edges of the system – my damn office moved to the very edge of the suburbs – and civilization – but that’s another rant – we’re stuck, on those awful buses with no recourse.

I may be exaggerating but I firmly believe that no one actually test ran these buses.  Test ran as in piled a large crowd of people carrying a variety of oddly shaped and sized packages, closed the doors, hit the gas and stopped abruptly every 200 or so yards, let half of them off, and piled on as many or more people.  In software we’d call this a ‘test use case’.  I’m not sure what is it in the public service vehicle milieu, but very much seems to be a missing step.  Also no one tested the outward opening back doors in a snow bank.  And as you know if you ride these buses, the only recourse the driver has is to ‘reboot’ the bus, which means turning off and then on the engine to reset the computer chips.  Apparently our last fleet of buses lasted over 50 years – call me pragmatic, but I’m not seeing these doors last more than 10 at the current rate of failure.  Then again, we all have to enter and exit from the front door during any type of weather, so perhaps by being saved with lack of use, I’ll be proved wrong.

Recently on one of those internet trolls where one story you read links you to another and on and one, I found an article about a tongue and cheek set of Manners Cards make by an individual in NYC.  Of course, I can’t find the article again, and in the interview the creator admitted he was a little too chicken to actually hand them out.   Although not limited to public transit and including some suggestions, like not walking 4 abreast and blocking the entire sideway to the exclusion of all other pedestrians, the cards included violations for blocking the escalators by standing on the left.

In the end it’s all pretty simple.  Pay attention to your surroundings and acknowledge that you are in a crowd and not in isolation. 

• For instance don't stand at or block with your ‘insert here’ stroller, bundle buggy, 60 bags of groceries or big fat ass,  the top of; the bottom of; or in front of any escalators, and/or doors.
• Don’t put your nasty dirty shoes on the seats just because the car isn’t’ full. 
• Let everyone off the vehicle and THEN get on. 
• Don’t ‘tsk’ when the system is slowed down or stalled – you’re not the only one frustrated and it doesn’t help the atmosphere. 
• Don’t play your iPod without headphones- nobody wants to hear your horrible taste in music. 
• Don’t hit other people. 
• Don’t spit (anywhere, ever). 
• Keep the smelly foods to a minimum.  Yes we call smell it when you open a can of beer.
• Please, please do not clip your nails, especially toes on the transit. 
• Most people are pretty good with the offering of seats to the elderly and expecting, but don’t nip in and take their offered seat for yourself you selfish prat.  Or as I once witnessed by a 60ish year old woman, complain loudly that no one will give up a seat while standing there is 5 ½ inch stilettos – if you can wear those shoes, you can stand. 
• Don’t sit aggressively, blocking access to inside seats, or even worse, take up an entire seat with your precious bag of lunch.  Unless you can show me it paid $3 to get on, it doesn’t deserve that seat.
  

As an ending note I do think Andy Byford is trying, albeit with a very limited set of playing cards.  Although I do, regularly, consider joining Twitter, only to follow and harass… er… update Mr. Byford on the day to day taxes of the system.  I have, to date, resisted this urge. 

And to my fellow travelers, happy travels!

P.S.  Apparently I'm not alone.  I don't know this guy, but he's got some of the same pet peeves I do, and he uses pics as evidence. http://ihopeyourbagiscomfortableasshole.tumblr.com/

what’s my beef? or pork?!

Sometimes when I contact a company about their service isn’t always about getting restitution, although, admittedly, it often is.  Sometimes my goal is a bit more altruistic – I just want the company I’m contacting to know that their service didn’t quite fit my expectations. 

And sometimes their reactions don’t fit my expectations. 

This is currently were I’m at; honestly I was so befuddled by the response that I didn’t know how to react.

A friend and I decided we would eat out for Christmas dinner and choose a small chic boutique hotel 

downtown.  It’s one of these places that people like me can’t afford to stay at but can afford high tea or a dinner once in awhile.  Reservations were made and expectations high. 

I should also comment that when I shared this plan amount my peers several people commented that this hotel had a very well known vegan chef.  I’ll also comment now that I don’t eat pork, beef or as I call them ‘four footed’ animals.  My choice comes down to one very simple thing – I don’t feel well after I eat them and not eating them is pretty easy.

The next part of the story is very much as I remember it – that is to say I certainly couldn’t swear to the fact in a court of law, but we’re discussing perception here, so bear with me.  The menu was prix fixe and I chose the ‘Christmas dinner with all the fixings’ as the entrée.  My appetizer was lovely, perhaps the star of that option, and the turkey was lovely too until I cut into what looked like a small meatball.  Not thinking anything of it, and not eating it either I continued on with my meal.  However several hours later and in some distress I thought back and realized that it was a bit of sausage, as in sausage stuffing. 

I decided to contact the catering manager at the hotel and explain that while the service was great I was disappointed that the inclusion of what I believe to be pork or some other red meat was not included on the menu.  Living in the city I have become accustomed to restaurants not mixing meats on their menus in order to accommodate diets like mine.

What I got back was an acknowledgement that yes there was sausage in my meal and that ‘pork was not red meat.’

Game.  Set.  Point completely missed.

So what does a girl do?  I considered sending the response along with a note that my point was missed to the General Manager but ultimately decided that it just wasn’t worth the energy to bother.  Why?  Because honestly I visit this location every 5 years or so and should we opt to go out for Christmas dinner again this year, there are plenty of boutique places to try.

Sometimes it’s just not worth it.  Sometimes your point gets missed.  This time it was both.