Nickel and Diming: New motto at Druxy’s?

I was in downtown Toronto and wanted a cold beverage to quench my thirst.  So I decided to visit the Druxy’s location at the Zurich Life Building, 400 University Avenue, since I have visited there before.  I took a bottle of apple juice and placed it on the unattended cashier counter.  While waiting to be served, I noticed the pile of paper napkins in front of me beside the cash register, and took one in case of spills.  As I took the napkin, I heard several voices yelling from the other end of the counter.  A cashier rushed back to behind the cash register, screaming “no, no!” or something similar.  More screams were heard from where she came from.  When she finally stopped, she reached over the counter in an attempt to snatch the paper napkin from my hand, as if that napkin contained all her life’s hopes and aspirations.  Seeing this pathetic display of miserly embarrassment, I told the cashier “OK, OK, I’m not buying anymore!” and immediately left the premises, leaving my proposed purchase on the counter unpaid.

While Druxy’s paper napkins are unique in bearing the Druxy’s logo, I am certain that the cost of one paper napkin is tiny when compared to the profit Druxy’s would have made had I bought that bottle of apple juice.  The cashier’s unsuccessful attempt to deny me one paper napkin has resulted in me, a long time customer of several Druxy’s locations, to refuse to ever make a purchase at any Druxy’s again.

In other words, that one paper napkin – and the horrible attitude towards customers that it represents – is truly costly to Druxy’s.

Customer harassment at No Frills

I visited Michael’s No Frills (Silver Star Blvd., Scarborough, Ontario) recently. At the entrance were two individuals who were aggressively soliciting money, which they claim were for some charity. They were very persistent and were harassing customers who were entering or leaving the store. I informed the pharmacist about this, and she said “I don’t know” and did not do anything. I next informed the cashier in the lane nearest to the entrance (not the express lane, it was the lane next to the express lane) about this, and she also said “I don’t know” and did nothing.

I have two concerns about this:

1. Customers should not experience harassment when entering or exiting a No Frills store. If these two individuals were authorized by management to solicit funds at the store entrance, I ask that this authorization be revoked immediately. If they were trespassing, I ask that store management be more vigilant to ensure that such harassment does not occur again.

2. The “I don’t know” response from the pharmacist and the cashier were unacceptable. Security and maintaining a harassment-free shopping experience are the responsibility of every employee in the store. At the very least, employees should immediately contact management when they hear that customers complain about harassment. Saying “I don’t know” and doing nothing is absolutely wrong. In this case, the worst that could happen is customers be scammed of some money by a fake charity; if the situation were a pedophile abducting a child, would the pharmacist and the cashier also reply “I don’t know”?

I ask that store management take these events very seriously.

Response from Rona

I received an email response from Rona regarding the gift card purchase incident I outlined earlier here.  I am satisfied with the response, and am reproducing it below word-for-word (i.e. copy-and-paste):

“I got an email pertaining to your inability to buy a $50.00 gift card with your credit card. I’m sorry, but our cashier made an error in this instance. Recently, we got some fraudulent credit card scams that includes people using stolen or fraud credit cards to buy gift card. We have asked our staff to be a bit more diligent when it comes to customers purchasing gift cards with credit cards. That staff in this case miss understood our instructions thus leading to this error. I’m sincerely apologizing for any inconveniences that this incident have caused but I assure you that this is an error in communication and it is not our norm or policy. We strive very hard to meet and exceed every customer’s expectations.

If you have any further question or concerns, please feel free to call me anytime.

Regards

Danny Tse

Store Manager

Rona Home & Garden”