A couple more quotes:

Nice is for politcians and priests, I'd rather be honest.

It is a hypocrite that calls someone a hypocrite.

- Me

Labor Day.  Yep, I labored on Labor Day.  Worked 16 hours, twice my normal workday.  Guess it's a rightly named holiday.

Some people are very vengeful and selfish when dealing with companies that don't live up to thier personal customer-service expectations.  But what you need to remember is that in corporate America anybody you deal with in a big company is virtually powerless to do anything about anything.  It's a big machine a corporate behemoth that gives no real authority to anyone.  So don't blame the little guy and yell and scream and try to get your way because its pointless.  That is precicely why I tried to be fair in this situation with Menards.  Here's how it turned out:

Menards said:

Brad, I'm sorry, but I am having trouble trying to figure out why you feel you have this big discount coming.  Please advise. 

Thank you, Ray

I responded:

Never mind, just forget it.  But also forget about me shopping at Menards anymore.  I am building a new house and will be needing a lot of materials, carpet, appliances, windows, trim, tile, etc, etc.  But I guess I'll be patronizing Home Depot some more.  I shouldn't have to grovel for a measly $120 credit after all the trouble I've been through.  And in addition, I've posted a copy of our conversation to my blog.  It's a popular blog and has seen 69,000 visitors in the past 10 months.  I'm sure that a lot of these people will be interested in avoiding a situation like mine by having fair warning about Menards customer service.

bl

Here is a copy of my recent letter to Menards Guest Services.  You know Menards, the behemoth home store.

  Well, it's a long story but I have this issue.  To begin, I am selling my house and to do so I am doing a few improvements.  It is important to list it on the market in a timely manner (ie this summer).  One of the improvements I chose to do was install new vinyl ranch fencing in place of worn cedar split rail.  I shopped around and found Menards to have the best price on the roughly $1000 worth of fencing I needed.  I had never shopped at Menards before but I was willing to give it a try.  I called my nearest store and the fella in building materials stated that all of what I needed was in-stock (this was one and a half months ago now).  I live an hour's drive from the nearest store so I made the trip that following Saturday.  I went right to the orders desk and purchased my fencing.  Then I went out to the yard and it turned out that I ended up waiting three hours in the yard (with my family in the van mind you) while the yard guys searched for the so called 'in-stock' fence.  It was finally concluded that the inventory on the computer was incorrect.  The guy in receiving claimed he would 'zero' out the inventory and an order would be generated so I should come back the next week and they should have the stock.  Well, rather that go all the way back to the store I checked in by phone later that week and it turned out the man never did 'zero' out the inventory so the order still had not been placed. This time I made sure that the guy did it.  I called back one more week later and lo and behold the computer showed the inventory had been adjusted but an order was never generated for some reason.  Hmm..., this is getting interesting.  I was pretty desperate for my fence by now because my house was being listed soon and the old fence had already been uprooted.  Not to mention my $1000 being delivered already into Menards’ coffers.  OK, so I finally got a verification that the order was placed and I got a promise that the fence would arrive very soon, as in a matter of days.  So I kept checking back with the store.  On one occasion I got a building materials agent that really knew his stuff and he finally fessed up that the orders for this fence were typically late on delivery (or at least that's what the computer said but I'm not sure it can be trusted). At this time I insisted on some form of compensation for all my troubles and the guy at the contractor's desk assured me that he would have one of his drivers deliver the fence when it finally did come in (some consolation) so I decided to just be patient.  At just over one month's time since my inaugural visit to the store I contacted the store manager and explained my plight.  He was helpful certainly but it seems powerless to do anything because he called the DC and the supplier etc and said basically the same I've been hearing for the whole month and a half:  "it will be here soon."  Hmpff, I doubt it. So is there anyway this message will get through to someone who can help me? Will my problem ever be solved?  It's not looking like it.  Furthermore, I am going to insist on some further reparation for this dreadful ordeal.  I am requesting a 10% credit.

Sincerely,   Bradley "waiting, waiting , waiting" L.

Well, I got my fence eventually.  But so far no credit.  Still not sure if I'm ever going to shop there again.  What do you think?

PolarCap's comment on my last entry was interesting, "Paradoxically, all Americans have a distinct need for simplicity and technology."  Or, I feel, at least an inherent desire for both.  That is a paradox because the two are converse.  If you take note on sci-fi films and TV shows there is a portrayal of a transparent cohesion between the simple and the high-tech.  Take Luke Skywalker's habitation with his aunt and uncle on Tatooine.  It was a blend of subsistence living and tech tools that seemed, at first blush, a workable combination.  This theme is evident in most of the Star Wars films.  And look at the Matrix.  Again this depiction of the crude essentials integrated with advanced technology.  But my premise is that this state cannot sustain because of the paradox.  High-tech drives us further and further along it's course towards some imaginary holy grail of the easy life while in fact we are moving in the opposite direction of the much sought simplicity we desire.  And now, how can we deviate from this course?  I think we can't.  But perhaps a change of course might be forced upon us from the outside.  Maybe a war?  Maybe a cataclysmic event?  It would come as a massive disruption, and I'm sure it would be viewed as such, but wouldn't we be better off?