Customer Service - the long lost art of retaining a customer!

My title has no bearing on Myeloma, but to keep in the theme of my blog, I no longer look "red in the face".  The reaction to the Revlimid seemed to wear off yesterday evening.  I had taken a Zyrtec earlier in the day which has helped and not knocked me out for the day.  This morning I no longer see much visible redness (beyond the pinkness of my bald head anyways.)  I will note that my feet are now hurting more so and I've noticed it the last two evenings.  It's become more difficult to sleep.  I actually feel better standing and walking than I do laying down.  Having said that, at the grocery today I started getting shooting pains in the instep.  Since I saw the neurologist on Wednesday I've not taken the Dilaudid.  Tuesday I have acupuncture and I am keeping my fingers crossed that it will have some effect on what is going on currently.

Now on to my rant!  Netflix may have finally convinced me to jump the Blockbuster ship.  Our Blockbuster store (Stuy Town/1st Ave) has been miserable for years.  Miserable service, selection, etc.  The ONLY saving grace is you have to walk by two grocery stores and our Korean deli.  This means if I convince number one son to go to Blockbuster I can get him to hit the grocery stores on the way home.  I think I have reached the end of my rope with that store and will have to resort to simply threatening my son if he doesn't come with me.  We went in for one movie, Ben10 Alien Swarm.  Now granted, it's a new release so it may be difficult to find.  In addition, I wanted to get number one daughter Beauty and The Beast.   The kids selection has NO Beauty and the Beast, no Snow White, no Little Mermaid, it's like they've boycotted Disney films.  But they did have Apple Dumpling Gang, 6 copies of Alvin and the C's, etc.  On to Ben10 - the had one, count them, one copy in the new release section, and it was out.  We were able to find a Pokemon movie to suit our needs but at checkout I asked about the possibility of the Ben10 moving being available.  Of course, she had no idea what I was talking about.  When she finally identified the movie she said it says one was there, when I told her the cover was there but no disc was present she said they probably shipped it to another store.  The ONE copy of the NEW RELEASE was sent to another store?  This is the epitome of retail customer service at it's worst!  BUT WAIT - THERE'S MORE!  She then proceeds to tell me, "You are aware that kids movies are no longer 99 cents, right?  They're full price now."  My only response was, "That doesn't surprise me."  I think I'm done with Blockbuster, even if it helps get someone off his bottom and away from the DS for 30 minutes.

Next stop Gristede's.  Aside from the fact that you're unable to shop due to the fact that they have parked themselves in front of the shelves loading items so you can't buy anything, this is the closest store for staples (bread, cereal, etc.)  Once you've gotten the goods you need, you have the wonder of experiencing, "The Checkout Lady". I truly believe they get paid extra to take items like bread and put it into a bag so that when you return home you have something more resembling Silly Putty than bread.  Three times I had to ask her to put the bread items into a separate bag.  She was quite upset with me.  Again, service at its best!  All the while my feet are flaring up at me - luckily, this was the last day of my Dex dosage, otherwise that lady could have been "toast" (like the bread reference?)