BASHING BASHA'S

First, let me start out with a positive, and say Happy Birthday America! There is no other country in the world with the varied opportunities that this great land provides. I'm sure we all take things for granted, but we should be thankful that we live in a country where anything is possible, and with hard work and dedication, anyone can achieve their American Dream.

Now, here comes the negative. Yesterday morning, I drove 2 1/2 hours down to Sedona, to pick up the Sharps non-alcoholic beer that I had ordered a week ago. In my June 28 post, I mentioned that I ordered the Sharps from Basha's Supermarket, and that they routinely carried it as a normal stock item. When I spoke on the telephone with Randy, the beverage manager, I told him that I was driving down from the Grand Canyon, that the distributor in Flagstaff did not carry Sharps any longer, and that it was getting harder and harder to find. I ordered eight 12 packs, ($99.92 retail) and gave Randy my name and phone number. He assured me that it would be there waiting when I came down on one of my days off, either yesterday or today.

Before leaving, I did entertain the thought of looking up the Sedona Basha's telephone number, and calling to verify that the special order was there. Then I thought, they carry the item anyway, and besides, being Sunday on the 4th of July weekend, Randy probably wouldn't be there. So, off I went to pick up my Sharps, thinking in the back of my mind that this might turn out to be a Murphy's Law event.

By now, you don't need to be a psychic to figure out where this is headed. When I arrived in Sedona a little after 10am, I asked the Basha's customer service manager (whose name I did not get), to check on my special order. After looking in the cooler and backroom twice, he said that he could not find it. After that statement, the steam was probably visible, as it was starting to exit both of my ears. Knowing that it probably would be a waste of time, I suggested that Randy be given a phone call for a possible explanation. After calling Randy's number, the manager came back and said that he had left him a voice mail.

Swell! No Sharps, no explanation, and a wasted 5 hours of driving. At that point, I'm sure the steam was noticeably visible as I told this manager in no uncertain terms, exactly how I felt. I told him I knew it wasn't his fault, but he was the only person that I could direct my anger towards, and it might be a good thing that this was Randy's day off. I said that either Randy completely dropped the ball and didn't order the Sharps, or that he had a problem with the order, and failed to call me. In either case, the outcome was unacceptable. The last thing I told this guy was that perhaps if I wrote a letter to Bashas Corporate, maybe Randy would have more incentive next time, to follow through with his promise, and place customer service as a little higher priority.

As it turned out, I didn't leave empty handed because there was a total of four 12 packs of Sharps in the cooler that I snatched up. To his credit, the customer service manager approached the checker, and told him to give me a 10% discount.

With lots of choices regarding the purchase of almost anything in this country, these kinds of negative events tend to stand out. With the grocery business being a highly competitive environment, a simple drop of the ball like this can have a snowball effect. It's kind of like going to your favorite restaurant, and the one time your meal is bad, that's the experience that sticks in you mind.

The Bashas in Lake Havasu is arguably the nicest grocery store in town, and has been my supplier of Sharps for several years. When we get home for the winter, I have a feeling that I will probably explore another option.