"Mail order," asked Sears employees "What's that?"Apr 21 '03 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line Part of Americana has been replaced by Charmin.
The names have been changed to protect the guilty. Something strange and funny happened to me last week and I guess it would be listed under the passing American scene. I flew to Chicago to see my daughter, her husband and my grandchildren. One of the bright sunny April mornings after my arrival my daughter wanted to go to Oak Brook, a shopping center near their house. First, she had a co-worker and friend who had just given birth to a 10 pound baby boy. Julie wanted to get the baby an outfit. We went to Marshall Field and she picked out an adorable little sailor outfit. She gave the clerk her credit card and asked the employee to mail the gift along with the card. The address was written out on a slip and the woman gave my daughter a receipt. She told Julie the gift would be out by the next day. We left Field's and walked to Sears, which is in the same shopping center. This was the day for buying gifts. An former employee of my son-in-law's, son was getting married. Since Julie and Brian didn't know the bride they decided to get them a waffle iron, which had been on the bride's registry at Sears. Julie looked on the computer at the house wares and found ,this soon to be bride, wanted this particular appliance. The clerk who was helping us looked over 80 years old. She was a teeny tiny little woman and seemed sharp. As I get older I realize many older people (including myself) really like working and I was silently giving Sears praise for hiring a senior citizen. This dear little woman rang up the price of the waffle iron and gave Julie the receipt to sign. As she was signing for the gift, she said that she wanted the gift mailed to the bride's address. She handed the bride's name and address to the clerk who took it with hesitation. "I'm not sure I know how to mail anything," said the clerk who didn't seem all that familiar with the company's policies. My daughter smiled as the woman summoned another clerk who had more sales experience in that department. A woman in her fifties came over looked over the charge and the request to have the gift mailed. "Well, I"m not sure I know how to do this either," said the middle age clerk. "Let's call Larry," she suggested. "He's worked in this department for five years." Meanwhile, I must congratulate my daughter. She was showing the patience of Job. She smiled and nodded her head as the blond Larry approached, wearing a short sleeve shirt and tie with a pocket protector for his series of pens. He was a prototype of a Sear's employee. "Now we are in good hands, " I thought good old Larry looked like he could tell you about Craftsman tools, advise which Kenmore washing machine or riding power lawn mower to buy. Larry looked at the charge and the address and as typical of many males turned the order around and even looked on the back to the ticket. He didn't admit that he didn't know what to do. Larry's solution was to call the houseware's manager to come up from the first level. He finally located Elaine. I was standing back mouth agape with this display of ineptness. Julie was drumming her fingers on the counter as she waited, knowing we had to pick up her two toddlers at day care within the next hour. Elaine came up on the escalator well groomed pageboy,light blue blouse with a scarf at the neck and a navy straight skirt. Surely she, the manager, will be able to send this package. "I just don't know anything about mailing anything out of the store," she said. "I've never done that before." Well, good old Moppysl could no longer keep out of this. I looked at them with amazement. "My God, " I exclaimed with disbelief, "This is Sears! A 120 year old company that invented the mail order business and you don't know how to mail a purchase?" They looked at me like I was some alien. "You all work for Sears." I admonished. "How do you think the Sears Tower, the tallest building in the US, was built?" "It was on the mail order business," I said answering my own question. "The Sear's mail order catalog is part of American lore and legend." The clerks and the manager gave me these vacant stares. Julie canceled her sale and went home and ordered the gift on the net. I could hear Mr. Sears and Mr Roebuck turning over in their respective graves as another part of Norman Rockwell's America died.  |
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