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Has anyone ever had a good experience at Circuit City?
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No one has ever been this happy at an actual Circuit City.
You probably heard the news: Circuit City hasn't been able to find a buyer for its failing business (shocker), so the electronics retail chain is closing down all 567 of its stores.
While this is undeniably bad for the 30,000 or so employees of Circuit City who are now out of work, it's not very surprising. At least not to anyone here at the Trends, Lifestyles and Grave-Dancing Desk.
As a recovering tech geek, I've spent my share of hours inside numerous Circuit City locations. With one exception, I've never had a good shopping experience there.
The bankruptcy came as no surprise, because it always seemed like Circuit City employees were trained to prevent anyone from successfully making a purchase within their walls.
I have had CC employees ignore me while making personal calls from their cash registers. I've tried to buy products behind locked cages, only to be told no one has a key. I've had clerks profess ignorance about the difference between HDTV and regular. I've seen mangled, returned merchandise placed back on the shelves as if new.
To me, the surprise was only that the chain wasn't bankrupt sooner.
But, in fairness, this isn't limited to Circuit City -- which is probably why it took a complete economic meltdown to end the chain's life. Retail service everywhere pretty much sucks. One of my first jobs was as a retail sales-monkey. My former managers would be appalled at how low things have sunk. In one home improvement store last week, I heard a clerk tell a customer looking for something -- in the snottiest possible tone: "Well, that's where they're supposed to be. If you can't find them, I don't know what to tell you."
We've all got our stories. There are too many gum-chewing, rude, mumbling, hiding-from-customers retail workers out there. Part of this is because America is a democracy, and we're not very good at serving anyone. It's part of our scrappy nature. Part of it is probably because of the general decline in civility. But the main reason, I think, is because most people just don't give a damn anymore.
So long Circuit City. You won't be missed.
If you ever had a good experience in a Circuit City, use the comments and let me know. Or feel free to share your own retail horror stories. It helps to vent.
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