e........0

Garcia issue resolved. Dumpster-dove for the receipt, presented it, and was politely handed a replacement.

First, let me say that this was a medical urgency. Second, let me say that I've shopped at Garden Remedies in Newton many times, even though they have a tendency to sell you bone-dry bud and their website is down as much as it is up. So I know a lot about this place. Now for the extremely poor customer experience: Arriving at 5:52pm on Sunday, I thought that I had correctly completed the on-line order process. Mandatory, don't you know. Well, apparently either I screwed up in submitting my order, or it had not yet arrived. It's happened before. The security guy was polite by firm. "Sir, if you haven't received a confirming text message, then let me go ask the manager." Well, soon enough Kathleen arrived to tell me that my online order was not received and that they were closing in 5 minutes. By this time, I had my cell phone out and was trying to order again. One small problem though. I didn't have my glasses so I couldn't see what I was doing. I showed all of this (good intention at compliance) to Kathleen who kept saying, "Sorry, sir, we're closing soon and I can't help you." You know when someone keeps saying "sorry" to you and you just know that it's a weasel word? You know when someone addresses you as "sir" and you know they just don't mean any kind of respect to you? "But Kathleen. I've been your customer for a long time. You can see that I'm trying to order again. You can see that I can't see the screen without my glasses. Can you perhaps help me fill out the order? It's just for 1 pre-roll. It's a medical urgency." Instead of using these minutes before 6pm to help me, Kathleen then went on and on about how the "town of newton" requires her to say no. And how he had already shut down all but one register, and her staff was engaged in clean-up. And that she just can't help me. OK, to Kathleen and her bosses -- (1) Our Newton is a city, not a town. (2) Newton may require you to stop selling at 6pm on Sundays -- maybe. But Newton did not tell you to shut down all but one of your registers and direct your staff to begin shutting down at 5:30pm. Nor did the City of Newton tell you to invoke the City's name as the reason for skipping out early, engage in regrettably poor customer service, not step up and help someone with a small disability (nearsightedness), and turn away business from a regular customer. No, Newton did not require you to conduct yourself like this. Garden Remedies, you could have easily served me. You would have been 100% compliant with your business charter and your agreement with Newton. Instead, you went out of your way to provide poor customer service. To the owners, you need to train your young managers how to serve your market correctly. And you should be paying more attention to whether your staff is ceasing selling at closing time, or whether they're already in their cars on the way home. To Kathleen, I hope that you can learn from this and become a more effective manager for your employers as you progress in your career. But know this: your deliberate refusal to serve me means that I will never shop at Garden Remedies again. And that I will tell everyone I know that your store is to be avoided. The good news for us consumers is that more and more stores are opening up. So it will be easy to avoid your store.