August 11, 2012

►    Customer Feedback:  A customer by the name of G.T. J., from Auburn, MA stated that his general shopping experience with us was Excellent.  “Knowledgeable staff, all the items I wanted were in stock.  Very clean environment.”  Did any of our team members do an unusually good job?  “Two young ladies on the parts counter on 5/6/12, installed an o-ring for me and gave me a lot of info on a new-to-me system.”  Sales help, operations and communication were all rated Excellent; with sales help at “very, very”.  What do we do really well?  “Friendly and polite staff.”                   

►    Advertising, department sales, and weekly specials continue from last week:  “August Clearance Sale”. 

►    Saturday, August 11, is Customer Appreciation Day:  FREE gifts with any purchase, while they last.  An ideal gift:  Seasonal All Natural Hand Sanitizer. 

►    Good luck to Pat on his surgery recovery next week. 

►    Congratulations to Mia on her pregnancy.  Don’t let her do too much, now! 

►    The buckets for recycling to the Boy Scouts Sand Delivery Sale are in bin F20C.  Remember, we have rules on labeling and cleanliness.  Covers are requested, because many of their customer store their sand outdoors. 

►    Remember to tell people to keep the element or cartridge from their Pentair DE or cartridge filter on the core when handling or cleaning.  Only remove it from the core when buying a new one. 

►    Below is a letter to the editor of Time magazine, in response to a recent article on suicide in the military.  We currently average one suicide by a member of the military a day.  In addition to making us think about those who serve to protect us, she writes beautifully. 

          Your report on suicide in the military was beautifully written (“One a Day,” July 23).  Yet you have to understand that when we come to Afghanistan, part of us never leaves.  Part of me will always be here, among the mountains, among the suffering that I’ve seen.  Most of us learn to live without that part of ourselves.  Some of us don’t.  And the truth is, the gap between us soldiers and those who have never been to war, those who have not seen and so cannot understand, is unbridgeable.  For some of us, the loneliness – the inability to explain – goes on and on.  The Army does what it can, but in the space inside of us where the war never ends, everything it does will never be enough.  I’ve lost five soldiers I knew personally to suicide in the past 18 months.  I don’t say any of this lightly, but there are some torments that all the health care and all the support in the world will not ease.  If this war has taught me anything, it most certainly has taught me that.  Alexandra Gray,Sergeant,U.S. Army.  Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan.  

►    We redesigned page 3 of the Cover Logix price list, to show you the Retail Pro item numbers for the hardware that we stock:  which is all except one. 

►    Big changes in GE Capital Financing.  We have been placed in a new program, with only three options:  14.99% for 79 months, 9.99% for 28 months, or 0% for 6 months.  Unfortunately, there is no longer a program with a reasonable cost to us.  So, 1.  We want a $1,000 minimum purchase.  2.  It’s no longer a revolving credit account, it’s a loan.  3.  We will not accept it for products on sale – it’s too expensive.  We will accept it if the customer gives up their sale (or at least part of it) in exchange.  On the hot tub sale, it is explained as an exchange for the $200 rebate.  4.  The minimum monthly payments are now 20% lower than they have been in the past. 

►    New Winterizing Pool Tips are in the store and on the web.  They have a 2012 copyright date.  If you seen any with a 1992 date, please toss them. 

►    New Seasonal chemical measuring cups are now available.  We are going to stock them in the Pool and the Spa department. 

►    Now that we are letting shelves sit empty as we prepare for winterizing, it is very important for you to put a “Coming Soon” sign in empty spaces.  Why?  It adds an optimistic note to something that consumers usually associate with a store that is going out of business, or just too lazy to stock. 

►    We are adding an extra-large cover cable to the Winterizing department, at 125 feet.  You will need that for 33’ round, 18 x 40 oval, and anything bigger. 

►    Please do not make copies of copies for Pool Tips, folders, etc.  Victor has originals of everything that you might need. 

►    I Wish I Said That!

       – Henry Clay vs. Massachusetts Senator Daniel Webster.  After seeing a pack of mules walk by.  Webster:  “Clay, there goes a number of yourKentuckyconstituents.”  Clay:  “Yes.  They must be on their way toMassachusettsto teach school.”

       – Winston Churchill vs. a member of Parliament:  MP:  “Churchill, must you fall asleep while I’m speaking?”  Churchill:  “No, it’s purely voluntary.”          

       – Alcibiades vs. Pericles.  Pericles:  “When I was your age, Alcibiades, I talked just the way you are now talking.”  Alcibiades:  “If only I had known you, Pericles, when you were at your best.”

       – Calvin Coolidge vs. some random Lady at a White house dinner.  Woman:  “Mr. Coolidge, I’ve made a best against a fellow who said it was impossible to more than two words out of you.”  Coolidge:  “You lose.”   

       – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart vs. An Admirer. Admirer:  “Herr Mozart, I am thinking of writing symphonies.  Can you give me any suggestions as to how to get started?”  Mozart:  “A symphony is a very complex musical form.  Perhaps you should begin with a simple lieder and work you way up to a symphony.”  Admirer:  “But Herr Mozart, you were writing symphonies when you were 8 years old.”  Mozart:  “But I never asked anybody how.”