September 22, 2012
► Customer Feedback: Customer Michael G. from Amherst, NH stated that his general shopping experience with us was Excellent. “Everyone is so willing to help.” Did any of our team members do an unusually good job? “Between Pat and Stephanie, both walking and talking to me about how to do what and when to my new pool.” Sales help, operations, and communication were all rated Excellent. “They had all the answers.” “All very quick and helpful.” What could we do to improve? “Nothing – your people are GREAT and that is why they stay with you because you are good to them!!” What do we do really well? “Care about your customers. This is very unusual to me to have so many staff teach me how to use my pumps, hoses, and equipment.”
► New advertising and weekly specials start Sunday, 9/23: “Billiard Clearance”. Department sales continue. The October Game Table Sale just started (early). These are the lowest prices that we will charge in 2012 for game tables.
► Remember, this is the last week for September hours. On October 1, we switch to opening at noon on Sundays and closing at 6:00 Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.
► New sales just started on grills and chess sets. The cloth department has been re-tooled. Teal and Banker’s Gray are on the clearance page. Pat’s doing another inventory to see what we really do have.
► I have no plans to order any more summer chemicals. We will generally substitute another size or brand, instead. Based on the last three years, we have more than enough to last to January 1, 2013.
► Please replace the plugs in the return displays. They do no good teaching the consumer when they are not there.
► Submitted by an anonymous person from the warehouse. Note the very clear writing style. What you can not see is the best handwriting in the company:
A reminder, that as we make the changes on the floor, we are making re-packs to keep items together. Brushes with brushes, vacs with vacs etc… We’ve noticed in the warehouse a few of the re-packs have mixed items. Example: In the vac bin I found a re-pack box that had vac heads and test kits. Now if someone was looking for those test kits and went to the bin where the test kits are kept, they wouldn’t find them and would have no reason to look in a box with vac heads. So please keep like items together as mentioned above.
Everything has a spot in the warehouse and if it is not put in the bin it came out of, the next person who looks for that items will have a hard time finding it. Thanks, Warehouse.
► Happy Birthday to John on Thursday, September 27. We will celebrate with cake in the Coffee Shop, Saturday, September 29.
► The last Pool School of the year, Inground Closing, is Wednesday, September 26 from 7:00 to 8:30 PM.
► The web site has been updated for the 2013 Pool Table Program. We have also added the stock price list, except that the actual prices have been replaced with this note: “We can snail mail prices to local addresses only. See our Internet Sales and Pricing Policy under History, Philosophy and Policies.”
► Internet Weird News by Chuck Shepherd:
Intruder (Not) Alert – Are we safe? In August, Daniel Castillo’s Jet Ski broke down in New York City’s Jamaica Bay, forcing him to swim to the nearest shore – at JFK International Airport. As Castillo roamed the ground, he somehow failed to disturb the airport’s $100 million, state-of-the-art Perimeter Intrusion Detection System of cameras and motion sensors, stumbling into the Delta terminal before an employee noticed him. This happened two weeks after the now-notorious “peace” protest of Megan Rice, 82, and two colleagues, who cut through fences at the Oak Ridge (Tenn.) nuclear reservation’s Y-12 facility that houses more than 100 tons of highly enriched uranium. They braved numerous (though apparently unmonitored or malfunctioning) alarms and sensors for up to two hours before a lone guard stopped them.
► Submitted by Jeanne:
The Washington Post has published winning submissions to its yearly contest, in which readers are asked to supply alternate meanings for common words:
– Coffee: The person upon whom one coughs.
– Flabbergasted: Appalled by discovering how much weight one has gained.
– Abdicate: To give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.
– Esplanade: To attempt an explanation while drunk.