Loehmann's Part Two

This weekend I wrote an entry about a terrible experience I had at Loehmann's.

Like I said in my entry-I LOVE Loehmann's! This is partly why I was so shocked and upset with how I was treated. I always knew I would return (I mean I cannot stay away from those kind of deals!) but I definitely would have felt awkward returning especially with the usual thoughts: 'omg will the same people will be there? will they look at me and remember?.'

Corporate read my blog and ended up calling me. They were great! They were highly concerned with how I was treated and let me vocalize my concerns as well as any recommendations I had for improvements. The thing is-people always have bad days and I'm sure after a long crazy day dealing with people it can be hard to be angelically nice. However, it takes more energy to be mean than to be pleasant!

I was assured that this would never happen again and that employees would be trained even moreso to have great customer service skills! I also work in the corporate side fashion and will check up on my stores to see how employees act-it really is disheartening when you see poor customer service. I was impressed with how dedicated Loehmann's was to correcting the issue and that even if I am just one person they took the time to reach out to me.

Nothing is ever perfect but what people really remember is how you react when its not.

Johnson School Fashion Forum

Last night I attended the Johnson School Fashion Forum (The Paradigm Shift: How are Consumers Changing in a Post-Recession World?). As a Cornell alumni it was one of the best Cornell events I have been to (even if technically it was an MBA school event)!

Impressive speakers, great crowd and using a café in Saks was the perfect venue! The panel discussed the impact of the recession on consumers as well as each company’s strategy to shift people from the ‘sale only’ mentality back to full priced items. I don’t believe we will ever go back to the extreme-shoppers are a lot more informed and deal driven (explosion of gilt group and factory stores).

Most of the panel stuck around afterwards to chat which was nice and not always the case in these events. There was as usual some blatent ‘please give me a job and to do this I’m going to suck up and ask lame questions’ type of people but that’s pretty expected. The majority of the crowd was very friendly and I had some interesting conversations.

I’m glad to see more interest in fashion and luxury in higher educational forums. It is too often that fashion events are just frivolous so this was a great change. I’m hoping there are more of these forums-Johnson School I'm looking at you!

Loehmann's

I love Loehmann's. I was pretty much raised there by mother. I am buying there pretty consistently (hello gold member-my mother is a diamond member haha) and absolutely love looking at the 'how much you saved' section of my receipt. I also love collecting their coupons and using those for a big purchase.

Today I was there with an army of coupons and an even greater supply of clothes to be bought (a few new summer tops for work and a couple of travel things for my cruise). Before I left I got an e-mail for an additional coupon-I went out of my way to print it (I don't have a printer at my apt) since I read the fine print and it said I could combine the specific offers I was using.



I went to pay and gave my coupons. The girl said I couldn't combine both-I said I was confused because I read the coupon and it said I could. The manager came over and right away was a huge bitch. I handed it over to her so she could read the fine print-she screamed she couldn't read it. I asked if someone else could or I could read it (which I did). She then inferred that I was stupid and that she didn't let others combine them so do I deserve it? I said that the coupon says that I should be able to and it is rude that she is being nasty to me (terrible customer service). She went to find the other manager. I then heard that 'they couldn't deal with me' and had some one else just give me the discount.

I am not a bitch and I love the product there-but that service is terribly off-putting. I refuse to back down when I am not the one in the wrong. I'm sitting here with my pretty clothes but the experience was quite ugly....xoxo*

Okay here is a real try...

I'm going to try this again! I feel like I am reaching a real turning point in my life and really need another outlet. I think this is the perfect place.

My new job is going well. I am restructuring my social circle. I try to be involved in a million activities but I still feel incredibly awkward in social situations. This time around I have decided to not let that stop me. I have some social events penned into my calendar (if I can't find someone else to go-I'm just going to suck it up and go). I have a cruise in mid May to the Eastern Mediterranean.

I'm trying to get the most out of life and find more ways to connect with people.

Things are happening.