Posted on 12/23/2018 1:06:25 PM PST by Pontiac
One evening when the son was growing up, the telephone in their home rang. The caller, with nervousness in his voice, asked for Robert Lazarus, who came to the phone.
The man, almost apologetically, said he and his wife had purchased a tea set at Lazarus. They had never owned one before, but saw it on display and decided it was something they would like to have in their home.
Robert Lazarus waited to hear what was coming next. Was there a flaw? Was a cup or saucer broken?
That wasn’t it. The man said he and his wife did not know the proper way to serve tea—how to make use of the tea set when company came over. They sensed there was an etiquette to it, but no one had ever told them what it was.
Some of Lazarus’s customers had very modest incomes; to them, that downtown store was almost a palace, a place of aspiration, even if they were only looking. The tea set had represented a step up, a significant expenditure for this man and his wife. And they weren’t quite sure how it was intended to be used.
So the husband called the man whose name was on the store—at home, at night—for advice.
Robert Lazarus, his son said, stayed on the phone with his customer and, with great care, walked him through the steps of having a tea party, of using an elegant tea set. He told the man stories about tea receptions he and his own wife had given; he answered every question.
I asked the son—by then an elderly man himself—if his dad had seemed at all bothered...
“Bothered?” the son said. “He couldn’t have been more pleased. He talked about it with great fondness for the rest of the night
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Yeah, Lazarus was a central Ohio institution for decades. Actual personal service,quality, and va!ue. Sadly they went the way of Spook Beckman, Flippo the Clown, and Lucy's Toy Shop.
No. Probably common issue. She said managers were clueless
We went off the rails when we started confusing Wants with Needs.
Fifty years ago people expected their jobs to cover their NEEDS: decent basic housing, food for their families and decent clothing with a bit to put away for a rainy day. They heated their homes with wood, coal or heater fuel.
Their air conditioning was open windows and maybe a fan.
They raised their own vegetables whenever possible and ate good home cooked meals. Eating out just wasn’t done on a regular basis.
I knew a man in Danville, Va who served in WW2.
He was wounded on Sicily and sent to England to recuperate. He got out of the hospital just in time to be promoted to Sgt and assigned to the second wave on Omaha beach.
He survived the war, came home and got a job with the local Royal Crown Cola distributor.
He married a local gal and built a small two bedroom house with his savings and his own labor. He had $1,500 cash invested in it when he moved in with no mortgage.
Nothing fancy, a basic house considered small by today’s standards.
He and his wife raised three children in that house and helped put two through college on what he made at RC Cola and what his wife made sewing on the side.
He lived in that little house till he passed away in his late eighties.
Nowadays the average person demands a three bedroom two bath house with a den and wall to wall carpet, central air, hardwood floors in the kitchen and dining room, the latest wide screen tv and stereo equipment, cable or satellite tv with premium channels, high speed internet, a kitchen decked out like a photo shoot for a magazine, two new cars in the drive, a camper or boat and every little thing the children say they want.
One result of this is contractors not wanting to build small affordable houses because there is so much money to be made building the mini mansions.
Why build the smaller basic houses when first time house buyers think they should immediately own the type of home they grew up in that took their parents a lifetime to buy?
What we as a nation need is to realise the difference between wants and needs again.
Do I want a new camper and truck to pull it with? Sure!
Do I need either? No. Therefore I will buy neither.
I patronize my local family-run Ace Hardware as much as I can. I may spend a bit more here and there but it is eminently preferable to being generally regarded as an imposition.
I have noticed the same thing. My remedy is to shop at the health food store that is smaller, pricier, but easier to shop because the gluten free products don’t get moved around like hostages.
Well said.
“house with a den and wall to wall carpet”
In my area they want 100% hardwood-—no one wants wall-to-wall anymore.
.
ff
I didn’t write it. I just informed you of it’s existence.
Yep
Been having a bad day
Thanks..... I tested outline.com....very cool.
I just went to purchase a ladder at the local hardware store this past September after seeing it on their website.
The problem was when I went to pick it up & it was not in stock. After apologizing about this mistake they said they would get it in for me the next day.
Came back the next day & they gave me a 5% discount for my troubles. Thoughtful and smart service.
Not entirely.
I worked for a guy who wanted to build small, basic starter stand alone homes. Like the kind his parents had. Even during the housing drop he had people who wanted to buy. It would be a little neighborhood, he even had a local grocery who would put in a C store with about a three / four other small businesses. It would be a place for people who were downsizing, people who were starting out and retirees.
He was told that he could not do so as it was against the building code. Too small.
Now he could build condos or apartments that were half that size but not stand alone house where people could have little yards.
Great story. Thanks for posting.
Now when you are “waited on” at a big store you get (i) a millenial who is bothered to have to put away their phone, and who, if you make the purchase and tell them “you’re welcome” because they did not have the sense to tell you “thank you” for your purchase, they look at you as though you’re from outer space because they can’t process the thought that you are indirectly paying their wages, or (ii) an affirmative action hire with an attitude so bad that you seriously consider that it might be worth it to drive miles away to another store so as not to have to put up with them, or (iii) someone who seems to have just stepped off the banana boat that morning with about 12 to 15 words as their only English repertoire.
Having any store salesman give you extraordinary service these days, let alone the CEO or owner of the store, is truly a memorable event.
Thanks for that. I can’t seem to get around the WSJ paywall like I used to.
I am convinced our monetary system of printed, fiat money, completely unbacked by anything, and with manipulated interest rates, changes society in 1000 ways we can trace.
This is one. In such a system, financialization and corporate size will run the world
My dear old Dad, who was born in 1920, expected SERVICE when he entered a place of business He earned his money through sweat and labor, and when he spent it at a store or restaurant, he had certain standards.
He wasn’t overbearing - but if a store’s staff didn’t greet customers, if they didn’t dress neatly, if staff mumbled when they spoke, if they didn’t know answers to basic questions, etc... that store was crossed off his list.
Suffice it to say, in his later years, when blue hair, nose rings, and tattoos became common in retail, and “Hey guys!” was the greeting, he enjoyed shopping less and less.
Aldi? High quality? You must go to a different one than the ones I have seen....they are often trashy and produce is old. Yuck and gross. I no longer sample them.
“Well said.”
Thank you.
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