Well, if you read about our couch buying experience and were at all curious, here are some crappy photos from my cell phone:
Klaussner Couch
Klaussner Love Seat
I like they stripey pillows on the love seat, they came with the set. I don’t think Bethany likes ’em though. We bought the pillows that are on the couch from Kohl’s, but they’re a pretty good match.
So, the wife & I been saving to buy a new couch & loveseat for quite a while. We’ve been very casually looking at furniture stores since last October. Retail sales people in general really bother me. I tense up when they approach. It’s impossible to walk into any furniture store & browse without a sales person being on you like white on rice. I have an issue with the titles too. They never call themselves sales people. It’s always “associate” or “specialist” or “floor manager” or “Archduke of Ass-cushions”. You’re there to sell furniture and make commission, not to help me with the interior design in my house or really even to sell me what fits my needs. You want to up-sell as much as possible. I know that, you know that… why can’t you admit that you know I know it? Pardon me, I’m getting ahead of myself.
At Levin’s they weren’t interested in showing us anything other than the most expensive couches. Once they got an idea of our budget, they weren’t interested. Roomful Express was a veritable pressure cooker with a “buy it now because we’re going out of business” style sales pitch. So, no warranty then? Ikea is great, and we love the place for other reasons, but none of the couches that we saw on our last few trips fit our style and budget. Big Lots had some affordable furniture, but the couch we had considered there only came in one awful orange-tinted brown… and it just brought poop to mind.
That brings us to the events of tonight. We had passed by the DFW on Rte. 51 a week or so ago, but we decided to check it out. We had looked at a few of their pieces online and were happy with the price & selection. We decided to stop at Value City first since it was on the way & we were out looking. The plan was to look around at Value City, check DFW in person, and if we needed to hit Value City on the way home, we could do that. We could not have had two more divergent experiences. I will mention sales persons’ names below, as it’s my intent to contact both Value City & DFW with the details of our experiences. They both need to know what’s going on in their stores, good & bad.
As we were walking up to the door at Value City, we could see a young sales guy looking out the front window directly at us as if we couldn’t also see him. He ran out of our view to his left, not unlike a puppy running to get some treats. I said to Bethany “Wow, this guy’s going to be all over us before we’re even in the door.” I was wrong. Another sales guy was on us as soon as we were in the door. He appeared like Batman disappears in the movies & cartoons. I really have no idea where this guy came from. He was just there. I say “sales guy”, but he called himself a “floor designer”, commented on Bethany’s Penguins hoodie, and introduced himself as Bill. Bill asked what we were looking for, we said couches, and he gave is a well-rehearsed (read: tired) spiel about how we were “here for two things; eye appeal and butt appeal”. Things like “it’s got to be comfortable”, “sit on it, jump on it, relax”, “microfiber is just a fancy way of saying 100% polyester” were said. Also, there were mentions of how their parent company owns Big Lots and DHL and a few other companies… which have absolutely no bearing on me buying furniture. I’m not impressed with image. Cheesy, but at that, he let us off to browse on our own. We made our way up the first aisle, down the second, and were on the way up the third when Bill caught us again. Along the way, we saw two couch/loveseat sets that we really considered purchasing. We had our mind set on one because it was comfortable and within our budget and we were frankly just in the mood to finally purchase a couch this evening. When Bill caught up to us the second time, we may have confused him, as we talked in passing to another family who had just walked in the front door. Bill proceeded to introduce himself to us and give the same “eye appeal and rear appeal” into the “microfiber=polyester” speech that we had just heard less than ten minutes earlier. As we were just into the third aisle, we were beginning to realize that most of this furniture was above our budget… so the plan was to walk through quickly. Bill caught us by a rather ugly yet comfy reclining sofa that was ridiculously priced and begged us to sit in it. We obliged. Then Bill proceeded to tell is that we may recognize him from TV as he’s the “furniture doctor” (or something to that effect) on KDKA. He also said that he sold this same couch to Tyler Kennedy & Max Talbot, then named some Steelers for good measure. This is where my mind was made up that we wouldn’t be buying anything from Value City. I don’t care who else has the same couch as me, and these local sports heroes will never be sitting on my couch… so it really is irrelevant. Also… I know you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but just looking at us, he should have known that the couch in question was way out of our price range. I would like to make it clear that the only reason that we didn’t buy a couch from Value City this evening is Bill Crewson. I found him to be pretentious, pompous, and obnoxious. We escaped Bill’s sales pitch of doom, and had a discussion around the first corner. My wife agreed with my assessment and decided that worst-case scenario, we would come back & deal with a different sales associate because Bill was not getting a dime of commission from us. We promptly headed to the door. Bill again appeared out of nowhere and handed us a business card as we were on the way out the door, title being “Home Furnishing Consultant”. Get your title/position straight, Bill. Consistency is a good thing. As soon as we got home, I fired up Firefox and Googled the bejesus out of Bill’s name on KDKA’s website. I can find no mention of Bill by name or by “furniture doctor” or “couch doctor” or whatever he called himself (or anywhere else on the web). If someone knows Tyler Kennedy or Max Talbot, tell them to call me to talk about their couches.
Next, we went to DFW. The experience there was as refreshing as Value City was exasperating. We weren’t immediately pounced upon when we walked in the door. After we had made our was across the front of the store, we were casually approached by a Mr. Matt Walker. He asked us what we wanted, and what our needs were. He explained what they had, how the discounts worked if you bought outright vs. a payment plan, and set us free to roam around the store. Still reeling from Value City, I thanked Matt for being the first sales person in a furniture store that wasn’t so far up my rear-end that they were looking out my mouth. He laughed like he hears that a lot. Bethany & I were able to take our time, look at the prices, sit on the couches… and we again found two sets that we liked and that fit our budget. The one didn’t come in any different colors, so we happily picked the other, and we had to seek out Matt to let him know that we were ready to make a purchase. To not be hovered over, or approached a second time with some sort of practiced sales pitch, or to not be only shown the most expensive pieces on the floor was a huge deal. Happily, the set we wanted was well under budget at the advertised price. Not only that, but we got a discount for paying for it all at once. There was also another deeper discount because the floor model was the only one left. We looked it over, were satisfied with the condition and quality and went with it. We did purchase a reasonably priced protection plan for the cushions and there was a standard delivery fee… and we were still under the advertised price for the set. I urge anyone in the Pittsburgh area looking for cheap quality furniture to seek out Matt Walker (Store Manager) at DFW on Rte. 51. DFW should send all of their managers and sales persons to Matt to be trained. They would be wise to pick up his tactics and demeanor. The delivery is set for tomorrow, I’ll have to pop up a photo and let you know how that goes!
This week blew up on Twitter as far as food allergies. So much went by that I wanted to promote, comment on, blog about, or whatever… but I didn’t get to any of it. Oh well. There are others out there… writing, educating, & commenting. So… if you’re interested & you can keep up, here’s a run-down of stuff that you need to see:
First off, the ridiculousness with food allergy protesters in Edgewater, FL:
The Allergid Kid | Today’s Lesson: Hate and Intolerance – Excellent commentary here! You need to check out the flier that was distributed. Reading that the teacher showed the class news footage of the protest had me all heated last night. It’s basically validation from the teacher for all the other kids to single out the food-allergic child for harassment. Aren’t we nationally campaigning against bullying? Someone send Obama & Brittany in there.And, then, all the rest…
It was Food Allergy Awareness Week for WPIX TV 11 in New York. Awesome. There’s a plethora of incredible content available here: NY PIX 11 | Food Allergy Week – I still haven’t made my way through all of it. Looks like they’re covering all the angles though… form safety at restaurants and schools, to personal profiles, to cooking, to businesses helping out with allergy needs, to dealing with it mentally, to research, to legislation. I really applaud the drive & effort… and hope other news stations across the country pick up on this!Am I missing something? I feel like I’m missing something.
Oh yeah. I need to update my links. Have a blog that I should be linking to? Let me know!
So, Twitter suggested that I follow Clean Water Action. Ha ha.
http://twitter.com/#!/AiXeLsyD13/status/43764259984904192
It reminded me of this…
Senator Wayne Fontana Reads His Mail.
…and I laughed.
I need to write some more goofy letters.
I’ve recently renewed my dialog with Subway, sparked by the news of them rolling out a gluten-free menu. Here’s how it’s going down:
From:
ERiC AiXeLsyD <world.and.lunar.domination@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Jan 25, 2011 at 11:16 AM
Subject: Gluten-Free Menu Options in Texas?
To: Paula Gomez <gomez_p@subway.com>, Rob Searfus <R.Searfus@sfaft.org>, Mack Bridenbaker <m.bridenbaker@sfaft.org>, Christine Sumecki <c.sumecki@sfaft.org>, Subway Customer Care Team <asksubway@subway.com>, “B. Pingarron” <b.pingarron@sfaft.org>, “M. Luby” <m.luby@sfaft.org>, “Anna Marie Seeley (Customer Care Representative)” <seeley_a@subway.com>, Kevin Kane <kane_k@subway.com>Hello Friends at Subway,
I write to you today because we have had a dialogue going in the past about food allergies and cross-contamination that I would like to continue. I have recently read a few articles online informing the masses that Subway plans to roll-out some gluten-free menu options in the Dallas & Tyler Texas markets soon. If you would like to read the articles in question, here are some links:
While I would like to be able to applaud this effort, I also find it quite frustrating.
I am quite proud of Subway as an organization when I read such responsible things like “The baked goods will arrive pre-packaged and individually wrapped. Employees will be educated on how to cut the bread using a pre-wrapped knife to avoid cross contamination.” I mean, really… this is a novel idea and a stellar effort as well as great news for Celiac afflicted potential Subway customers. Certainly lines like “Also, to further avoid cross-contamination, that same Sandwich Artist will prepare the order from beginning to end, ensuring a 100-percent gluten-free meal” offer a level of comfort to those who must dine gluten-free. While other restaurants have offered gluten-free menus, you seem to understand that a knife that cuts a regular bun cannot also cut the bun of a gluten-free selection. This would, I imagine, be quite a worry for a wheat-allergic or Celiac person. I can imagine this scenario quite well, actually. You may remember my past missives expressing my allergy to shellfish (and more specifically to your “seafood” sub offering).
This is where my frustration sets in. I have written to you on multiple occasions expressing the frustration for not only my shellfish allergy, but all of the “top 8”; Milk, Eggs, Peanuts, Tree Nuts, Fish, Shellfish, Soy, & Wheat. Why have you picked this opportunity to only concentrate on the wheat? There are others too… I know of people with tomato and pepper allergies that would be thrown into the same anaphylactic shock that I would given I were to take a bite of unknowingly deathfish-laiden lunchmeat. While you seem to understand the importance of a gluten-free knife… what about a cheese-free, tomato-free, and shellfish-free knife? Perhaps you have forgotten my previous letter with a few colorful illustrations of the contaminated knife issue. I will repost here for your convenience:
Then we have the community knife. If one were to cut someone’s seafood sub with that knife, wipe it off, then cut my sub, there are STILL allergens on that knife, enough allergens to kill me. Do you want me to be thrown in to an Anaphylactic fit? I doubt it. Well, at least, I hope not.
Think about this – do you share your toothbrush with everyone in your household? Would you with everyone in your office? Would you share it with everyone that you pass on the way to work in the morning or with everyone who’s eating lunch with you at the same place where you’re choosing to dine?
Yes, it sounds gross, but those potential germs that you’re no doubt currently horrified of are the same as the very real allergens that will most certainly throw me into instant death.
If that didn’t do it for you, imagine I put a giant dried dog turd on the sandwich board, cut it in half, wrapped it, wiped off the knife [with a re-used dishrag type cloth], and then cut your sandwich. By Subway’s current logic, that knife is clean and contamination free. This is most certainly not a pretty picture to you, my friend. Is it?
Does any of this ring a bell?
Also, I have received conflicting reports on how such issues are currently handled or have been handled in the past. One reply states…
The Company policy directs our independent restaurant owners / operators to take all necessary precautions to prevent the possibility of cross contamination. This includes the policy of washing all utensils and containers after each use. Each restaurant is independently owned and operated and is the responsibility of the franchise owner to implement and enforce the policy.
Which seems to conflict with yet another reply…
I have gone ahead and copied our Training Department so that further lessons can be addressed with owners and their employees on proper handling.
And, the latest information according to the QSRWeb.com article is that “Sandwich Artists in those two markets will be trained on how to cut the roll with a pre-wrapped knife for one use only.” So, have they been trained in allergies in cross-contamination already, or not? Color me confused, my friends.
I’d feel safer if the seafood concoction wasn’t anywhere near the meat & cheese where it currently sits. I’d also feel safer if the same knife wasn’t used to cut all of the sandwiches, and the same dishrag-type towel wasn’t used to wipe off the knife in random intervals between sandwich slicing. I’d feel safer if all the sandwich artists, managers, and owners were trained on allergens, cross-contamination, and the seriousness of anaphylactic shock. I’d feel safer if all stores contained a first aid kit complete with an epi pen and clear instructions for its use.
Why should the Celiac-afflicted feel safer, but the rest of us with deadly food allergies should not? I look forward to your response, your insights, and how you plan to move forward regarding all potentially deadly allergens and how they are to be handled in your stores. Thank you once again for your time, I hope to hear from you soon.
Inquisitively,
-ERiC AiXeLsyDP.S. – I was wondering, when you work in an office for Subway, do you have an in-office Subway in which the employees receive (or make) their own lunch? Or, is there a Subway nearby where you get free or discounted food? Or, are you all too sick of Subway to eat there?
And I got this back…
From: Searfus, Rob <R.Searfus@sfaft.org>
Date: Fri, Jan 28, 2011 at 4:31 PM
Subject: RE: Gluten-Free Menu Options in Texas?
To: ERiC AiXeLsyD <world.and.lunar.domination@gmail.com>Hello Eric,
My apologies for not replying earlier, I was traveling and in meetings most of the week, (as well as attending to some family business). But enough of the excuses.
Forgive me for not having more product answers, but I’m simply a field marketing representative out here on the west coast. I have inquired with our R&D department to try and get the answers to your questions. No replies yet, but this week has been tough for me to get a hold of anyone on the east coast due to the severe winter storms that they have been having (offices closed for at least a couple of days.)
I’ll follow up by e-mail when I get any answers for you.
Thanks, and BTW, what part of the US to you hail from?
Rob Searfus
Field Marketing Manager
Subway® Franchise World Headquarters
16337 SW Leeding Ln
Tigard, OR 97223
Cell: 503-954-5479
Toll Free: 1-800-888-4848 x 4089
Fax 503-579-6715
e-mail: searfus_r@subway.comIMPORTANT CONTACT INFORMATION CHANGE: PLEASE NOTE MY EMAIL ADDRESS HAS CHANGED TO searfus_r@subway.com. Please update your address book to reflect this change. We are undergoing a technology transition. During this transition, you may still receive emails from the “sfaft.org” address. This is not an error, but please enter my new subway.com email address when sending emails.
So I wrote this…
From: ERiC AiXeLsyD <world.and.lunar.domination@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, Jan 29, 2011 at 4:17 PM
Subject: Re: Gluten-Free Menu Options in Texas?
To: “Searfus, Rob” <R.Searfus@sfaft.org>Thank you Rob,
I had actually wondered if anyone would reply. I had an email chain going before with a Ms. Paula Gomez & Ms. Ana Seely… but they have been short replies and my main questions have gone unsanswered.
I’m in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. Thanks for your time, I hope to hear from your colleagues soon!
-Eric
But in the mean time, I made some pretty pictures. I can’t decide which one I like the most.
Which one do you like best?
Okay, so I’m on a roll this morning. That Subway stuff struck a nerve. It reminded me that I would like to have more consumer-driven responses to food allergy issues, and less government mandates. Food Allergy Awareness Week is not for a few months (May 8-14, 2011), but it doesn’t mean that you can’t start getting ready now.
I just wrote to the Food Network, requesting some Food Allergy Awareness. I used their contact form, and this is what I had to say…
I’m a big fan of all the Food Network shows. I’d love to see an Iron Chef battle where they can’t use any of the “top 8” allergens. I am allergic to shellfish, and always recoil slightly when it’s a lobster or crab battle… or when the inevitable prawn works its way into a dish. There is a Food Allergy Awareness week every May. It would be great timing for such an event… and really help the allergy awareness and cross-contamination cause. There are MANY food-allergic foodies out there!
I’m sure you’re aware that the top 8 allergens are Milk, Eggs, Peanuts, Tree Nuts, Fish, Shellfish, Soy, & Wheat. TO have an Iron Chef battle where they ahd to prepare meals without any of the top 8 allergens would be truly epic, and help show others out there that there ARE indeed alternatives & work-arounds when dealing with a life-threatening allergy. Food allergy awareness week this year will be May 8-14, 2011.
Thank you for your time, I hope to hear your thoughts on this matter!
-Eric
I’d like to ask that you also write your own letter or email. And, why stop at one? Please, share with me other places where you think we ought to write, and I’ll write to them too!
I’ll definitely be writing more, perhaps armed with statistics like the following (from Top8Free.com):
Prevalence of food allergies in the United States
Ninety percent of food allergies in the United States are caused by eight foods: Milk, egg, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, wheat, fish, and shellfish. This website is dedicated to a diet free of these allergens. Of course, it is possible to be allergic to just about any protein. In Japan, rice allergy is one of the offenders.
Just to give you a sense of how many kids are suffering from food allergies today, here is a table of the most common food allergies. This does not count children with milk-soy protien intollerance or Celiac disease, only children with Ig-E mediated food allergies.
Percentage of young children with allergy to:
- Milk 2.5%
- Egg 1.3%
- Soy 1.1% (There is little agreement on this number. Estimates range from 1 to 5%)
- Wheat 1.0%
- Peanut 0.8%
- Tree nuts 0.2%
- Fish 0.1%
- Shellfish 0.1%
- Overall 6 to 8% of population
Percentage of adults with allergy to:
- Shellfish 2.0%
- Peanut 0.6%
- Tree nuts 0.5%
- Fish 0.4%
- Milk 0.3%
- Egg 0.2%
- Soy 0.2%
- Overall 3.7%
Source: Hugh A. Sampson, MD. “Update on food allergy“, Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, May 2004
While writing to politicians does gain some inroads, there are other productive avenues to explore.
I recently came across an article that is at once good news and quite annoying…
Food Allergy Daily | Subway Now Testing Gluten-Free
On one hand, it’s great news that they’re finally recognizing a food allergy. On the other, it almost angers me that they haven’t dealt with the shellfish issue that I have been telling them about for years. (Literally… over the span of more than a few years, and through dozens of letters and emails.)
This part is quite amusing…
Employees will be educated on how to cut the bread using a pre-wrapped knife to avoid cross contamination.
Perhaps they read my dog-turd analogy? In a response to that, My friend Ms. Gomez had assured me that they already wash all utensils to avoid cross-contamination. Apparently this is not the case… or they wouldn’t need new training and a “pre-wrapped knife”. (Besides the fact that I have seen the sandwich artists “wash” a knife after cutting a sandwich… with a dirty dish-rag. To me, this doesn’t constitute washing.)
Although, one of the past letters did say this…
Maybe I’m the one who got the ball rolling here?
My favorite letter to Subway: https://aixelsyd13.wordpress.com/2009/10/28/five-five-dollar-five-dollar-foot-up-your-ass/
Check out my review of a local Subway on UrbanSpoon: http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/23/271709/restaurant/Dormont/Subway-Banksville-Plaza-by-Kuhns-Pittsburgh
I’m going to have to write to them again, and ask a few questions… like if they’ve already been trained in cross-contamination, what’s this new training for? And… why are they going gluten-free and ignoring the people with allergies to shellfish, peanuts, eggs, and the other “top 8“?
Last night, it took me two hours to get home… it’s normally a 35 minute drive. The industrial park in which I work was in chaos. The roads weren’t that bad, but tires were spinning because of people flooring the gas… and the local cops stopped a bunch of cars… close together… on a slush-covered hill.
I took these photos while sitting still for quite some time, not while moving. Yinz are ridiculous.
World (and Lunar) Domination 