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!
So, I had ordered the Allergic Girl book a while ago, and did finally finish reading it, but a lot has been going on in life lately so I didn’t have any time to sit down & give it the thoughtful review that I felt it deserved. Now, I have the time to do that.
Allergic Girl: Adventures In Living Well With Food Allergies
The author Sloane Miller has a popular blog, and is so very easily contacted via Twitter… which as I’ve remarked before, is easily now my go-to resource for any food allergy related news or information. Twitter is how I discovered Sloane, her food allergy advocacy empire, and this wonderful book. I’ll warn you now, this may read more like an advertisement than a review… but this is the first book of its kind that I’ve ever picked up… if there are even any more like this out there, and it really spoke to me.
The first thing that hit me about the book is that it’s an excellent balance of “hey, you’re not alone” and “we’ll work through this”. It’s a comfort & a guide all at once. Of course, the writing style pulled me in right away. In the prologue, you’re dropped into a situation that could easily be a sitcom plot (or your weekend), but the seriousness is not lost in the humor… it’s underscored by it.
The book then moves into accounts of discovering and dealing with food allergies, one passage in particular that I’m going to highlight before I give it to friends & family to read… it describes the anxiety that builds after just an inkling in your mind that a certain food is unsafe (or could be unsafe) for whatever reason. I felt like Sloane had read my mind & put down my thoughts. From the order of thoughts jumping to other thoughts, to the hidden (or hopefully hidden) panic, down to the actions in dealing with such a situation… it’s uncanny. It’s a hard thing to convey to people, even if they are supportive & understanding.
The book covers dating, which can be harrowing… but luckily I have my incredibly supportive wife, and I don’t have to worry about that any more. This is a great guide to anyone in a dating situation, or for younger people with food allergies about to get into dating… or any social situation.
Allergic Girl is thankfully chock-full of resources for everything from websites to support groups to products to help you deal with your food allergies. There are also bullet-points at the end of each chapter, not unlike a textbook… they can work as a personal checklist for you.
This book will help you get organized… build support, learn to pick your food allergy battles, and maybe even to expand your comfort zones. This is what I personally need to work on. Dining out can be a paralyzing fear for me, and I need to learn to find people and restaurants that will work with me to feed me & keep me safe. Whether it’s starting the dialog the right way, using chef cards, or making calls ahead… they are all viable options of acquiring a safe meal.
If you have food allergies, have a friend, relative, or other loved-one with food allergies and want to understand their situation a little more… you need this book. No joke.
I got a letter in the mail today from Taco Bell. You may be familiar with my emails to them concerning the death-filled tacos that they were recently peddling. This is perhaps the best reply I’ve ever received to any of my either serious or goofy letters to any company.
I’ll dispense with the usual long-winded introduction and get right to it…
You can see that along with the letter, I received five $5 Taco Bell Bucks certificates. That’s $25 in death-free Taco Bell food. That’s got to be the coolest thing I’ve ever received besides my T-shirt from Turner’s. I’m not sure if they’re buying me off, rewarding me, if they make so much profit per item that it really doesn’t matter if they give this much away for free, or what. This almost makes me want to write back to Pillsbury/Totino’s and make them feel ashamed for sending me three 35¢ coupons. In fact, I may add that to the list.
The best, and I mean absolute best thing about this letter is that they’re forwarding my request to Pizza Hut. Wow. I trust you’ve seen my unanswered letters? I can’t even express how hilarious and ridiculous and absolutely gratifying that is.
Death Taco. No, that’s not the coolest new metal or grindcore band, although maybe it should be. It’s what I’m (of course) calling the newest Taco Bell menu item. I have had some inquires as to why I hadn’t mentioned it yet.
Well, I did make a faint mention via Facebook or Twitter a while ago, but had declined to rant here as I’ve been relentlessly trying to contact Taco Bell. You know how successful webforms are, so of course I got no answer from that, then I fished around for email addresses to send a full email, bugged them via Twitter for an address, and even posted an Ask Yahoo! question. Out of nowhere, I finally received a reply, and I have no idea if it was in reply to the webform, my emails to random Yum! Brands and Taco Bell email addresses, or some other forum.
I’d like to share my original messages with you. First the one via webform:
Hola, mis amigos de Titan Taco! Firstly, this isn’t about an incident at a specific Taco Bell, but the form didn’t allow room for general inquiries. I’d like to express my disappointment with a commercial that I saw advertising new shrimp tacos. Well, I guess my disappointment is not with the commercial, but with the product… and the main ingredient. I don’t think I can express my thoughts in a box with a mere 500-character limit. Do you have an actual email address where I can contact someone?
…And this was to some email addresses that I found after some Googling.
From: ERiC AiXeLsyD <world.and.lunar.domination@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Mar 8, 2010 at 4:11 PM
Subject: Taco Fail
To: webmaster@tacobell.com (and a bunch of other addresses)Hola, mis amigos de Titan Taco!
I’d like to express my disappointment with a commercial that I saw advertising new shrimp tacos. Well, I guess my disappointment is not with the commercial, but with the product… and the main ingredient.
I have a severe shellfish allergy, and Taco Bell has been a shellfish-free dining safe haven for me for years. It’s one of the few places where I never had to worry about shrimp, crab, lobster, oysters, etc. ending up in my food, or worse yet… crossing paths in the kitchen somewhere.
I will sadly have to cross Taco Bell off of my list of places to dine… but I’d like you to know that there are many of us out here with severe shellfish allergies who have an increasingly difficult time finding safe places to dine out. Fast food joints have long been a safe-haven for those of us with a shellfish allergy… as most fine dining and now even chain family style restaurants have several shellfish dishes prepared on multiple kitchen surfaces. Formerly, as long as I stayed away from Long John Silver’s, I was OK. Taco Bell, KFC, McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, Chick-fil-A, …were all safe places.
I guess I’ll now have to get my quick Mexican fix at Qdoba or Chipotle.
If you’d like to know what it’s like to dine out with a shellfish allergy, please read this blog post.
Here’s an excerpt…
If you know me in person, have dined out with me, or have ready any of my lunacy online… you most likely know what I have a severe shellfish allergy. What does that mean exactly? Well, it means that I can’t eat any shellfish, or I go into anaphylactic shock. Not only can I not eat the shellfish (that’s crustaceans & molluscs including but not limited to ,shrimp, prawns, lobster, crab, crayfish, oysters, mussels, clams, scallops, octopi, squid, snails, and probably even scorpions and pill bugs), but I can’t eat any food that comes into contact with it. That means, if you cook shrimp on the grill, take it off, and put my steak on without washing the surface, it’s the same as me eating the shrimp.
I certainly can’t expect the restaurant to clean the grill in between every meal, as that’s certainly not productive on their end… I just usually try to see where the shellfish is prepared, and eat from another cooking surface. That seems easy enough, right?
I get that it’s my responsibility. Yes, I’ve had an epi pen. But I’d really love to not ever have the need to use one. I’ve even considered getting Allergy Cards, but they seem a little pretentious or something… like my verbal reminder isn’t enough.
Well, getting me in to a place with shellfish is an issue in itself. Why? Well in with the aforementioned cooking surface issue…
I hope that this helps explain what people like me go through, and I hope that you re-consider selling death-filled tacos!
Running from the border,
-Eric
And, this is the reply, although I’m not sure if it’s the reply to one of the above messages, or in poking around on Twitter:
From: Poetsch, Rob (Public Relations) <Rob.Poetsch@yum.com>
Date: Wed, Mar 31, 2010 at 7:30 PM
Subject: Pacific Shrimp Taco Inquiry
To: “world.and.lunar.domination@gmail.com” <world.and.lunar.domination@gmail.com>
Cc: “Hunsaker, Brittany (Contractor)” <Brittany.Hunsaker@yum.com>
Dear Eric,
Thank you for taking the time to contact us about Shellfish allergens concerning our new Pacific Shrimp Tacos. We want you to know that we take these matters very seriously and that the business of our customers is our top priority. We value loyal customers such as yourself and would like to take the opportunity to win your business back.
To , to our customers who might have Shellfish allergens, we have displayed information at multiple locations in our fish. These include Shrimp allergen signs that are placed on our window and door clings as well as in our ads where orders are taken. While the Pacific Shrimp Tacos are offered for a limited time only, all Taco Bell employees have been trained and certified to not have any food products come in contact with Fish and Shellfish during cooking and/or serving.
We would like to send you some Taco Bell Bucks as a token of our thanks, so please email me back with your mailing address. We hope you will continue to “Think Outside the Bun” at Taco Bell, and appreciate you taking the time to write to us.
Sincerely,
Rob Poetsch
Taco Bell Public RelationsRob Poetsch
Taco Bell Corp.
One Glen Bell Way
Irvine, CA 92618
O: 949-863-3915
F: 949-863-2252
rob.poetsch@tacobell.com
Of course, I needed to reply:
From: ERiC AiXeLsyD <world.and.lunar.domination@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Apr 1, 2010 at 5:15 PM
Subject: Re: Pacific Shrimp Taco Inquiry
To: “Poetsch, Rob (Public Relations)” <Rob.Poetsch@yum.com>
Cc: “Hunsaker, Brittany (Contractor)” <Brittany.Hunsaker@yum.com>
Hello Rob,
Thank you for the reply! I was beginning to wonder if Taco Bell has a stand on the issue. While I am pleased to hear about the allergen warning signs along with the employee training and certification, I must say that I still have some reservations about safety. I am relieved to hear that the shrimp tacos are available for a limited time only.
It is great that you take responsibility in posting signs about allergy warnings. Your fellow Yum! Brands organization, Pizza Hut, ought to take note. They display allergen information on their website, noting that the pizza sauce may come into contact with shellfish… but there’s no shellfish on the menu. When I asked where the contamination may occur (e.g. in the processing/canning facility?) they were unable (or I sadly suspect unwilling) to provide a detailed response.
Back to the subject of Taco Bell… the giant window-clings showing what I’m sure to many is a succulent appetizing piece of shrimp spilling out of a lovely soft taco shell looks to me like a giant Mr. Yuck sticker or the old-time skull & cross-bones “poison” logo that you’d see in cartoons. They serve as an effective if not spine-chilling reminder as to the presence of shellfish allergens on the premises. They would also kick my survival instincts into gear, not even letting me enter the presence. Seriously. I would wager that right now, it would be pretty difficult to physically get me into a Taco Bell restaurant. My Eustachian tubes are starting to itch just thinking about it. I realize that this is also a highly personal mental health issue, but one that ought not be taken lightly, as it’s grounded in a very real fear.
Recently I read the blog of a man who almost died when he ordered a vegetarian Indian potato curry dish that he was assured was safe. Apparently the dish was flavored with a shrimp brine… which ought to be disturbing to vegetarians, vegans, kosher folks, and people with shellfish allergies. This is alarming to say the least. I realize that simple cross-contamination may not seem as serious as flavoring an entire dish with shrimp-juice, but I can assure you that it is indeed just as deadly. Our friends with wheat/gluten and peanut allergies seem to get a lot of attention lately, hopefully it will spill over to the rest of us with the “big 8” and those who aren’t even covered by that umbrella.
Have you taken the allergen training, or do you know what’s involved? I am finding it hard to tactfully express my concerns about the way that the message was conveyed to Taco Bell employees and the actual willingness of the employees to understand and comply. We’ve all watched training videos on various subjects and rolled our eyes, promptly taken pamphlets and placed them in the trash, or been angered when someone who doesn’t do our job gives us a new or added process that we must adhere to when we’re sure that the person suggesting the changes has never been in our shoes.
While I mean no disrespect to Taco Bell or any fast food restaurant, have you been to a Taco Bell lately? Sometimes I am concerned about the personal hygiene and motivation of the employees let alone the cleanliness and efficiency of the kitchen. Sadly, the low quality and poor service of fast food establishments has become a passively accepted facet of 21st Century life in the United States. For evidence, I give you the term “McJob“.
I have a theory that for so long now, it has been expressed to kids everywhere to get higher education so you don’t end up as a laborer, janitor, or fast food employee… that fast food jobs have garnered such a negative connotation, the only people left willing to take the jobs are the highly unmotivated individuals, people with no other options, or people using the part time jobs for extra cash with no real pride in their work since there’s no real fear of losing the job or striving to move up the chain of command.
I would invite you to imagine that in the Taco Bell kitchen where you are about to dine there are the standard (and innovative!) sour cream and cheese caulking-gun looking dispensers all loaded on the food preparation area… along side a caulking-gun-looking dispenser filled with a highly toxic pest-control chemical that looks interestingly enough like cheese or sour cream. Would you still feel safe in eating there? Sure. The employees can read. Sure, they know the difference. Are they ever rushed in a fast food kitchen? Do mistakes ever happen? Of course. I’m guessing you would at least think twice or watch closely before you dine.
I understand that this scenario is preposterous because I would hope that some sort of federal regulations would forbid any toxic chemicals from being stored in a food preparation area. No such federal regulations exist for people like me, although Massachusetts is moving forward with this type of thing.
While I trust that your training an certification was put forth with the best of intentions, you must understand that I question its implementation, practicality, and how it’s received and practiced by what amounts to be the first line of contact with your customers… the Taco Bell team member. What exactly does the certification say? Does each employee have it, or does a certification apply to an entire restaurant or shift?
I challenge you to quiz the workers at Taco Bells in various locations… inner city, suburbs, malls, and the combo units, and see how much the workers really know about cross-contamination and allergy issues and how they’re observed in a Taco Bell kitchen. (Hopefully, they fare better than Subway employees.)
All that said, I appreciate and applaud the considerable thought and effort that has already gone into allergen awareness. Spreading knowledge is the first step. Did you know that May 9th-15th 2002 is the thirteenth annual Food Allergy Awareness Week? Now is the time to act and inform, my friend!
I would certainly appreciate some Taco Bell Bucks, if you’ll understand that I may hold on to them until well after the current Pacific Shrimp Taco promotion is over. (Pending reviews, it may not last all that long, eh?) Taco Bell had previously been a shellfish-free Mexican-ish fast food haven for me for many many years. I can’t tell you how many tacos I ate at the mall nearby to where I grew up when I was a teenager. A dollar went much further at Taco Bell than it did at McDonald’s, Burger King or anywhere else in the food court.
My address is…
Eric Aixelsyd
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Pittsburgh, PA XXXXX-XXXXI would like to thank you once again for your time and the thoughtful informative reply. I look forward to perhaps what may be a continued dialog about allergy awareness issues in the fast food industry, and more specifically relating to Taco Bell and other Yum! Brands.
-Eric
Wow, do I hope they write back.
World (and Lunar) Domination 