What's Up With Pavilions?

I had to make a late night run to get some water and a few other things. At the checkout counter the lady asked me if I had the Vons/Pavilions card. I said I don't have it on me but I know my number. She inputs my number into the system and nothing comes up. She asks for another number and I don't have one for her. I know I have a card and I signed up for it in that store. She says it takes a month and sometimes 2 months to get into the system. Bottom line no savings for me. Not a big deal I would have only saved 30 cents maybe. What gets me is that other stores such as Albertsons would just have the checker swipe a store card that would allow for you to take advantage of the savings. If I had over $100.00 of grocery I would have missed out on a good amount of savings by not having my card on me. At Albertson's I would have saved with or without one. There is something to be said about customer service.

While we're on the topic of customer service, a friend of mine doesn't answer his business calls and seldom returns calls because he wants to leave an aura of success. He waits for an assistant to handle the calls for him. It was interesting because I used to do the same thing years back. I figured that if I answered the calls then my clients would think I am not successful. Total lunacy as I look back on it. Sure as you become more successful it becomes harder to handle calls but you can still do your best to distinguish yourself from people who think that by not answering they leave a better impression. Well here's what happens, you don't answer the calls the customer or potential customer hangs up the phone and calls someone else. Not like this would happen all the time but lets say it happens 1 out of 10 times. You just threw away 10% of existing or worse, new business, because you wanted to make it look like you're Donald Trump. I don't know what he's gonna do in the end but in his line of work he has to answer the calls or they're looking elsewhere.

Back to Pavilions. Maybe this card thing doesn't apply to all Vons or Pavillion stores. And maybe Albertson's could have a different policy elsewhere. In the end it's all about traffic for these guys and Pavilions doesn't have mine. Not that mine would count..or would it? Besides Albertson's has fried Lumpia in the frozen section!!!