This happened to me today!

So, a very nice lady who described herself as "Single Cindy" came into the store and went right to a very nice mattress. I asked, "Do you know what you want?" She replied, "I bought a bed at The Brick 20 years ago and hated it, and then again ten years ago and hated that one too. This weekend, I put a deposit on this one, and please help me understand why I love it so much." If my memory serves me right, she even looked at The Brick during this buying cycle.

I jokingly asked her if I could sell her back her two lousy mattresses and have her come back for the third.

She giggled, "I was not serious." But the question kind of was. The local guy is judged so much more harshly than the big box conglomerate. Many times, people tell me about their terrible service at Sleep Country or another national chain, and yet they are on their way there just to see what the "seal of approval" is.

The deal almost fell apart twice already!

She kept her purchase, said how much she loved it, and went home. Nice lady. Single Cindy.

Another guy came into the store; he had been at the home show. He said he bought two sets of sheets from us there. They were regularly $299, sold for $139, and are much more expensive anywhere else – Split King Organic Bamboo sheets. Best Buy wanted $450 for non-organic ones before they closed.

He started telling me how my staff had told him we had more colors at the store. I said yes, we do, but not the same sheets; those were a blend, not organic. He started yelling that the guy told him they were the same. That guy, who he described, knows all about our product as he manages the websites and has placed all products on them for ten years.

This guy got all huffy and started making a lot of noise to the point where I asked him to leave and told him I didn’t want to sell him anything. He had $50 gift cards he got at the home show, bringing his purchase of three sets of Split King sheets to less than $375 plus tax, and he thought he could use both gift cards on one purchase. I asked him if he had read the gift card, which clearly states "one gift card per purchase," and off he went again. His wife started crying, and he blamed me. She did not. How full is the moon this week?

Nice people are everywhere. The Home Show was so much fun talking to customers, and 99% of people who walk into the store are wonderful. But every once in a while, my point is: elbows up, local, local, local. Give the local guy the same amount of grace you would give the national chains. No one starts yelling in The Bay – or maybe they do – that the staff told them the same sheets were available at the store in different colors. We had the same size, different makeup, and more colours.

Or what I’d really like is that you would give the national chains the same grace some people – very few, really – give the local guy. None.

After the first bad bed, or even before, maybe come see us. We play show and tell, not deal or no deal. It costs less, it lasts longer, for the same amount of money.

Thanks for letting me vent.