Display, What Display? (Amusing Anecdote)

Hi All!

In keeping with the brief tangent we went into the last post about Merchandising, here's one of my favorite "in the trenches" merchandising stories. Even if you aren't into merchandising, I'm sure it will be a fun read for you.

Display, What Display?

Recently I had a merchandising assignment that was a nice deal because it was right across the street from regular merchandising and mystery shopping assignments from two other companies I work with. See why combining merchandising and mystery shopping can kick your earnings into high gear?

Anyway, the assignment was simple enough--put up a POS Display (no that does not stand for what you might be thinking, it's point-of-sale) and some additional small counter signs for a contest in my local mega hardware store. Once I got the sign box to fit in my car (thank goodness I have a convertible for those too-tall boxes), it seemed like a piece of cake. I went into the store, introduced myself, fielded a few questions for the manufacturer promoting the contest (no, I am clueless about treated deck wood, but as long as I nod sympathetically and promise to take it back to my District Manager, I don't really need to know anything else).

I set up the display and even the Department Manager commented how attractive it was. Good job, Melanie!

I was very happy when the same merchandising company contacted me about two days later and asked if I wouldn't mind going back to change the contest coupon pads and swap out one of the counter signs for another assignment. So the following week I went back to do that job. I checked in with the Department Manager who was in love with the display ten days earlier and he looked down and said "sorry Ma'am, I can't let you do that." I was puzzled. Where was the love?

When I pressed about why I couldn't do my job, the manager said the display was gone. Huh? I asked how the sign that was about 6 feet tall could disappear without a trace in a heavy traffic section of the store? The Department Manager looked at me and said with a completely sincere look on his face "it's gone because one of my guys accidentally ran over it with a forklift, and it was banged up so bad, we had to throw it out".

Okaaaay! So now what to do? I did the only thing I could. I handed the Manager the new contest coupons for the front desk, swapped out the counter sign and left. It was a flat rate assignment, so I got paid the same anyway for 8 minutes worth of work. My big concern was that the merchandising company might not believe me. So I filled out my timesheet and when it came to the question about if I did the job, I said yes, but explained what happened with the "runaway" forklift. I also left a message for the supervisor.

My wondering about whether or not I was going to get paid, since I had only worked 8 minutes, got answered about two weeks later. I got a check with a thank you note from the supervisor for my honesty and the best laugh they had all week!

(For more information on merchandising, please check out the special section on my web site).

Have a great day and happy shopping!

Taking the mystery out of professional mystery shopping--Melanie Jordan http://www.mysteryshoppercoach.com

Copyright 2005 Melanie R. Jordan E-Publishing