An Intriguing Tale Of Being An Owner

As business owners for the last 9 yrs we are constantly looking for other business opportunities. After all if something can be more lucrative that what we are already doing, then why not… right..??  But where do we start and what are we looking at in terms of financial commitment?

Some franchise opportunities were on our minds for the longest time but like many people, after the first phone call we don’t follow through with it because we didn’t get enough information up front.  At MatchPoint Network, they help business owners find the right kind of franchise to better ensure your success with your new venture.  They do all the work for you, providing free recommendations and give you free consultation.  So if you are looking to branch out or expand your business, look for MatchPoint.

How would you feel when a customer who was only in last week.. to buy a DS lite from you. .and after the weekend. .comes in and wanna return it to you for cash..??  Yes.. pretty pissed is what most ppl would be.. especially if there was nothing wrong with the DS lite.  His explanation..?? he needed money to bring his g/f to the city..!!  *slap forehead*

I cannot tell you how much these customer/s makes me wonder how they lead their lives because how can anyone lived day for day.. and not think for the future.. and be that broke.  Well..we’ve seen worst of course… but it sure makes me want to ask them.. about their family allowance management.  Afterall, you and I know that Canada government.. is a giving government.. and it’s like “take the money.. and welcome to Canada”!

In any kind of business, we do just about anything to keep our customers happy especially during special occasions or the anniversary of our store.  We are always on the look out for good promotional items to give to our customers as a sign of appreciation. Of course we hope that these promotional items will speak for themselves and make the customers remember us when they see it.

For personalized promotional products, businesses and business owners like us can look at the many items that are offered by Gimmees.  They certainly can give you lots of ideas for your next promotional campaign. For us, we always want things that shout out.  They even have food, drinks and candies; that’s cool.

Our store is a popular store amongst the younger kids. .and the big ones as well.  We welcome them..to come play rock band at our store… during their lunch time.. and their free periods.  Some actually turned into great customers.. and friends of our store.  And you know what..?? they LOVED us..! They think we are pretty cool.. to let them jam at our store. .muahahahah!!!

No rockband of course..!! the man had to rent one from Movie Gallery for 8 bucks..!!  Ironic.. when we own our own video store.   Poor Canadians.. i guessed gotta wait for another month before he can get his copy.  The RockBand 2 is not bad according to PB .. and has 84 new songs.. that he is playing right now.  More on it later.  Oh btw.. World of Warcraft Wrath of the Lich King on PC has a confirmed release date – November 13, 2008.  So all those gamers out there..  remember to come to our store and order your copy to avoid disappointment.  Your good ole Walmart .. may not even know about the release on the said date.

We used to live out of town and only had dial up, so when a customer comes in to ask about other options for internet services and complain about his frustrations, we know where he’s coming from. Now Americans living out of town or out of high speed service areas need not suffer the fate of a slow connection because satellite internet is now available, and it’s affordable too.  At $49.99/month it’s almost as cheap as cable or DSL.

We get alot of calls from customers about trading games and systems. This morning, we received a call from someone asking if he could trade his gamecube system for an Xbox system. He is either on crack or something.  C’mon, you do the math, we sell our gamecubes for $50 and Xbox for $80 .. so you think we can trade even..??

I also have customers coming in to trade games, one for one .. i mean if it was a new game.. understandable that they would think it is worth more.  But to bring me some crappy sport games from like 2003 ..??  Holy Moly..!!  I really don’t know what they are thinking..??  do you..??

You would think that owning your own business deserves you a spot to park right outside your own store without having to pay and without having to worry about vandalism on your car, right? Nope. The town has other ideas.  In fact come Christmas, if you so much as think about parking on Main Street in front of your own business, you will be berated in the downtown flyers that they distribute every couple of weeks.

In big cities like London, they have London Garages to look for when it comes to parking safely and making sure that your car is still there when you are done work.  To think that they are even more affordable than parking in my small town, and a lot more efficient when it comes to renting a space for your car, now that has got to be the coolest thing ever.  Apply for your parking space online and have everything taken care of for you online. No hassle, no stress, no more having to drive round and round from one car park to another before 7am just to get a parking space.  For ladies like me, no more having to worry about going to a quiet car park after 9pm and worry about getting robbed or worse .. raped..!  Plus they have an extensive location for your convenience, no compromises, just the place you want your car to be.

This were the snowbirds right outside our house.  We had wanted to go to the airshow.. but because of the weather, we didn’t even know if it was still on or not.  The announcement came in so late.. we only found out about it when it started.  Heading towards the airport . .we were turned away and told to use Hailey Road instead.  There was no sign..at all anywhere.. for redirection.. and the Hailey Road was so packed even at 1.45pm.. it was lined up to the end of the road.. with other side roads joining into ours.. with massive amount of cars.  We turned back..!  To say that the Logistics Department of the Airshow was bad was an understatement .. but like PB said.. THIS IS YARMOUTH..!! what do you expect.

Alot of ppl did turned up at the Airshow.. but i seriously believed that it would be a greater success if the planning was done better.   For such a big show in small town Yarmouth, one would think .. you would be doing more updating on the net, radio.. or bulletin boards.. or even at the Mariner.

For those who owns their own business, i’m pretty sure you know all about insuring your store and its contents right..?  For the ordinary folks, you wouldn’t know about such but because we had been in this business for 9 yrs, we know what to avoid non-payment in case of fire, natural disasters or even break and enter.  But thank God, we never needed it till today.  For those of you who knows us personally, you know that we’ve just moved to a new location and for a usually conscientious person, i had forgotten about putting up an exit sign for our new store.  Luckily, we were reminded by our friendly customer the other day.. and guess what…?? our insurance was due that day too. Muahahahh!! what a coincidence.

We’ve had a number of used PS3 come in last week.  The latest one was on Saturday in the late afternoon.  People often want alot for their used system.. and don’t realised that once it is used, we cannot sell it for the amount they think we can.  For one that has a 80gb hard drive – new, it will cost like $454 tax included.  So if the seller wants to sell it to us at $350 or more, there is just no way we can afford to buy it from him/her.  Sure we understand that it is almost new, used only for a month but the person looking for a used machine would rather pay the extra $50 for a new one than to buy one from us at $400 right..??  *shrug* .. wished ppl would understand coz’ it is so hard to justify it.

This is first air show for a long time.  PB said.. he did watched one . .when he was a kid.  But in my 8 yrs here.. this is the first.  Of course! we are going.. so that we can flood our blogs with pictures and stories.. and make ourselves look “ulu” (mountain tortoise).  But it’s not like i’ve never been for airshows before.. but here in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.. you know..  “ulu” (mountain tortoise) town…. not quite expected, to be a huge and major show, but we’ll see eh.   Will give you more on it.. in the next few weeks.

PS :  i hope this airshow brings in ppl and money for the town.  Sept 13 & 14 .. folks around Yarmouth areas.. must come together. and watch the airshow.

It is very interesting owning your own business, of course we do have bad days encountering not so great customers.. but we have more amusing days to thank for, like when a long time customer came in to ask me to help him interpret an email sent by his Asian fiancee.

Many a times, I do get a customer or two asking me about how they can find Asian friends and they don’t want to be on a site that might scam them.   Asian Chat is a free website where lots of Asians from all over Asia are gathered to chat, exchange ideas and make friends with others. Plus if you are one who loves to see your Asian friend, this is the place you want to be for your free Asian video chat line.  Sign up for free and start making friends with Asians.

This is not a question .. but a statement but people who still comes in every now and then to ask if we are hiring.  We hate to be rude, so we keep it short and tell them no.  No more excuses.. just no.  And i’m glad that PB and I decided we are not going to go thru’ hell with new employees.

I had a customer come in the other night.. and she was complaining that she was “let go” after working 2 weeks with a store.  She claimed that she got accepted in school and wanted the store to accommodate her.. so instead of working all mornings, she wants to have some nights as well.  Pretty indignant that the ex-employer didn’t do her right .. she said it was gonna be ugly.

We have had many of this kinda employees, i bet they let her go .. because when they first hired her on.. they must have told her.. they needed her in the mornings.  But all of a sudden .. just because she changed her schedule .. everyone gotta change or move their world around hers..?? That’s not right.  In so many years of business .. our major flaw was being accommodating.. and being nice. We did try.. and no matter what we did for them.. they wanted more.  If they didn’t get what they want.. we are “dirty” .. “nasty” or “bad employers”.  So you see why we don’t hire anymore.  It’s because of ppl like this customer.

When you are in business for 9 years in a small town you get to know just about everybody in the town.  Whether they came to you first as a customer or business associates .. a lot of them do turn into friends. In this small town of ours it amazes me how so many people can be so overweight, you want to tell them how to lose the weight or recommend the best diet pills to take, but how does one really say things like that without offending the individual.

I usually start with telling them about detoxifying and then recommend them to a reliable website so they do their own reading instead of telling them directly.  No one wants to hear that they need diet pills and need help, but I’m sure they would at least read it up and maybe order pills privately.  After all, you don’t want to offend your customers/friends right?

I say to support our local stores not only because we owned our own store but because of what we experienced at Walmart a few days ago.  Being an owner by association to a computer store selling not only computers but softwares as well and console games, i’m always on top of what games that might be popular and what’s coming out next.

A check with Walmart on Tuesday about Rock Band 2 that is schedule to release this coming Sunday 14 and guess what the department manager told us..??  He DOESN’T KNOW..!!  he said.. if it is to be on the shelves .. he would only know later in the week.. and if it is there.. it will be.  Before speaking with him, there was a girl working there.. and she absolutely had NO IDEA what we were talking about.

Yes..!  support your local store.. because we know and not Walmart or its employees.  They don’t care .. they do not take pride in what they are doing.. we do..! We are always here for you.

I was looking up for more info about the RockBand 2 for xbox 360 because the man wants to buy some to stock up at the store.  But then i read on engadget .. and CrunchGear that it might be delayed.  Boy..!! i was thinking.. what a bummer.. for those looking forward to it.  But another look at it.. it is not the game that is gonna to be delayed.. but the bundle.  So yes.. you can still get it on the 14 September about a week from today.. and pre-order it from Future Shop if you are in Canada.  At $59.99 .. it’s not cheap .. that’s for sure.. but the man don’t ask for alot.. so yes.. i’ll prolly get it for him.  If you want them order at our store, just give me a shout.. or come by our store.

Although we have loads of good customers.. we also have our fair share of “great” ones..!  Just yesterday.. we had one that came in to return us 2 computer games.. because he couldn’t figure out how to work the game.  The box was opened and all.. but he insisted that since he bought it from us.. he should be able to return it to us. .irregardless.  Yes..!!  one cannot comprehend idiots .. and even though we explained to him.. that we can’t re-sell certain games.. because of the codes involved.. he just insisted that he didn’t want it. .but wanted another game.. and that he didn’t open the boxes.. but was just reading the instructions on the boxes.

Yah..right..!!! we chinese have a saying..  “Bluff children don’t know how to eat chilli”, meaning.. he was trying to tell me and treat me like a kid .. who never tasted chilli (hot sauce)”  No .. i don’t deal well with idiots..!  sorry.

After evil Ms Selfish the last ex-employee resigned some 2 Christmases ago, we keep getting questions and resumes for a position at our store.  And each time they would pop into our store.. and ask .. Hire or Not..?? Oh my..!!  no resumes.. no nothing..?? that’s the way.. you ask for a job . .these days..??  Some people may  not know how to do up a professional resumes like San Francisco resumes but surely .. you have to at lease write a few lines.. so we know where and when to contact you for an interview right..?

I kid you not.. because i did have this printed out today. . and smacked this right up front our counter.. so that if i get any idiots like the ones ..i had a few days ago.. i can just point to the Terms of Sale.  Flexibility in any business is definitely a must and a virtue .. but i donch deal with idiots well.  If you have had been in business like we have for the last 9 yrs.. in this town.. you will not leave the comment you did.