Monthly Archives: August 2009

If you type in “define: bureaucracy” on your google search bar, the first best definition goes “any organization in which action is obstructed by insistence on unnecessary procedures and red tape“.

I am sure in your lifetime you have at least heard of a certain recording artist being treated nasty, being put through all the red tapes and still not given a recording deal. Ultimately, he or she went on to be one of the greatest recording artist of all time. I am sure situations like these are quite familiar to everyone of us.

This sort of crap happens everywhere and it is just not in the entertainment world. Sometimes it really makes me wonder what good all these bureaucracies will do to a certain industry and most of the time it is only practiced by certain individuals who are usually very incompetent but yet absolute decision making and discretion powers and privileges.

I have always been in the shoes of a consumer and boy do I know very well what “customer is always right” means! I really enjoy being on the consumer side because I have the “power” to bargain. But I occassionally think about how being at the other end of the spectrum feel and operate.

A certain major pet store (or so it seemed) in my opinion have very good customer service. To make a sale, they will go all out and even go the extra miles. In their retail stores, there is a very clear path to where the CASHIER counters are. No bureaucracy or whatsoever. That’s how desperate they want your money.

So being that little curious cat that I am, I randomly made a call to this “major” pet store and pretended that I wanted to “supply” something. Trust me, it really gave me a major heart attack. To get to the person in charge is like a series of CAT and MOUSE games. When the person I was looking for was finally available, she was basically “screened” by the person who picked up the phone. You can imagine a scene out of the medieval war times where the archers are protected by a line of  pawns. It is absolutely stupid.

I am definitely not sure what are all the procedures and protocols are for these stuck up pet stores, but I found it really really unnecessary! Downright outrageous!

The first question they throw you is, “You’re Mr. So & So from?”. The “FROM” is so freaking important that it acts like a freaking password into the ears of the person who you are looking for. If you are unable to answer that question, you’re not allowed access to his/her ears.

I could even hear the person telling this person I was speaking to exactly what to answer me. Isn’t the previous statement super confusing? That’s exactly what it is. Poor thing the messenger! At the end of it, she told me very crudely, her colleague is not interested in speaking to me! HOW RUDE!

The person also told me that it is normal procedure for potential suppliers to submit a proposal. Well, I say to hell with the proposal and all the procedures and protocols. Absolutely time wasting!

The way I look at it, this pet store really has got no vision to expand and it goes to show how much the economic situation is taking a toll on them. So much so that their staff are not even bothered to look into new business development and opportunities. The best part is, they have not even hear me out on what I have to offer!

I really wonder how these businesses are going to grow and thrive when it is filled with so much bureaucracy and red tapes. The best thing is, most of the time this pet store go on consignment! What a freaking joke. I believe they will still remain as a complacent pet store being how it is for another millennium or so.

Lucky thing for me, I am still at the consumer end and well, after that blood puking conversation, I have pledged to myself to give them HELL from now onwards!

What goes around comes around!