Retailers need to improve service at the checkout line

Retailers need to improveservice at the checkout line
EDITOR:
If Veterans Day was an indicator of what holiday shopping will be like this year, I think I'll pass. I went to three stores, and all of them were understaffed. There were plenty of people stocking the shelves, but finding a clerk or an associate to check the customers out was another thing completely.
At one store, where I had planned to purchase a gift certificate, I ended up leaving with nothing. The manager saw there was a line of customers waiting patiently to check out, and she even asked if we wanted a gift certificate. I replied, & quot;yes, & quot; and she nodded and walked away.
I can't blame the clerk, who I could tell was new. She was doing her best to handle the customers, the sale merchandise, the coupons, etc., but she needed help. Why couldn't the manager or one of the other workers start taking customers on the second cash register? Obviously, stocking is a priority, but checking customers out on the cash register is not.
I can say the second store where we shopped had a problem with the cash registers being hard to locate, but the nice girl behind the jewelry counter was willing to take what we had, although not from her department, and ring up a sale. I'd definitely shop there again.
The last store, although considered one of the top stores in our area, is near the bottom on my list of places to shop again. We did find a gift and purchased it, but not before a long wait for a clerk who checked out two people and then disappeared never to return.
One of the managers finally did come to check out customers when the line reached five complaining women. There were more than enough people working the floor to stock the merchandise they wanted to sell. Unfortunately, they had no people to run the cash registers.
My husband walked over to a woman working in the fine jewelry department, but because our merchandise was not from her department, she told him she could not check it out. How stupid! Obviously, this top-notch store needs to either hire more trained personnel or have the ones they do learn to take merchandise with price tags and ring them up even if not an item in their department.
I was not the only one unhappy. Every woman in that line complained about the wait and the fact the store was not crowded, yet no one could help. I wonder how many sales they lost when people left empty-handed?
Will this holiday season be a good one for the stores? I think it can be if they hire workers, but for me, I'll think long and hard about shopping at two of the three places I visited today.
DARLENE TORDAY
Berlin Center
It's harder to give to those who are spiritually bankrupt
EDITOR:
Every Thanksgiving we are reminded to share with those who are materially less fortunate than ourselves. But perhaps society also needs to be reminded to share with those less spiritually fortunate.
It's easy for society to see past the unpleasant sights of material poverty, to reach out in compassion. But how easy is it to see past the unpleasant sights of "spiritual poverty" (perhaps they've even killed)?
The unpleasant sight of "anger and hate" in the spiritually poor person gets that person little mercy and only justice. It's harder to share with the spiritually less fortunate. It seems humanly impossible to extend to Martin Koliser Jr. any sign of mercy. But with God all things are possible when human nature fails.
I hope someone will remind convicted killers that God's mercy is meant for everyone. It's at the center of Thanksgiving Day.
SYLVIA KOZWARA
Boardman