However, I have drawn the line now at Subway. I eat there five days a week–I’m no Jarred, but working at the frantic follies means grabbing something fast, cheap and good for you. So I always choose Subway.

I’m surprised how often the downtown Subway runs out of bread. I was in there two days ago and noticed they had twelve breads left. I asked if they were planning on baking more. No, they said. Would they be expecting twelve more customers in these last three hours? Yes, and when they got low–they said–they would ask for bread from the store up the street. I wondered when they might do that…..seven breads from the end…..four breads….what if a run of twelve people came in? What’s worse was that they were all white bread. And frankly, I’d like a little choice when I come to Subway. They had an oven….why couldn’t they use it?

The Subway north of them, next to the Vietnamese restaurant, has a bad habit of putting up their chairs an hour or two before they close. I asked why they did this–as it discouraged me and a friend from eating there on a regular basis. Their boss encouraged them to scare away customers the last couple of hours by putting up the chairs (and telling us, on occasion, that we couldn’t put them down). They claimed if they stayed open till 11pm, they wouldn’t get home till 1am after cleaning. My thought is— IF THEY WANT TO CLOSE AT 9pm, CLOSE! But don’t stay open and discourage people from coming in…… Jeez.

Neither Subway has comment cards, so there’s no way to complain of the lack of consideration for customers…. I often wonder if business owners know that Whitehorse citizens, left with few choices, will take a lot from restaurants before they complain or go elsewhere…..

Anyway, Carole, great blog!!

Wow, I can’t believe how badly you’ve been treated. I’m not in town this weekend, so I can’t help you out, but I have sent a couple of e-mails out (and cc’d you) in the hopes that something can be done. Don’t despair!

The story is quite different at Canadian Tire. They SEEMED nice enough, but haven’t done what they should have done to prevent me from being stranded here, living in their parking lot, for nine days (so far). The first week was understandable (although I’ve come to doubt the necessity of even that since I’ve gotten to know them better, and been obviously lied to.)

My van is not safe to drive because of some damage on bad roads to the north. After searching locally for a needed part for a couple of days, they ordered one from Dodge in Red Deer a week ago. Canada Day holidays intervened, so the first day they could do the work was 2 days ago. Red Deer sent the WRONG PART. Not the fault of the local guys at all. Another part was ordered. It was reportedly put on a plane, but did not arrive. It was lost. Of course, everything put on a plane is traceable, but the local manager wasn’t willing to make the phone calls required to follow up and find the missing part. “The part will get here when it gets here, okay?” (Well, no, that isn’t “okay” at all! You’ve got an old lady with a cat and dog living in your parking lot, going through their travel supplies!) The other option was to order another part, and return the missing one when (if) it arrives. I’ve begged him to order it, but he won’t until Monday, which will be my 11th day of being stranded. My vacation is over. I’ll be leaving all my resources in Whitehorse. I probably will not be able to see my elderly father again. But none of this incoveniences the gentlemen at Canadian Tire, so what’s the problem? In fact, the service manager twice tried to blame the victim. Seems the part can’t come is someone is feeling “negative energy.” Of course, the negative energy didn’t start until the 8th day of the stranding, after I’d already encountered incompetence on a grand scale. Then I was accused of not maintaining the vehicle, even thought the same individual had already pointed out how other parts in the area were in excellent shape and suggested that the bad roads north of here had caused or contributed to the failure.

That’s where it stands. Nine days living at Canadian Tire, with no real hope that the part will ever be secured, and no evidence that anyone cares. The manager won’t hunt down the missing part by making the necessary phone calls. And he won’t order another one until HE decides that the missing one isn’t going to surface. My life is in his hands. So I have fallen into a depression and am finding it difficult to keep from crying.

No vouchers for a lunch or two. No courtesy car to, for instance, help me get to a laundrymat. Just “The part will get here when it gets here, okay?”

I think you’d have difficulty finding worse service anywhere.

I was in her store today and she and her staff person were rude and ignored me. I had 4 sample shoes in my hand, Rita was busily ignoring me and provided her attention instead to the man who came in the store after me to purchase something off the sale rack.

Rita did grudgingly call her staff person over from the deserted cash to assist me and I settled on a pair of shoes and went to the cash, with cash in hand.

For some reason it took BOTH Rita and her assistant to decide to serve the gentleman buying $63 on debit over my $98 cash transaction.

Rita, it will be the last time I put cash into your business and I will no longer recommend your store.

Geof, Superstore has got to be one of the worst in town. Once, there was a little island full of merchandise with a big sales sign indicating $9.99. When I brought the cushion from the shelf to the register, it scanned at $29.99. Apparently, only certain items were $9.99; had I stooped to move the cushions on the bottom shelf out of the way to be able to see the price tag on the shelf, I would have seen $29.99. They refused to give it to me for $9.99 so I left it there. I once bought a whole salami that I was going to slice myself at home, only to realize when I got home that it was about 3 months past the best before date. What the heck?