On August 4th, less than 24 hours after my business and home burnt to the ground, I went into the Famous Footwear at the Burlington Church St promenade with the employees who also lived above our business. This location is an hour drive and would not be able to be duplicated any time within the upcoming days due to the nature of the disaster. As we had lost everything in the fire that burnt down our business and home that was directly above our restaurant, we had a long list of items to acquire in a very short amount of time; including tennis shoes which were absolutely as we were all now without.



As we had spent the day scrambling to purchase necessities, we hurried into the store at 8:45pm. I had selected 3 pairs of shoes just after an employee announced to the store that they would be closing in 5 minutes. With moments to spare, I hurried over to my counterpart as he was trying to slip on one of two pairs of shoes he had selected before we headed to the register with 5 pairs to purchase. Upon approach, I overheard an employee say to him “don’t even bother trying them on; either buy them or just put them back, we’re closing.” I asked him to kindly explain his reasoning to which he responded by letting me know that they were closing; a fact he had made known three times in the past two minutes. I noted that I understood that you were closing at 9 sharp, but inquired as to whether or not closing was more important than concluding a $300 sale on the five pairs of shoes we would be taking directly to the register. The employee tersely responded, “I don’t really care. We’ve already made our daily quota, so it doesn’t matter to me.” I asked him if that would reflect the corporate view of Famous Footwear?” To which he simply said, “We close at 9pm sharp”. We put down all items and exited the store with him following closely behind us to make sure we didn’t try to stop at the register or anywhere else.



As a business owner with over 13 years experience as a state manager for wine & spirits brands in CA, I have managed, mentored and cultivated a sales force that has been the forefront of every organization I have contributed to. Considering that my circumstance that was nothing short of a personal and professional disaster that was met with contention and disregard from one of your salesmen, I felt the need to share. The employee failed to deliver any level of guest service as well as maintained that he was meeting the standards of the company's corporate goals. I understand the value of loosing one customer, and in this circumstance, this employee sabotaged a minimum of a $300 sale, the desperate needs of five individuals who will no doubt share this unpleasant experience with as many people as will listen, including you.



I cannot imagine that any business would and or could operate consciously turning down consumers as the daily minimum requirements were fulfilled and therefore felt it imperative to bring to your attention. I am deeply offended by this treatment and do hope that it does not indeed reflect the perspective of the organization.