A Word (or several) to Hobby Lobby

 Dear Hobby Lobby,

As a current employee and daily shopper of your store, I would like to respectfully request that you get with 2020.  No, scratch that.  Get with 2021.  Just get with "the program".

Having worked as a cashier, one of the biggest frustrations was to have a customer with an item not priced.  I know, shit happens.  But, having to call an employee to the register for a price takes time.  I don't care, I've got nowhere to go.  However, most stores seem to not have the most patient shoppers.  How about a connection to the store's website from a cash register in order to get a price in a more suitable time to appease customers?

I know you seem to have a thing about employees not having their dumb phones on the floor.  I get that.  Some people are glued to their electronics and most shoppers don't care to see the store employees texting back and forth with their shack up sleep partner from the night before.  But, here is a small drawback that probably lost you a customer...

Several years ago, during my first week of employment in the fabric department, I received a call from a customer looking for sisal.  I'm no spring chicken.  I've heard of sisal before.  But, I couldn't quite place in my mind what it was and what department it would be in.  Not a clue where to look for it.  And the customer, for some reason, thought it would be in the yarn section.  Nope.  Not in the yarn department.  So, in order to help the customer, I pulled out my dumb phone in an attempt to search the store's website or the internet to see exactly what it was and where it might be found.  Except, HL doesn't have wi-fi.  So, guess what?  I was useless to the customer that night.  I had to honestly tell her that I wasn't sure if the store carried it.

Oh, and today... I had an elderly lady as a customer who was trying to find more of some cotton-like knotted trim she had purchased some time ago.  She was on a breathing tube/machine.  So, I tried my best to quickly find what she was looking for.  I was certain the store had clearanced it out about a year ago, but since I only had a sample that she brought in, I had no SKU number to work with.  And as far as I know, the store look up that we have access to in the break room doesn't have the ability to search by a description.  I could've helped her better with WIFI access and my dumb phone.

Now, don't get me wrong.  Hobby Lobby is a great store.  It's a great place to shop and a great place to work.  But it could use some tweaking.  As a cashier, I have to say that I do like not scanning items.  Personally, I think having to key it in helps to keep the brain sharp and not have us turn into zombies.  I also love that Hobby Lobby sticks to their guns, in more ways than one.

I'm sure I have more to say.  But, that's all for today.