I stop by the chicks every time that I'm in TSC which is pretty often and I'm as guilty as the kids when it comes to picking them up and holding them.
I did notice the cattle gates when I was in Tuesday to pick up even more feeders and waterers. It is a good thing that they did it too because some parents can't handle their little spawns of Satan. My child tolerance is quite low.
Hats off to TSC for putting up the added protection. I'm a regular in our local store and all of the chicks that I've gotten from them have been good so far. Last year it was red sex links. This year it was some breed of pullets.
And we used to have a kid in our store that raised chickens himself and was quite knowledgeable. But I did see a kid advise a woman and her grand kids that the chicks would be full grown in 6 weeks. He meant fully feathered.
Quote:
You must work at one of the few, well run TSC.
The one thing I had not mentioned is that I was recently employed at my TSC for a short time. I didn't like going there as a customer, and it wasn't any better being there as an employee. All the employees here talk badly about customers behind their backs. There were many times when they'd speak badly about a customer in front of other customers. My neighbor has called them on a couple of occasions to ask simple questions and the employee on the other end of the line would sigh loudly as if she saying, "how dare you call me." The store manager is required to work 55 hours a week and while I was there, I'd be surprised if he was putting in 30 hours each week! I could go on about how badly this particular store is run...
I have been in retail management for nearly 20 years. If I had employees under me like the ones at this TSC, I would be working on getting rid of them so I could bring in people that actually want to work.
Back to the chick buying thing...yes, she was rude to me. It was uncalled for. I can deal with the chicks being penned up and away from little hands. No problem. What I don't appreciate is rude people. I'm also not going to buy chicks from any store if I'm not allowed to choose which ones I want. When she said that she would "try" to grab the ones I wanted, that was like saying, "You'll get whatever I grab."
And as far as the "charmed life" comments go...No, I don't lead a charmed life. I considered it a nightmare because I have never had such an awful chick buying experience such as this one before. I can deal with changes in the retail environment but the rudeness added into the mix was totally uncalled for. And they are like this to everyone. Not just me because I'm an ex-employee.
I was at my TSC two days ago, buying a incubator since my momma hen was killed a coon..they had the stock tanks ready, corral around them...but no chicks in them yet..so I imagine it will be the same story here..they pick out for you...don't know about a notebook..why would they need that info anyway..?
I am waiting for my hatch to (hopefully) happen on monday/tuesday...once they are here (...again hopefully) I will add some "bought" chicks to the homegrown mix...hoping I won't run into problems...there are many feedstores up here in my area..they all have chicks..so TSC isn't my only option..
OP..if you want some other chicks..let me know..Springbranch is not too far from me..I'm in Hockley..
The problem with a franchise name is that everyone knows it, and the good ones get lumped in with the bad ones. While I have never purchased chicks there, we have window shopped chicks often, and have made other purchases there and it has always been a positive experience.
Retail staff with an attitude can happen anywhere, and other than that, it sounds like the store in the OP was just practicing responsible biosecurity and general chick welfare. But dont get me wrong, I HATE when someone I am about to give my hard earned money to cops an attitude with me. I certainly understand OPs frustration, but dont find fault with the policies.
We had the cattle gates around our chicks in Wisconsin as well.
After reading this thread im glad i dont have tsc around here, i would not shop there. I live in a pretty poor farming community and although we have children that are a handfull I think they treat animals pretty good. alot of times the farm and home employees get the animals out for kids to hold and pet. thats how i ended up with 2 bunnies 50 cornish x's and another 4 pullets. I'm sorry some of you people have to live in the bigger towns and cities. just rantin a little
Well, if I had gotten that statement, or something like it, I would have asked for a manager right away. TSC IS a customer service driven business and as a customer, I expect to be valued for my business. My job is only peripheral to the customer service section of our company, but we all have to take classes in the proper way to treat customers!