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What are you going to DO?
Aug. 24th, 2006 04:10 pmAlthough the traffic through the store is not great (at least not the way it was Monday), there is still enough quiet momentum around here to make sure that Galina and I get home exhausted at night. This is despite our attempt to give Galina a couple of hours extra rest in the morning and me a couple of hours in the afternoon.
The fact that we've liberally plastered the walls with announcements to the effect that UPS and FedEx pickups will stop tomorrow and that only postal services will be offered next week means nothing, if the past is any indication. Doubtless, there will be a load of folks - much more than the nominal 10% we learned about in the military - who will not have gotten the word, and for whom our cessation of UPS and FedEx package pickups will come as a completely unexpected bolt from the blue.
Heck, there's an uncomfortable number of customers for whom our impending closure is, at this late date, still a surprise.
The following exchange combines the most often heard remarks about our closing:
"So, you're moving?"
"No, we're closing the store."
"Why?"
"We lost our lease."
"Really! Why?"
"Well, I suppose the new owners of the shopping center felt it would be better to have a UPS Store in the center instead of a post office."
"Well, couldn't you move somewhere else?
"Maybe, but the prospect of competing directly against UPS isn't too attractive. We decided to close the store."
"But what are you going to do?"
This last is often asked with a rising inflection, which seems to convey an undercurrent of hysteria. Of course, the fact that we have a translation business to fall back on has served to nip any incipient hysteria on my part in the bud. Rather than explain the gory details, however, Galina has come up with a marvelous throwaway response, which rarely fails to defuse the atmosphere and get a good laugh:
"We're going to go to Disneyworld!"
Of course, we're not, really. Moi, I'm going to the opposite end of the earth, in a sense, i.e., to Houston. I'm getting the feeling Galina will stay on for a while here, to take care of the house and the undeveloped parcel we bought a while back.
Cheers...
The fact that we've liberally plastered the walls with announcements to the effect that UPS and FedEx pickups will stop tomorrow and that only postal services will be offered next week means nothing, if the past is any indication. Doubtless, there will be a load of folks - much more than the nominal 10% we learned about in the military - who will not have gotten the word, and for whom our cessation of UPS and FedEx package pickups will come as a completely unexpected bolt from the blue.
Heck, there's an uncomfortable number of customers for whom our impending closure is, at this late date, still a surprise.
The following exchange combines the most often heard remarks about our closing:
"So, you're moving?"
"No, we're closing the store."
"Why?"
"We lost our lease."
"Really! Why?"
"Well, I suppose the new owners of the shopping center felt it would be better to have a UPS Store in the center instead of a post office."
"Well, couldn't you move somewhere else?
"Maybe, but the prospect of competing directly against UPS isn't too attractive. We decided to close the store."
"But what are you going to do?"
This last is often asked with a rising inflection, which seems to convey an undercurrent of hysteria. Of course, the fact that we have a translation business to fall back on has served to nip any incipient hysteria on my part in the bud. Rather than explain the gory details, however, Galina has come up with a marvelous throwaway response, which rarely fails to defuse the atmosphere and get a good laugh:
"We're going to go to Disneyworld!"
Of course, we're not, really. Moi, I'm going to the opposite end of the earth, in a sense, i.e., to Houston. I'm getting the feeling Galina will stay on for a while here, to take care of the house and the undeveloped parcel we bought a while back.
Cheers...
