the economy

I am now convinced that it's gonna have to get a lot worse before it gets better. The economy that is. A lot of businesses are still turning away potential customers. About a year ago, my friend and I were in a small flea-market business on Peachtree Ind. Blvd in Chamblee GA. We were shopping there at around 4:45 on a Saturday. At 4:50 the lights started to go out and the announcement came over the P.A. that they were closing at 5 PM. I looked around the store and there were still more than 30 people shopping (picking stuff up and holding onto it). At 5 PM we were all hurried out of the store. Gotta close on time I guess. Make sure the store is empty at 4:59!About 3 months ago I stopped into an all you can eat Pizza Buffet at closing. There were a few pies left. I asked if I could pay the buffet price and leave with roughly 12 slices. The clerk told me that they didn't do take-out buffet and that I'd have to pay $1 a slice if I wanted them. I could have, of course, sat down at a table taking up more of their time, and payed for the buffet, knowing that they were not going to make any more pizzas, but I figured that they would benefit from me taking the old slices and leaving (allowing them to close). I asked her what they were gonna do with the pizza slices if I didn't buy them. She told me they were throwing them out. So I asked a second time if they would be willing to charge me for a buffet for the remaining slices. The clerk wouldn't budge. I left...knowing that the restaurant could have made about 5 bucks off of me for some stuff they were throwing out, but instead they made nothing.Finally, yesterday evening I made it to Sam's Club at 8:28 PM. There was already someone at the door making sure no one else entered the store. I told him it wasn't 8:30 yet, and he disagreed telling me it was 5 minutes after. I checked my cell phone which has its time updated frequently by the cell towers and it had just turned 8:29.I told him I knew exactly what I wanted and could be in and out within a few minutes. No luck.The only decent example I have is from my Dry Cleaner. It's a mom & pop owned establishment. They do not accept plastic, but that's the only disadvantage. They regularly stay open late for their customers. They offer discounts when you bring in lots of clothes at the same time. They know me by name and occupation, and they pay close attention to details.I suppose the reason the dry-cleaner is the exception here is the fact that the owners work in the store. They own AND RUN the business.Customer service for big businesses has gone even further down hill since the economy tanked. It's truly amazing. If I were a business owner of any kind, I would stress to my employees that keeping customers and generating sales takes priority over anything else, be it closing time, or inconvenience. Most of these minimum wage people don't care. It will be a while before they start caring. They don't realize that their point of contact with the customer can mean the difference between keeping a business open and filing for bankruptcy.Learn dammit!getting down off my proverbial soapbox