David B.

I only chose to patronize The Tailor King at 9723 NE Second Ave in Miami Shores, FL, ******* the week of August 22nd, 2022 because of a recommendation from a neighboring business in Miami Shores, the latter of which is a verifiable pillar of the community. I relayed my experience with Tailor King to that establishment, and cautioned its owners about further recommendations to this vendor.
All I wanted was to repair a minor rip in a pair of jeans. Initially, the Tailor King's proprietor tried convincing me that holes in jeans were "good", and that the bigger the hole, the "better" it is. Such logic is at best misplaced subjectivity.
After stating he would repair the pants, he gave me a ticket and told me to fill out my name and phone number. He then promptly disappeared to the back and began working on something else, as though he couldn't wait 10 seconds for me to do what he asked—demonstrating a marked lack of customer service.
The ticket itself only had fields for 'name' and 'address'. I quickly wrote in the information the proprietor asked for, thinking that would bring him back out.
Although he was in my sight, it was as though I and my order had ceased to exist. He did not return from the other room. I was the only customer in the shop and I still had to flag him down for him to take the ticket and the jeans, which is a definite indicator that my money, patronage, and pants were not a priority.
He said it would take a week and $20 for him to repair the pants, neither of which seemed commensurate with the necessary work. However, I greatly value this garment, and had no problem granting him either.
During the interim I eagerly anticipated wearing these pants. I fancied all the other garments I would have repaired now that I had 'found' a tailor. Those accoutrements would not have been an inconsequential amount of work for this establishment.
The day I returned, one week later, it was perfectly obvious that he had not only failed to do the work, he had not even thought of doing it. A look of perplexity crossed his face as I entered the shop (no amicable greeting, just more of his dearth of customer service), which turned to outright bewilderment when he saw the ticket—which was enigmatic in and of itself, because there was no number, writing, or anything printed on it denoting which order or pair of clothes to which it correlated.
Nonetheless, he readily produced the jeans (as though they were exactly where he had left them a week ago) and told me to sit down for 10 minutes. This fact is extremely significant for a variety of reasons.
• This proves he hadn't done a thing to the jeans and was going to do so now, had I acceded.
• It proves that his original estimation of a week's wait and $20 was extremely arbitrary since, evidently, this minor repair could be effected in 10 minutes.
• It further illustrates how he was not only disrespectful of my time, he was outright heedless of it, having me first wait a week, and then another 10 minutes, as though I had nothing better to do than sit around waiting for him.
• Most substantively, this fact proves that despite my paying full price and waiting a week, I was now going to get the proverbial rush job—which I certainly didn't want and isn't equitable with the time I had waited and the amount I was being charged.
I asked him several times if it was true that he hadn't done a thing to the jeans. Instead of answering, he became impudent, raising his voice at me (while repeatedly asking me to wait 10 minutes)—as though there was something wrong with my simply asking him this question.
He never apologized. He never showed any compassion, empathy, or understanding—or even ACKNOWLEDGED—his wanton squandering of my time and energy.
It was clear from the moment I went into this shop until the moment I left for good that he cared nothing about me, my order, or my clothes. This was the worst lack of customer service I have ever encountered, and the most dissatisfying experience with a purported tailor I have ever had—or could even imagine.
It's unconscionable for me to pay full price and wait a week so he could do the work haphazardly in 10 minutes, which is why I left with the pants without him wasting more of my time.
That's why I will never return, and admonish anyone else considering this establishment to beware of the so-called Tailor King's incompetence—which is only matched by his insensitivity.

I recently went to Firestone in Hallandale Beach, Florida for a simple wheel alignment and to get my wheels balanced. I worked directly with the manager, Oscar Campos, who had me wait at least five minutes before he even acknowledged my presence, let alone offered to help me (even though I was first in line). Although it was 12:45 p.m., he told me it would be 5 or 6 p.m. because there were several cars in front of me. After he said this he just looked at me for several seconds and didn't say anything else, as though awaiting some sort of response from me. I found this a little unusual.

What I got instead of an alignment and my wheels balanced was an oil change and a tire rotation--which I did not want.

During my lengthy wait I asked Campos if he could print out the before and after specifications for the alignment and he gave me a sob story about how the printer was out of ink or something to that effect. He told me he would ask the technician if they could take a picture of the specs and text me (which I suggested and was what happened before when I incurred a similar situation from a different Firestone) and emphasized that he wouldn't be there at that hour because his shift was ending.

During this conversation he repeatedly referred to me as "brother", a term I find offensive, is not indicative of respect like the term "sir" is and, in my experience, is a racial term those of non-African descent in the South Florida area use to refer to those of African descent.
Evidently, Campos was too concerned with getting off work to get my vehicle properly taken care of. The technician who did the oil change told me that Campos had called me--but in actuality, he had called another customer who wanted an oil change and whose paperwork was somehow with my keys, despite the fact that we drive two completely different vehicles and wanted completely different work done.

I found out this fact after the oil change had been done. When I told the technician I wanted an alignment and the wheels balanced, he did the alignment and rotated the tires. That was not Campos' fault, but is indicative of the quality of service at the location since Campos has taken over as manager. It was the first time I had gone there since he has been manager.

Thus, after waiting five or six hours, I still had to go to another service center and get my tires rotated back the way they were and get my wheels balanced.

Hopefully someone will do something about Campos's shoddy service, poor attention to detail, and lack of respect in interacting with customers.

Dear Fellow Consumer,
I am writing to apprise you of an undesirable situation occurring at Walgreens #3239, 1 S. E. Third Avenue in Miami at approximately 7 p.m. the evening of January 3rd, 2021, which poignantly contradicts the denunciation of "hatred, racism, stereotyping, and bigotry in any form" issued by Walgreens CEO Stefano Pessina on May 31,2020 https://news.walgreens.com/press-releases/general-news/a-message-from-stefano-pessina-to-our-customers-team-members-and-communities-across-america.htm. This particular malfeasance occurred exactly three years and three days to the date of the last time I entered this location or patronized any Walgreens, due to a 2018 encounter detailed subsequent to this electronic mail.

Nonetheless, please know that posterior to that instance of discriminatory harassment and racial profiling, I was exhorted by several managerial and executive parties within this establishment to give this chain ‘another try'. After three years, one ongoing global public health crisis, countless lives lost, a purported shortage on shoelaces at what appears to be a national level, and domestic and international turmoil related to matters of race, law enforcement, and social justice, these factors converged for me to do just that—with a striking, and ominous, similitude of results meriting unbounded ignominy.

When I entered the foregoing Walgreens location on January 3rd there were two employees at the register close to the entrance—one an older woman whose hair appeared to be died blonde, and another who was younger with dark hair. Both of these women appeared to be Hispanic or Latina. They were ringing up customers during my ingress; each eyed me and offered no greeting, welcome, or any other acknowledgement of my presence.

I ambled the length of the store and perused perhaps two aisles prior to finding items pertaining to shoes. As I discerned this section, I heard a sound close enough to catch my attention, despite the music I was listening to ("A Prayer for Everybody", ironically enough) in my portable player. To my considerable disconcertment, the darker haired woman had suddenly appeared perhaps two feet from my right leg and was feverishly taking items off the lower part of the rack and replacing them, seemingly at random. This occurrence was startling enough to enthrall me for perhaps 15 seconds, during which time she rifled through these products at a rapid velocity.

Despite her propinquity, which was close enough to touch me, this employee remained reticent, as though ignoring me.

I found the abruptness of her appearance, the expedience of her actions, and taciturn nature more than a little unsettling and antipodal to a normative shopping experience—as well as eerily similar to my previous visit to this store when, without provocation, I was followed around it. Consequently, I engaged her by remarking "fancy meeting you here," and bantered with her about her vocation.

Perhaps a minute passed in this way until, as I anticipated, as soon as I left that aisle, she did too. Whatever task she had contrived in order to monitor me evidently wasn't as worthwhile as ensuring that I, while in the store, remained in her purview. She moved to the end of the aisle and watched me leave as she spoke into a mobile communication device; I conjectured her conversation pertained to my location in this establishment. I headed up an aisle towards the egress, disturbed that I wasn't deigned worthy of talking to or assisting yet warranted, purely based on my arrival, exceedingly close scrutiny and pursuit wherever I happened to be in these quarters.

She walked up a different aisle to the front of the store, at which point I turned around and walked up the aisle she did. When I reached the front she was ringing up a customer and the blonde woman was clutching a mobile communication device while she was about to traverse the aisle I was originally walking up—until she saw me come up another aisle, then no longer went anywhere. My pursuers, it seemed, had shifted, but the pursuance persisted.

It was obvious I was the sole target of these employee's attention and was considered polemical or a threat requiring excessively close trailing and supervision—yet not greeted, assisted, or acknowledged as all customers should be, especially since there were no more than five consumers in the store at this juncture. It was disenchanting, choler-inducing, and saddening that after being urged by the powers that be to give both this chain and this specific location another opportunity and, having few other expedients to find shoelaces (which this store didn't contain), my experience paralleled my previous one, resulting in a personal reaffirmation to no longer patronize Walgreens.

Before leaving I harangued the dark haired employee for stereotyping me, racially profiling me, failing to assist me, shadowing my movements, and harassing me about the store solely based on my intractable physical appearance. This misadventure confirms that:

I was justified in initially vowing to discontinue patronizing this establishment,
all the managers and executives who attempted to dissuade me, implying my 2018 encounter was aberrational and had been remediated, were markedly incorrect,
and most of all, there is something severely perverse about this particular Walgreens location which, I implore you to consider, is likely indicative of this establishment as a whole.

It is far from coincidental that following three years' time I endured, for all intents and purposes, the exact same experience as that which initially drove me from being a lifelong Walgreens customer, which I had loyally patronized since pubescence. It is not mere happenstance, but rather some systematic practice occurring at this location to subject men (and likely women) of African descent to such behavior, forsaking their access to service, civility, or common courtesy as consumers, viewing them as liabilities or hazards instead of customers, and treating them with a marked variance from how other customers are routinely received.

Consider the energy, resources, and orchestration required for this undertaking on January 3 and for any other day when others who don't inform you of such maladjusted actions endure similar pernicious subjugation. Imagine how this dark haired woman must have stared at the store's mirrors, eschewing her other responsibilities, in her vigilance to track my location. Envision her changing course in her pursuance, as I searched for shoelaces that she or the other employee refused to direct me to, while monitoring me. Consider the sanctioning of her action on behalf of the older employee who was likely the on-duty manager. This confluence of events doesn't occur haphazardly, certainly not over a period of three years in which I underwent the exact same experience at the exact same location.

Please also know I entered well over half a dozen retail locations in the downtown Miami area, from Ross to establishments at Bayside such as Footlocker and Champs, prior to accessing Walgreens this evening. I was amiably greeted, assisted, and even advised of other potential locations to get shoelaces by each of these retailers. This fact is further testament to the pervasive debauchery governing the practices at Walgreens #3239, the perfunctory nature of whatever remedy was posited as redressing my previous debacle there in 2018, and the manifest unfairness and duplicity routinely utilized by those that work and train others there.

Walgreens should be extolled for its efforts to counteract stereotyping and bigotry by unlocking beauty products frequented by those of African descent, which it announced in June of 2020 https://www.businessinsider.com/walgreens-cvs-to-stop-locking-up-black-beauty-products-2020-6. However, employees such as those mentioned in this letter, their behavior, managers, and champions within this organization who not only support but countenance such chronic, discriminatory actions undermine all of the values espoused by Mr. Pessina, and those of this organization as a whole.

As indicated in my previous correspondence in 2018, I refuse to become inured to another's shortcomings, and certainly won't spend any money to do so—and will adamantly beseech my friends, family, and whoever will listen not to do the same, either.
Sincerely,
Mr. Harassed

I made the mistake of ordering hundreds of dollars of groceries from Instacart for months. Each time my order was to be delivered from 1-3 p.m. because I'm not available before 12 noon. Usually that gives me plenty of time to interact with the shopper and ensure I'm charged for what I want. When I checked my phone at noon this last time the shopper had shopped the order at 10 IN THE MORNING--3 HOURS before it was to be delivered. Despite the fact I ordered no fat refried beans, they were replaced with traditional refried beans with lard, which I can't eat. The shopper repeatedly ignored texts and chats from me to get the correct item in the hour before it was to be delivered, and did the same when Instacart support tried to contact her. Worst of all, to get refried beans that I could eat, the company was trying to make me place ANOTHER ORDER WITH A $35 minimum--which is too pricy for three cans of beans. I was on the phone with support for hours listening to their lies about why the shopper wouldn't get the right item, getting hung up on by two of their agents, etc. I finally got someone to agree to a redelivery the next day. And what happened again? The shopper selected the beans with lard in it. Even worse, this order was to be delivered from 3-5 p.m. and I got a text shortly after 12 p.m. saying the shopping began. Before I could get my laptop going to check the shopper's progress, there was another text 1 MINUTE LATER STATING HE WAS CHECKING OUT and the order couldn't be replaced. I'm convinced Instacart had him get the wrong item on purpose and leave me no time to react just to spite me for the previous day. So then it was 12 noon and 3 HOURS BEFORE THE ORDER WOULD BE DELIVERED, and the shopper--and all of Instacart's managers--refused to get me the right item. Never will I use this service again: they care nothing about their customers or the money you spend with them.