We called up Shannon to find out about The Wine Press policy against humiliating customers. She was very feisty. We told Keith to have his girlfriend call the manager. Actually the most part is the aspersions Shannon casts against blogs.
“Are you a journalist?
“Nope, I’m just a blogger”
“Ok! You said it all right there.”
Though it costs us getting our ass totally kicked in the conversation, we do manage the victory of stoking Shannon’s desire to speak with Keith’s girlfriend and get the situation resolved.
Previously: “How To Deal With Liquor Store Humiliating My Girlfriend?“
CONSUMERIST: Hi, I was wondering, do you guys sell Guinness Extra Stout?
SHANNON: Yes.
CONSUMERIST: You do? How much is it?
SHANNON: We don’t quote prices over the phone.
CONSUMERIST: Why not?
SHANNON: Because that’s our policy, we don’t quote prices over the phone.
CONSUMERIST: Oh, do you have a reason for that policy?
SHANNON: Uhm, that’s just our policy, that’s what the owner wants.
CONSUMERIST: Ok. Do you have a policy against humiliating customers?
SHANNON: How am I humiliating you?
CONSUMERIST: Oh no, this isn’t in reference to me. I had a friend come into your store the other day, and they were asking for Guinness Extra Stout? And they were told by an employee that not only did Guinness Extra Stout not exist, but that she was an idiot for asking?
SHANNON: I doubt we would have said that she was an idiot for asking.
CONSUMERIST: Okay, so…
SHANNON: I seriously doubt that. If you want, you can give me, you can have your friend call me if she wants. Do you know who it was that she spoke to?
CONSUMERIST: I do not, but I can get that information for you. Are you the manager?
SHANNON: One of them, yes.
CONSUMERIST: Okay, what’s your name?
SHANNON: Uh, who’s calling?
CONSUMERIST: My name is B–
SHANNON: Why don’t you give me your name?
CONSUMERIST: I’m Ben Popken.
SHANNON: Okay, when did this incident take place?
CONSUMERIST: I was told that it occurred last night.
SHANNON: By who?
CONSUMERIST: A friend of mine.
SHANNON: And did they describe who the person was helping them?
CONSUMERIST: They said it was a man.
SHANNON: Okay, why don’t you have your friend come in to talk to me or give me call, okay? I’m here all day.
CONSUMERIST: Okay, can I have your name?
SHANNON: Shannon.
CONSUMERIST: Shannon, okay. Alright, I will do so. Thank you.
SHANNON: Okay and just out of curiosity, why are you calling me and not your friend?
CONSUMERIST: Because I am an advocate for good consumer behavior and I heard his story and I was outraged on his behalf and I wanted to find out–
SHANNON: You just said it was a girl. You just said *she* came in. Now it’s a he?
CONSUMERIST: No, Shannon? My friend is a man. And his girlfriend came in to pick up some Guinness Extra Stout for him, and then my friend, who is a man, told me about what happened to his girlfriend.
SHANNON: So this is third-party information? Third-person information?
CONSUMERIST: That might be an accurate description, sure.
SHANNON: So you’re not 100% sure because you’re hearing from someone who heard from someone about an incident, correct?
CONSUMERIST: Er, that is an–
SHANNON: Are you an advocacy group? That I can look up on the web?
CONSUMERIST: Yeah, Consumerist dot com.
SHANNON: Consumerist dot com, and you run this?
CONSUMERIST: Yeah.
SHANNON: Ok! And exactly what type of web site is it?
CONSUMERIST: It’s a blog.
SHANNON: Is it a professional? Oh, it’s a blog. So it’s a private blog?
CONSUMERIST: No, it’s a public, professional blog.
SHANNON: Public professional.
CONSUMERIST: Mhmm.
SHANNON: And this is your company that you maintain on a daily basis?
CONSUMERIST: I’m an independent contractor working for the company, yeah.
SHANNON: Is it your company?
CONSUMERIST: No.
SHANNON: So I can check this out anytime?
CONSUMERIST: Yeah, Consumerist dot com, in fact your story is posted up there right now. So…
SHANNON: That’s awesome, I can’t wait to look at it. But before you go and post something like that, shouldn’t I clear it up with the person the incident took place with?
CONSUMERIST: We–
SHANNON: Rather than misinformation, from like I said, a third person?
CONSUMERIST: –we’re post–
SHANNON: You know, it’s like the telephone thing, you know, where you say one thing and it could get construed in the next conversation and the next conversation and the next conversation?
CONSUMERIST: You know, that’s definitely a possibility–
SHANNON: Shouldn’t you try and find out the facts first hand or have me find out the facts first hand before you go ahead and start publishing our name on your blog? About our bad customer service? Don’t you think that’s bad customer service that *you’ve* just committed?
CONSUMERIST: No, we’re posting an allegation, we said it was an allegation, we’re asking for people asked for, our reader asked for help with how to deal with the situation and in fact the–
SHANNON: Well why doesn’t-
CONSUMERIST: THE MODE OF ACTION, the mode of action that we advised him to take was to get in contact with you. And now I’m following up on the story.
SHANNON: Well why isn’t that person following up on it? If it If it If it was something that she feels was committed against her, why isn’t she following up on it? Why is she having someone third person follow through on it?
CONSUMERIST: Because she felt humiliated, she was brought to tears by the behavior she described–
SHANNON: Tears?! Was she in tears when she left here?
CONSUMERIST: Let me read it, let me take a second to look at her story again. Mmm… she reports being in tears after trying to call, actually she did try to call back to speak with the employee, that she had a problem with, and then she says that the employee said he was not available, and after that is when she says she was brought to tears by the humiliation she alleges.
SHANNON: Do you have the girls name and phone number that you can call and have her call and call me?
CONSUMERIST: I don’t know have I do not–
SHANNON: To talk to her about this situation.
CONSUMERIST: (sighs.) I was not sent that but what I will do is–
SHANNON: Because I think this is something that I should personally deal with with *that* person.
CONSUMERIST: Definitely, definitely. What I’m going to do, Shannon, is I’m going to forward the gist of the conversation to my friend who reported it, he’s definitely very interested in getting this resolved and tell them that they should be getting in contact with you directly.
SHANNON: Yeah yeah yeah I don’t think that you know, you’re not uncomfortable with publishing allegations third person?
CONSUMERIST: No, I’m not.
SHANNON: You’re not uncomfortable with that?
CONSUMERIST: No, I’m not.
SHANNON: You didn’t hear from the person *directly* about this incident and you’re just going to go ahead and publish this on the web? Isn’t that kind of unprofessional? And I’m not accusing you, I’m just asking you, in the situation, you don’t feel uncomfortable with pretty much conjecture right now, publishing conjecture?
CONSUMERIST: No.
SHANNON: Your’re not uncomfortable with that?
CONSUMERIST: I’m not.
SHANNON: Are you a journalist?
CONSUMERIST: I’m a blogger.
SHANNON: Are you a journalism student?
CONSUMERIST: Nope, I’m just a blogger.
SHANNON: Just a blogger? Ok!
CONSUMERIST: I’m just a blogger.
SHANNON: You’ve said it all right there.
CONSUMERIST: Yeah, but what I’m going to do is, is I’m going to follow up the story with this conversation, with how you were interested in getting the problem resolved and I’m going to put that up there–
SHANNON: Yeah! I just don’t understand why you’re calling me–
CONSUMERIST: –IT’S A DEVELOPING STORY–
SHANNON: –Why this person isn’t calling me direct.
CONSUMERIST: Well, maybe there were a little humiliated and afraid and they didn’t feel that the store was going to–
SHANNON: I’m sorry, you’re breaking up, are you on a cell phone?
CONSUMERIST: No, I’m on Skype. Maybe they didn’t feel that if you’re going to go so far as to humiliate her in the store she didn’t feel you would be so helpful when she tried to call on the phone, and she did try to call on the phone, and now we’re going to tell her that Shannon said, you know, give her a call directly, and, you know, let’s get this all figured out. If at the end of day, it turns out that this person is completely wrong, that this incident never occurred, you know, we’ll put that up there too and we’ll say this a problem, don’t send us fake, don’t send us rumors, don’t send us lies, you know?
SHANNON: Are you a–
CONSUMERSIT: We’ll follow along.
SHANNON: BU student? Is she a BU student?
CONSUMERSIT: I don’t know about her level of, where she goes…
SHANNON: I’m just trying to figure out age group, you know, I’m not asking for specifics like date of birth, or her name, because that’s, you know, you can have her call me, and that’s fine, but I wouldn’t want to put you on the spot, you know asking extremely personal questions, I’m just trying to get a feel of like the age group, is she you know, like a graduate student…?
CONSUMERIST: I’m really uncertain and I don’t know, I was just told the story, and they didn’t tell me about their background. But I’m sure maybe if she talks to you you can find out more about her, whatnot.
SHANNON: Yeah! I mean, I’m going to be here for a while, I’m not sure how long I’ll be here just because I have a doctor’s appointment, uhm uhm I’m waiting to find out about a doctor’s appointment, emergency doctor’s appointment… so if she calls and I’m not here, and she doesn’t feel comfortable with leaving a message, which, that’s fine, I understand, I will definitely be here tomorrow, tomorrow’s Friday, Friday, I will definitely be here from two o clock in the afternoon to eleven o clock at night, because I’m closing.
CONSUMERIST: Great!
SHANNON: And your name’s Ben, right?
CONSUMERIST: That’s right.
SHANNON: Okay.
CONSUMERIST: I’ll pass this along.
SHANNON: Okay, great, Ben.
CONSUMERIST: Thanks, Shannon.
SHANNON: Bye.
CONSUMERIST: Bye…
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This whole thing got out of hand. I didn’t want to encourage harrassment of the liquor store, I didn’t mean to put the Consumerist on the spot with mere “allegations,” and I didn’t want to make it uncomfortable for my girlfriend to handle this herself, but it seems like I succeeded on all counts. Really, I just wanted to hold this guy accountable.
Thanks to everyone who followed the story and offered to help.
Shannon should put a sign out front:
BC STUDENTS NOT WELCOME. TAKE YOUR MONEY ELSEWHERE.
Keith-MA – there will always be some who get carried away. If nothing else there are a few commenters who are quick to throw the dung around. In this case I think Ben and Shannon have taken the vast majority of the beating.
Look, we understand that the story, as told, shows a creep of a clerk acting completely unprofessionally toward your girlfriend (and we acknowledge that Guinness Extra Stout does exist).
I had a post on here, and I had someone flame me ridiculously. You simply learn to ignore the ignorant even if they are making the most noise.
I think the answer you found is that your girlfriend should talk to Shannon. She should also clarify why she told Ben that she sells Guinness Extra Stout but the jerk-clerk couldn’t show it to her in the book. I believe that the store didn’t sell it, it’s really not that popular especially compared to Guinness Draught.
Other than that what sort of remedy is your girlfriend looking for.. a simple apology? more?
First of all, she hates BU students. The Wine Press is just a street off of the BU campus. And it’s amazingly hard to buy booze there — when I went there, they required two forms of ID if you looked of college age.
Secondly, a previous commenter raises a good point. Consumerist.com should give the other side of a story a chance to react / do the customer right before posting a story. For all we know, Keith-MA could be the owner of Marty’s Liquors over in Allston and could be looking to create bad press for one of his competitors (although, really, no one can compete with Marty’s).
I suspect that, given the current state of fact checking on this web site, it would be more than easy to get a completely made-up story on the front page of this site.
the road to hell is paved with good intentions (and congressional pages), keith. hope your gf doesn’t hold it against you. take her out and get her drunk- she’ll forget all about it.
LTS!, she’s moved on. An apology was all she was looking for, but when she heard the call she decided that speaking with Shannon would probably involve defending things the Consumerist said and possibly even the Consumerist itself in addition to just describing what happened. (She has me and Ben to thank for that, but she ain’t mad at us.) She’s not big on confrontation, and I don’t think she sees the value in following up after everything that’s happened. (And I won’t try to change her mind about it.)
BostonBum, I don’t disagree that fact-checking is good. But if you follow this story and my comments from the beginning, hopefully you’ll see that it was never meant to end up on the front page before the store had a chance to do the right thing. (Well, had a second chance to do the right thing, since the guy declined to talk to my girlfriend when she called Wednesday night.)
If you’re interested, a simple way to fact-check the story would be to speak with the female clerk that was working the night of October 4 and witnessed the episode; my girlfriend says this clerk was younger than Shannon sounds and didn’t appear to be a manager.
We’re just two professionals in our mid-twenties. One of us had a rough experience, and the other one tried to stick up for her.
There’s no excuse for the clerk’s behavior . Period. And he never would have done something like that to a man because of the very good chance that he would have gotten a can of Guinness Not Extra Stout shoved far down his throat
Ben it’s a shame you’re “just a blogger”, and that Shannon’s just a manager, and that Keith, his girlfriend, BU students and many other Brookline residents are just consumers.
I wasn’t shocked when it got to the part where Shannon asked if the girl was a BU student. I don’t think it was to say that they didn’t want BU students business. So many bars, liquor stores, and other stores for that matter in the Boston area like to bundle all 20 somethings into the college student group because that’s the group most places hassle (unnecessarily) the most, at least that’s how I feel as a 20 something resident.
Not bad Ben, though I wouldn’t have gone for the ambush, but rather started out with something akin to “Hi, this is Ben Popken calling from the Comsumerist… Could I speak to the manager?” You come off as professional and they start off worried, even before you get to the meat of the matter. From there you can ask if they mind answering a few questions, and either get a complete stonewall or someone on their best behavior and willing to make the situation right.
But that’s just my $ 0.02 (CDN).
As for Shannon asking age/demographic questions: All she needs to know is if the girl was of legal drinking age, nothing more. I so would have gone from defense to offense when she opened that topic up, with gems such as “Why, does age determine the level of customer service your customers receive? etc.”
The owner was quoted last month in a Globe story about possibly opening a location in another Boston suburb:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/
09/24/not_quite_top_shelf_offerings_for_store/
Of course, he might just be worried that the Arlington applicant pool wouldn’t include enough hostile sexists to keep the store running at peak inefficiency.
I have to admit, I think that this one of those posts where Consumerist takes a nosedive.
I think Shannon did an excellent job defending herself, she called you out and busted you for engaging in He said/She said tactics. Good for her! I love Consumerist, but man, sometimes you get empowered mixed up with entitled.
Did you notify her you were going to tape, and then post, her phone call?