Williams-Sonoma, on the other hand, managed to lose my business. After suffering a catastropic coffeemaker failure last night, I had tasked the Insta-Daughter to buy a new one. She was snubbed by the salespeople, who skipped her to wait on someone older who was behind her in line. So she went to Belk and got a better deal on the same thing, but tells me she’ll be personally insulted if I ever shop at Williams-Sonoma again. I’ve noticed a lot of stores that treat teenagers this way, and it strikes me as quite unwise.
I worked for Walgreens for eight years, - four years as a clerk in Sioux City, Ia. and four years as an assistant manager in Omaha, Ne.. I don't remember the exact circumstances, but I recall a meeting with, I think, the local district manager from Omaha. The subject turned to kids in the store. The DM asked us if we should be extra suspicious of kids hanging around the candy aisle or if we should not serve them as well as we would serve older customers. He said we should treat our young customers with as much respect as we would treat our older customers because our younger customers were our future customers. That's wise advice and it surprises me that "a lot of stores... treat teenagers this way."