BevMo

If you aren’t familiar with BevMo, they are this chain of beverage stores that seemed sporadically placed around the city. They are a real pain in the ass, but they have a huge selection. SO, occasionally they’re worth the hassle. One of my peeves about this place is that the prices on the shelves aren’t always the prices at the register. Another is that much like the staff of Home Depot, the BevMo staff uses the phrase “I don’t know, I just work here” a lot.

You can search their stores online to find the various things you’re looking for, and to see if they’re in stock at your local store. Many times it’ll say they have one or two on hand, only to not have them at all when you get to the store. Other times they’ll claim they are out of stock, yet you find dozens of bottles at the store. So they definitely have an inventory problem, whom I met in person tonight.

I went in, walked directly to the Belgium section like I have many times before. Tonight they were holding some sort of class in something, and the host had to use some sort of PA in the small ~20×20 space in order to explain things to the crowd. Not sure why you need a PA, but I guess he really has a problem being heard. I’d normally shop around and look for exactly what I want, but this guy was annoying and loud, so I hurried and grabbed the one thing I specifically came there for, and a few others and then hurried away.

At the registers I was greeted by two lines, one line much longer than the other. My logic says take the longer line, but for some reason I defied my own logic and chose the shorter line. There was one person in a transaction, one older Asian man waiting behind  him and then me. I really wanted to sit my numerous bottles on the counter, but the Asian man was making sure there was no way I could sit my bottles down. He even looked at me, and the bottles and then looked at his stuff sitting on the counter. Not surprised, he’s pretty typical for an older Asian man really. And to him I’m the Gweilo.

So finally the cashier moves his stuff forward and starts his transaction. That gives me enough room to start setting down my bottles on the counter. What seems to be an easy transaction in front of me suddenly got much much slower when the Asian man pulls out a check book. Since this is the 21st century, and the lady at the register is barely 21, she has to call a manager over. This is where the manager explains the check policy to the man who could really give a shit less since we’re all obviously Gweilo to him, even our Hispanic cashier.

I figured that this long transaction would soon be coming to a close, but that’s when our cashier decided to slow it down a little more by asking the man “Are you a member?”

He obviously was confused by such a question since 1. how dare she talk to him, and 2. the correct question would be “Do you have a BevMo card?” He didn’t know what the fuck she was talking about and responded appropriately with “Uh, no.” This is when she asked him if he had a BevMo card. His response again was “Uh, no.”

This was a perfect opportunity for our gracious cashier to sell the unsuspecting Asian man on the company’s rewards program. She told him all about the many features and benefits to becoming a BevMo member. It’s one thing she seemed excited about so I’m guessing that bonuses are handed out to employees who push the program more than others in a given month. The man said “sure” and he was back to using his trusty pen to fill out an application while she scanned a new card for him. I took this as a signal to throw my BevMo card down next to my bottles.

Meanwhile, I looked over at the other line to see people with carts full of wine getting out of this place faster than me. I should have listened to myself, but I guess I’m really good at convincing myself. He’s finally done filling out the forms, his bottle is bagged, and he’s ready to go. It may actually be my turn. The people behind me had all given up and moved to the other line.

I step forward and start my transaction. One step closer to getting the fuck out of BevMo for at least another year or two. I notice that she doesn’t scan one of the bottles but then scans one of the other bottles twice. I asked her why she did it, and she tells me that they’re all the same price so what does it hurt. That’s when I decided to let her know about something that pisses me off about BevMo, more than their employees not knowing anything. I talked to her about computerized inventory control.

I explained that the biggest issue I have with the store is that their inventory is always wrong. I told her that because BevMo is such a pain in the ass, I, like many, try to search their website first to make sure it’s in stock. This isn’t reliable though, as it could say it’s in stock but not be when you get to the store. If their own clerks can’t even scan the correct barcodes, no amount of money spent on inventory management systems will ever work.

But after a quick rant, she responded with “I just work here.” And instead of responding back with “sure you do” I just said yep. At least I found out why the inventory is screwed up, so next time I even get the idea that I want to go there, I’ll hopefully disuade myself. I know Galco has it, so I guess I’ll have to make a special trip.