VICKERY ACE HARDWARE

My husband and I have been customers of Vickery (formerly Ace) Hardware for years. They usually have what we want and, more importantly, they're close to our house. It's usually hard to find someone in the store to help -- but we can usually find what we want without help. I went to their store to buy some screws for a project I'm working on. After looking at the screws in the back, I couldn't find what I was looking for, so I went up to the desk, which nobody seemed to be manning. I waited patiently for someone return to the desk. Finally, two employees appeared from somewhere -- and completely ignored me. After a minute or so, another customer, (who apparently had stacked some items at the checkout while going back into the store to look for some more items) came to the front with the remainder of his purchases. The employee with the grey beard immediately started assisting him with checkout. Meantime, another customer entered the store, and the other employee asked him what he could do for him and proceeded to help him with his "chainsaw" sharpening. After the initial customer had finished checking out, the grey-beard guy asked me if I wanted some help. I pointed out that two other people had been helped ahead of me while I was standing there. He curtly replied that the first customer had had a key made earlier and was, therefore, a "customer" -- and that "customers" got helped first. (I always thought that any person shopping in a store was a "customer", but this guy had obviously never heard of this concept). I then enquired about the man who had just walked in the door and was immediately helped. He just shrugged and looked annoyed with me. Since there didn't seem to be any interest in customer service in the store, I said that I would go elsewhere to find my screws. "Fine with me", he announced. As I left, I mentioned that my husband would probably no longer be shopping there either. "That's fine with me, too", he retorted. This store has now lost two long-time customers (myself and my husband). I wonder how many other customers they've lost because of their rudeness and indifference?