As you all know, I am an experiential kinda gal. I like to live in the moment and be true to myself and my feelings. The following is a letter that I wrote to a local business based on my and my husbands experience there this afternoon. I removed their names because that's not the important message, the message is to be true to yourself and share your feelings as you're having them. I would be curious to hear your thoughts:

February 16, 2010

In regards to: Poor Beer Buying Experience

LOCALLY OWNED STORE
Ridge Road
Rochester, New York 14622

Dear LOCALLY OWNED STORE:

Earlier today my wife and I decided that today was the day we were going to return our bottles and cans. To some this may seem to be a dreaded task, but to us it’s something we do together while reminiscing the life experiences we had with each empty container. Which bottles we opened at our last years Christmas party, who gave us which for our anniversary, and which bottles came back with us from our last vacation. Like many here in Rochester we consider ourselves beer lovers. We love to buy beer, enjoy it with our life, and share it with our friends. We also love our city and local business owners and therefore frequently utter the words “thank you for allowing us to spend our money in your store, bar, restaurant.” We consider it a calling to be a local business; you must eat, drink, and breathe your passion. It is our responsibility and joy to be able to earn our money locally and to distribute it to our friends while living the life we enjoy; this includes one of our favorite purchases craft beer.

We have lived in East Irondequoit for six years and own a home within walking distance to LOCALLY OWNED STORE. Until today we would have forgone the shoppers club discount and spend only small bit more to support the hard work, commitment, and passion of the folks that work and own LOCALLY OWNED STORE. Often meeting each other there after work to pick out great beers or running into our friends and neighbors around the beer coolers. Today this all changed. At approximately 3:40pm today my wife and I had finished sorting and loading our empty containers out of our home and made the short drive to the store. We walked into an empty store and were greeted by name by an employee we have spoken to many times; MALE WORKER. We apologized for bringing in so many empties at one time, but were careful to choose a time that there wouldn’t be any other customers and had all of our empties clean and dry. Being that we know what an annoyance it is to redeem empties we were sure to organize our containers into 4, 6, or 12pack holders; so as to not create more hassle. We were traded our memories and life experiences for a long slip of paper with only $25.35 in return. We were optimistic about having the opportunity to pick out something new that we hadn’t tried and we headed back to the coolers. This is when things changed. It takes a long time to build up trust, value, and appreciation and it so quickly comes crashing down.

As my wife and I were looking around the inside and outside of the craft beer coolers we overheard MALE WORKER speaking in a very loud voice to a couple of other folks in the store. I am not aware if these people where employees or customers, but I am very aware of what he said. Some of the following is summarized and some is a direct quote; I apologize in advance for the foul language. We overheard MALE WORKER say “Do you know OUR NAME and his wife that live across the street from FEMALE WORKER and always buy craft beer; he blitzed us. If you were wondering what kind of person brings in all these empties all &%C*’ed up that’s the BUTThole. Don’t blame me when you have to spend the time sorting those out, you can think of him.” We couldn’t overhear any responses from anyone else, but only MALE WORKER’s voice. MALE WORKER was referring to us by name and street to other folks within the store and referring to our patronage, memories, and beings as “BUTTholes”. At that point in time we truly did feel like “BUTTholes”; these derogatory feelings were more based on the fact that we cared and respected the sacrifice of LOCALLY OWNED STORE more than they do about the money we spend there; that should never be the case. Between my wife and I we can tell you almost every store and bar in the city (independently or corporate owned) that sells craft beer, we can name every beer blogger and twitter account that reviews beer, and attend more beercentric events than we care to admit; why, because we believe in the craft and the people that produce and sell it. We have a choice where we spend our money; unfortunately based on today’s experience we will no longer be spending it at LOCALLY OWNED STORE.

The reality is that in today’s economy, more than any other in my lifetime, we have to be cautious and considerate of every dollar that is earned and spent. Only we can control our community and many times that starts with the way we choose to live our lives; who we vote for, where we buy our milk, where we go out to eat, and where we buy our beer. My wife and I choose to spend our time experiencing life; in our local community, with friends and neighbors, and committed to effective change. We are very sad to say that after today’s experience we will be choosing not to spend our money at LOCALLY OWNED STORE. We will continue to shop local, but we will just have to drive a little further down the road. You are our neighbor, we wish you continued success, and we hope that the culture of respect will become stronger within your walls and our entire community.

We were asked when composing this letter why we chose to cc the folks that we did. The purpose was not to shame LOCALLY OWNED STORE (your name was removed for anonymity), but to remind ourselves, and each other, of the commitment that we all have to making Rochester a city worth staying in. We are bright, successful, and well educated, and we believe that the strength of any community comes from the people that make it up. We are Irondequoit, we are Rochester, and it matters how we treat you and how we are treated in return.

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter and the ramblings of a couple of experiential life livers from Irondequoit, NY.

Sincerely,


MR & MRS IRONDEQUOIT


cc: Irondequoit Chamber of Commerce
Beer Advocate
Nathaniel Square Corner Store
Beers of the World
Tap and Mallet
www.beercraft.com
www.aroundtownROC.blogspot.com
www.rocbeer.com
www.creamaledrinker.wordpress.com