Less marketing, please, and more customer service

     What the economy needs is less talk and more action.
     Less volume, more message. Fewer promises, more delivery.
     American business is pretty good at marketing, not so good at the follow-through. Thousands of dollars go into network advertising, while the customer service budget is getting cut. That's also true of politics, which is why we're in the mess we have now.
     I get lots of mail from people trying to sell me something, but when the mail order arrives, there will be additional charges. Get a magazine, pay the bill, and before the second issue arrives, you start getting the renewal notices. Which eventually become threats.
     I bought a grill from a big box store. The carton was so damaged, I asked the clerk to open it and we checked to see if it was damaged. It was not.
     At least, not what was in the box. When I got it home and started to assemble it, I realized that important parts were missing. Like one of the legs.
     I called the manufacturer -- sort of. The manufacturer is in China, but there is a US phone number to call, and when I dialed it up and went through the inevitable menu, I eventually got a live human who said the part would arrive in four to five business days.  That was retail business days: The stores that sell defective products are open seven days a week, including holidays, but the people who send you the missing parts are not.
     My local supermarket spends big bucks each week trying to get me into their store -- any market, pick one. Then they pile so much stuff up in every square inch of aisle space you can't get through, especially since they laid off the night restocking staff, which now has, in addition to the aisle displays, cartons of stuff about to be restocked.
     Then, to get me into a good mood, they crank up the volume of some female vocalist who is tossing her lungs into the rafters over tinny speakers which are everywhere, everywhere.
     I don't want to dance. I am not interested in a concert. I want to shop in relative peace and quiet. How about some nice, easy jazz, no vocal athletics, please. Or silence, so I can actually hear the guy in the seafood department when I'm trying to place an order.
    Call a customer service line and get put on hold, and there's the music again.
    Maybe old people get crabby because everybody is talking too much, and nobody seems to be listening.