BRATTLEBORO-After reading Cara Cheyette's "Voices" piece regarding her dissatisfaction with Sam's, my husband, Michael, commented: "It's like saying 'Well, I thought he was an a**hole' at a funeral."
We have a combined history of patronage at Sam's of nearly 75 years - Michael's been a Brattleboro resident for 44 years, and I've been here for more than 30 - and we were frequent customers the entirety of that time.
We rarely had any difficulty finding a salesperson to assist - on the contrary, usually an employee would approach us - nor did we experience a salesperson's "visible irritation" at being "interrupted," nor felt we were being "watched like a wannabe thief," nor had any problem whatsoever when we needed to return an item. We at all times found the staff at Sam's to be friendly, helpful, accommodating, and polite.
Why Ms. Cheyette's experience was so different from ours is baffling. However, perhaps the time to have expressed her dismay at the quality of service at Sam's would have been before they so regrettably closed, instead of waiting until it was too late for them to address her perceived issues.
We miss you already, Sam's, and thank you for your service to our community for so many years.
Heidi Mario
Brattleboro
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