IKEA. I fell in love back when I was a graduate student. Living on my own as a grad student in Houston, I was thrilled when IKEA opened. I could have fairly nice furniture at low cost. I could “decorate” with things I liked. Quickly, I knew all the shortcuts. Visiting IKEA was always a happy adventure.
Each time we’ve moved, we’ve easily found new furniture and decor at IKEA to fit each new home. When we moved to Atlanta from Rockville, we measured our Georgia home and stocked up at the IKEA in Virginia – at that point there was no IKEA in Atlanta.
Then the IKEA finally opened in Atlanta, and I was happy. We moved to Pine Lake, and I found 50 roman shades, shelving and office furniture for our new big house. We moved to Decatur, I found new dining room, bedroom and entertainment center furniture.
But something’s happened. The past few trips have left me with my skin crawling. Utter disorganization. No salespeople around to help us find what we are looking for or to answer questions. Checkout lines so long that I actually abandoned my cart and walked out without buying the items I had picked out.
This last trip, I decided to join the “IKEA Family” loyalty program. When I reached the checkout, I asked the cashier to sign me up. She handed me a long form to fill out. I asked if I could fill it out after I was done checking out. No I had to fill it out before she could even START checking me out. With a line of 25 people behind me waiting to checkout, there was NO way I was going to stand there and fill out a form.
Maybe I have to figure out a better time to go (Friday early afternoon and Sunday evening being not good). Maybe I have to change my expectation. Instead of fun, it is now something to get over with quickly, like a trip to Walmart. I don’t know. But it saddens me in any case.
