----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2000 10:33
PM
Subject: Shahab on more soap
My dearest Friends,
I appreciate all the kind words you have directed to me. many of you
have become friends through my business and will remain as such for ever. The
intention of my letter was not to blame anyone for the closing of my
store. I am more successful and better off for it! I still am able to
offer services that no one else can and am doing better now than when I had
the store. What I intend you to understand is that your purchasing
decision drives the economy. If you choose mediocrity... mediocrity you shall
have.
I wish most of the people who commented directly to me had done so
publicly so the rest of the list could have seen the comments. there were
many insightful comments and I will incorporate some of them in this response
to some of the public posts.
I am sorry that our world is driven by
advertisement and promotion instead of work well done and
reputation. Quite frankly if I have to lie and advertise a bunch of
half truths and lies to entice people to buy from me... I would rather starve
to death. all I have is my integrity and I will never jeopardize it for
anything.
Most people know about us and we have contributed
to the education and well being of this town more than most. We have
always had demo models running in the store and we have always helped
people understand the technology. The fact is that as long as we expect to be
bombarded by advertisement gimmicks and lies that is exactly what we
get.
The right way to do business is to serve the
community. The community has to be mature enough though to appreciate what
they are getting.
As for the comments of regular hours and our
business not being open... that is simply not true. until two years ago we
were open 7 days a week. I decided to close on the weekends since no one
came.
Those of you who are supporting the other local
businesses... I salute you. I have expertise that allow me to make much more
money elsewhere... they do not have as many options; I hope you keep them
going.
As for services offered... we are the only
complete service center in the quad cities. we have more certifications than
all other providers in the region combined. In fact we service all computer
devices including monitors, laptops, printers, etc.
As for the computers... we have never had
anyone match our price/performance/reliability.
These are really not the main point of the whole
discussion though, are they? The fact is, as many of you put it, that Moscow
used to be a lot more personal place before the big national chains started to
attack the local business. you think I am alone in this but you are wrong. I
just have the guts to say it to your face. those of you who know me
know that I do not BS around; I do not mince words or hide the truth or
act nice to your face and then stab you in the back; you always know where you
stand. I am honest to a fault maybe! I do not see it as a fault. If you can
not see the truth in what is happening to our town, state, and the whole
country... then either I am crazy or it is not time for some of you to see the
truth.
Many of you named many local businesses in your
e-mails but none of you pondered the hell the owners go through to stay in
business. If we do not start acting responsibly we will not have any
local businesses left. We will have to go to grocery chains for our food, to
Wal-Mart and staples and office depot, Costco, and soon Home depot for
everything. Just like the inferior produce in the supermarkets today and the
truly junky computers in the discount stores and the sorry excuse for clothes
in Wal-Mart we will have to settle for less with everything else.
Then we sit there and moan about the lack of
service, choice, etc. our society is slipping into mediocrity and it seems
like no one is noticing. We have been lulled into complacency. This whole
problem has taken over the politics as well. Our country was once a great
country. We were proud and our workmanship showed this. Today we are a society
that is concerned with the self only. We have degraded into an abyss of apathy
and complacency unprecedented in the history of man. It all goes full
circle... we can not expect to be selfish and have a great society. Apathy,
greed, selfishness all lead to social decay.
Again I will leave you with the statement I made
before: if we see problems with our society... we must look within and
make sure we are part of the solution. If not... we will be the problem.
truth... sometimes hurts but what you learn from it makes you
stronger.
Your brother in arms,
Shahab...