It was a long drive to get a scolding!
Take home lesson: good signage could have avoided an embarrassing situation.
I was in the Seattle area visiting family scattered from Olympia to Bremerton. So, what kinds of interesting things could I do with a 10-year-old grandson that didn't involve too much travel time from Bremerton. Aha, how about horseback riding or a riding lesson? We stopped at a different riding stable. They didn't have availability, but suggested Pets Galore.
This facility is rather difficult to find, but we were out for an adventure; and we had never been to Olalla, WA. So, using cell phone GPS we adventured on along small country roads, taking a few wrong turns. Finally, we ended up on a country lane that seemed to go nowhere, but a very small sign at the lane told us we were headed in the right direction.
When we arrived a larger sign confirmed that we had indeed arrived. Off in the distance there were a couple of folks working with horses - a hopeful sign! The gate was loosely closed, but three or four dogs came to greet us. If you have ever lived in the country, gates are often closed to keep the dogs in; so, we were very careful to close the gate behind us.
We went to the shed marked office, but no one was there. We figured everyone was at the barns; so, we started to head that direction. But, just as we turned around, a rather annoyed woman hailed us and said they were by appointment only. She said that their facility is "like a school where you can't just walk in because you feel like it." She said that their website clearly states that they are by appointment only. We were being scolded for expecting this business to be like other businesses - OPEN!
So, to the lady at Pets Galore, I have a few suggestions:
1. Make sure that no one in your community recommends your business, unless they are going to tell people to make an appointment.
2. I suggested that you create a Google Places account and put your hours on it.
3. You gave me a lecture about how my phone is too small for your hours to show on the screen. Maybe you should go to a phone store and look up "horseback riding bremerton, wa" to see what people really see on their phones these days.
4. Put BY APPOINTMENT ONLY on your signage. Most people don't want to be embarrassed this way and will go away without your scolding if you do that.
5. Don't relegate the By Appointment to the find print at the bottom of your website. (Yes, I checked your website later.) Most humans don't read every word on you website. I would suggest putting it under the navigation on the left. There is space there for it to show in the first screen on most devices.
Finally, I apologize that we annoyed you. It won't happen again! read more