When things don't go right

So I learned that my little neighborhood Dillons store, which has been a part of my weekly (and sometimes daily) shopping experience for the last 22 years, is closing. I am stunned. Dillons is closing this little store and two other small neighborhood stores in this city of 300,000 people, and moving them to 3 vacant large store buildings that were owned by a competing grocer, who pulled out of the market. I'll have to drive 5 times as far, and shop at 5 times as large of store if I want to continue to patronize Dillons. They don't get it. If I WANTED to shop at a big grocery store, I would. I could go to any of the WalMart Supercenters, or the big Dillons down on Seneca. But instead, I chose to spend my money in a small neighborhood store, where I know Megan the cashier, Robert the dairy stocker, and Paul, the manager. Two of my three kids got their first jobs at 16 at that Dillons. The aisles are a bit crowded but they aren't a block long. You can usually park close to the door. I know where everything is. I really do! When I used coupons more religiously than I do now, I sorted them at home by the aisles the products were located in. Without a grocery store there, the building will sit vacant, and deteriorate. I never realized before now, the impact that a grocery store has on a neighborhood-particularly a small friendly store-I mean, it's MY Dillons!
I have emailed the Kroger company about my concerns. I do not really expect an answer back, they are a large corporation that could care less what I think, but we'll see. I'm sure they'll end up telling me how much better this will be for me, if I'd just give it a chance.
A second email this week went to a local TV station to express my views about a news story they did concerning the founders of Prairie Rose Chuckwagon Supper and Wild West World, Thomas and Cheryl Etheredge. Without going into details, I thought the news story was tabloid journalism, obtained by unethical means, and just sort of sleazy. The Etheredges, although they may have used questionable business tactics in financing WWW, have not been charged with, nor convicted of any crime. They just want their privacy-and it was violated by KAKE TV. The reporter quickly emailed me back, and defended the story, and the tactics, saying that it was in response to many viewers who wanted them to pursue the Ethredges and find out if they had absconded to Texas with all the investors money. Excuse me? Since when did KAKE become an attorney general for the state of Kansas?
So, there you have it. A better way to express an opinion, than the 74 year old woman, who, tired of poor customer service and having her complaints ignored by ComCast (a cable-internet provider), had her husband drive her down to their offices, and proceeded to smash their receptionist's phone and computer with a hammer. "Are you paying attention to me NOW?" she yelled at them. My quirky sense of humor found this funny on several levels, (74 years old! And a hammer! And her HUSBAND drove her down there and watched her do it!) and I found myself admiring her for her gumption. Maybe it's not the BEST way in the world to solve a problem, but ComCast indeed finally paid attention to her. Consumer vigilante justice.