I stopped by my local H. a couple of days ago and during the course of the visit had a nice long chat with the manager. In passing, I asked if she'd heard of tpf and the Hermes sub-forum. She said, "yes, of course" and had a rather bemused look on her face. I continued with, "well, is Hermes aware of the forum"? Her response (and not her exact words but close enough), Hermes is basically aware of everything that is said about them in the press, other media and on the internet, etc.
She went on to say that Hermes employs a company to monitor every public forum, blog, etc. in which they're discussed, which, of course, is smart of them and in their best interest.
And then it got very interesting . . . She said that many of the managers and sales assistants monitor the forum as well and are fully aware of what's being said about them personally or about their particular stores or about Hermes in general. I then said that since no one uses their actual name, Hermes can't really tell which customer is saying what. She laughed and said, oh, it's not so hard to figure out, particularly when people reveal what they bought and where they bought it.
Her advice seemed to be - just be aware of what you post, be it positive or negative, as it may be seen by more eyes than you'd like it to. And who knows; some may be taking names and making notes!
She also cautioned about posting thanks to certain stores and assistants for above-the-norm effort. Apparently it can backfire and actually get a store or an SA in trouble. She explained that if they go out of their way to assist a customer, and it's outside of the Hermes modus operandi so to speak, there can be consequences, and it hinders their abilities to do future "favors" for their customers.
So, continue to have fun, vent when necessary, and shallowly obsess always, but remember . . . Hermes is watching!
She went on to say that Hermes employs a company to monitor every public forum, blog, etc. in which they're discussed, which, of course, is smart of them and in their best interest.
And then it got very interesting . . . She said that many of the managers and sales assistants monitor the forum as well and are fully aware of what's being said about them personally or about their particular stores or about Hermes in general. I then said that since no one uses their actual name, Hermes can't really tell which customer is saying what. She laughed and said, oh, it's not so hard to figure out, particularly when people reveal what they bought and where they bought it.
Her advice seemed to be - just be aware of what you post, be it positive or negative, as it may be seen by more eyes than you'd like it to. And who knows; some may be taking names and making notes!
She also cautioned about posting thanks to certain stores and assistants for above-the-norm effort. Apparently it can backfire and actually get a store or an SA in trouble. She explained that if they go out of their way to assist a customer, and it's outside of the Hermes modus operandi so to speak, there can be consequences, and it hinders their abilities to do future "favors" for their customers.
So, continue to have fun, vent when necessary, and shallowly obsess always, but remember . . . Hermes is watching!
