Comments on: Whine and Spirits

By: Adam

Adam — Wed, 04 Jan 2006 02:20:54 +0000

We have had several interesting experiences with the Pittsburgh Waterworks PCLB:

1. “Do you have any sparkling reds?”
-PCLB:”what are they?”
-Me:”a red wine that sparkles”
“Try the champagne isle”
“This is not champagne. It was recently mentioned in Food and Wine and the NYTimes…the hot new wine”
Blank stare
Frown
“Who makes it?”
“I don’t know, I was interested in trying several out… I recently sampled a nice selection in Springfield, Missouri”
“We don’t have it”
“Can you order some”
“We cannot, unless you know who makes it”
Frown

2. Telephone call: “Do you have PAMA- a pomagranate liquor?”
“Huh?”
“P-A-M-A”
“Who makes it”
“I don’t know, but that is the brand name”
“No, we don’t have it”
“Do other store have it?”
“no”
“Is it possible that it is on the shelf and not in your system? (ie.: go and look)”
“no, we don’t have it if it is not in our system?”
“thanks”

Basically: I agree with the above: the system is not worth saving. In these examples, and others, the store did not even offer to ORDER these for us. It left us very dissappointed in the state store system

Adam and SO.

By: bradley z

bradley z — Thu, 09 Jun 2005 00:40:00 +0000

big hint on wine in PGH : the Wines & Spirits in One Oxford Center (Smithfield St entrance) has an excellent selection, descriptive cards, and knowledgable employees. the one in Shadyside behind Blockbuster (Baum, east of the Liberty intersection?) is less satisfactory on some fronts, but is the next best in the city proper.

By: Sabrina L

Sabrina L — Wed, 01 Jun 2005 18:00:25 +0000

Sorry, after re-reading the post on credit cards, I realize that I should have clarified more.

You commented that the clerk suggested signing your name after the big SEE PHOTO ID, and that he was completely missing the point. I understand that you don’t want to ‘reveal’ your signature so that it could be imitated. (I assume this is the reason you don’t want to sign it.) But any practical person knows that the gum-chewing, hair twisting, pimply teen that is checking you out everywhere you go doesn’t compare signatures. So even if they BOTHER to look at the signature panel, and even if you have signed it, if it says ASK FOR ID, they should ask for your ID. In fact, the poor clerks who have absent-midedly glanced at the back of my credit card have generally done a double-take, squinted, looked up, and embarassedly asked me to see my ID. But they don’t ignore it.

I don’t pretend that this system is perfect. My only goal is to scare a thief out of attempting to use my card, for fear of being asked to see ID that is clearly not them.

Hope this helps!

By: Sabrina L

Sabrina L — Wed, 01 Jun 2005 17:47:45 +0000

Probably too late, but why not?
A tip regarding not signing the back of a credit card: I have had the exact same problem, and it was at the exact same location (Oakland.) I have noticed recently that PLCB stores are putting up signs alerting customers that credit cards that are not signed are not valid. (Lo and behold, if you check the find print above/under the strip, it reads ‘not valid unless signed.’)

I have now signed all of my cards, and written right over it in bold permanent marker (red Sharpie is my favorite) ASK FOR ID. It works at the liquor store, and occasionally clerks at other stores actually ask to see my license!

By: Elise

Elise — Wed, 01 Jun 2005 00:29:10 +0000

This is a very interesting but sad story from my perspective. I help buy wine for the busiest Whole Foods wine shop in the DC and one of the busiest in the country doncha know. I still like to routinely have long conversations with customers. We like to hear the details of their meal or their general tastes so we can choose exactly the right match.( It’s really fun unless god forbid they’re serving artichokes or something.) If you came up to me and asked for a Basque wine called TxakolÃŒ I could hand it to you. We carry a Tokaji and we’re just a freeking grocery store.
I had a point, but I can’t remember what it was… um, We rule? We’re annoying, pretentious bastards? All I know is, If Pennsylvania would drag it’s sorry ass out of the dark ages and I could sell wine from your friendly East Liberty Whole foods I’d move back in a second. And Pete, You could have all the Tokaji you wanted.:-) Ever tried a Greek Xinomavro?

By: Dr. Click

Dr. Click — Sat, 28 May 2005 19:06:30 +0000

The PCLB is one of the many small and yet infuriating reasons why Pittsburgh will continue to be largely the home of the newly wed and the nearly dead. That being said, I found that the Waterworks and Monroeville PCLB stores had a reasonably wide variety and friendly staff.

By: Steve

Steve — Sat, 28 May 2005 02:55:13 +0000

After the Amari tasting, I went to the specialty State Store near the South Hills Village Mall. I ordered two bottles of Montenegro and volia! six weeks later it showed up.

I should order the Nonino now for Thanksgiving….

By: DbF

DbF — Fri, 27 May 2005 20:54:07 +0000

Having been the victim of identy theft before, I have been advised to write “See Photo ID” on the back of my credit cards. I went to the PLCB store in Oakland to purchase wine with my credit card. They said they couldn’t take my credit card because it hadn’t been signed. I told them to check my photo ID, my signature, and they could confirm that the card was mine. Instead, the clerk suggested that if I wrote real small, maybe I could sign the card after “See Photo ID”—completely missing the point.

A call to the PLCB complaint line suggested that in the future, I should simply pay with cash…

Service.

By: Nat

Nat — Fri, 27 May 2005 14:13:59 +0000

When I used to shop at the state store in Squirrel Hill, there was one cashier who’d make EVERYBODY sign the little “we think you’re lying about being 21″ form. College kids. Businessmen. Bald old guys. Grandmothers. It didn’t matter; she apparently thought we were all punk kids breaking the law, so the line got to grind to a halt while she accused everyone in it of being a criminal.

To be fair, the manager of that store was actually kind of helpful, but if you weren’t being served by him the entire experience was miserable.

By: Julie Watt

Julie Watt — Fri, 27 May 2005 13:10:58 +0000

My favorite is the really hostile employees who would rather you not purchase anything at all. Apparently they don’t grasp that if there were no customers, they would have no job and no salary. When buying alcohol in most situations, I’ve found that buying wine and demonstrating that I know what I’m doing generally prevents stupid questions like, “Are you sure you’re 21?” However, at one state store in Pittsburgh, there is a cashier who almost growls at you and won’t touch anything you put in front of her, much less ring it up, until you let her scrutinize your ID for a solid two minutes.