Blumin Annoying!

I have just learnt that knowing how to spell can actually be detrimental rather than advantageous. Let me explain...

I have been trying to track down a dress to match a jacket I bought a while ago. Yesterday afternoon, I rang the distributer and she gave me the names of a number of stores to ring around to see if they had the dress in stock. One of the store names she gave me was 'Blooming Gorgeous' (at least that's what it sounded like!). She also told me that it was located in the Niecon Plaza at Broadbeach.

When I finished the phone call, I thought I'd do a google search for the phone numbers of the stores to try to source the much-desired dress. Well, this was where I hit a fairly large stumbling block. I typed 'Blooming Gorgeous' into google and was presented with 'about' 988 000 hits, all to flower related sites (although I must admit to not going further than the first page). Then, I thought I'd get clever and google 'Blooming Gorgeous Broadbeach' and clicked 'pages from Australia' before I hit the 'Search' button. Hey presto! The search narrowed to 809 hits, although was still mostly florists and some maternity sites. I noticed the search was also throwing up results with 'bloomin', so next I did a search for 'Bloomin Gorgeous Broadbeach'. Even though I got 375 hits, lower than both previous searches, the early indications from the first few pages were that I was on a wild goose chase. I was at my wits' end - surely it wasn't meant to be this difficult. A yellow pages search was equally frustrating - all I got were numbers for a florist and an escort.

Finally, after I recollected the phone call with the supplier, I remembered she mentioned that the store was in the Niecon Plaza, so, in desperation, I googled 'Niecon Plaza Broadbeach', which yielded the Niecon Plaza as top hit. With shaking hands (okay, not quite shaking), I clicked on the link and went to the Niecon Plaza home page. From there, I clicked on 'Shopping Directory', went to 'Fashion and Beauty', and there it was, third from the top, 'Blumingorgus'. I laughed out loud when I saw its spelling. It would have taken me years (actually, no it would not have, as I would not have persevered!) to have found the shop with a google search using this mispelling. I have to wonder what possessed someone to choose such an obscure spelling for a business name.

All I can say is that I hope they rely on passing trade, rather than on people guessing at the spelling. Spelling matters! By the way, when I phoned the store, they didn't even have the dress I was looking for. Can you believe it? I'm too exhausted now to even try finding the phone numbers for the other store names I was given!

http://www.wordwriteforsuccess.com.au/