So… I am waiting in line to order my coffee this morning – quite a long line I must add, as there is only one person serving, typical!; when helpful retail assistant opens up a new counter - “can I help anyone?”
Why is it always the person near the back of the line who rushes over? After all they have been waiting the shortest period of time whilst those of us who have done the time end up waiting longer.
To make matters worse the person from the back of the line is on a first name basis with the retail assistant, hmm… so it is all about who you know – of course he orders coffee as well so I end up having to wait for his coffee too!
Doing my best unimpressed look I hope to make him feel uncomfortable about his ignorant, selfish behaviour – but alas he probably doesn’t even care.
What really impresses me is when in a similar situation the retail assistant has the nous to say – “actually sir that man was next in line” There is a certain victory one can take when the rude person is so tactfully put in their place.
However from my extensive experience as a consumer I wonder if the attitude of who cares has crossed over the counter to the retailer themselves ; they certainly don’t seem to be too worried about customer service anymore, or am I just getting old and cranky?
I admit I also have the ‘who cares’ attitude when it comes to buying things,
1. Who cares about what you did last weekend – stop chatting to the other assistant and serve me!
2. who cares about all the other things you are trying to sell me – I only came here for the newspaper!
3. who cares about your opinion, whether it looks good or not, I know you are just trying to sell me the item regardless of my terrible sense of fashion!
Of course I have a solution for all of us when it comes to this frustration and it doesn’t involve making customer service courses compulsory for shop assistants (although that wouldn’t be a bad idea!)
No …. The answer is buy online! No people to deal with, no queues, no pushy salesmen, no talk about what you and the boyfriend did last weekend, just a credit card and a website – surely this is the epitome of shopping as it should be.
So as I contemplate the rest of the day I rest assured that everyone is going to get presents off websites for Christmas this year – bye for now I’m off to ‘trademe!’
2 comments:
I've noticed the decline in quality of customer service the last 5 years or so too. I remember the days when the customer was always right now its more like the customer is always annoying. I reckon we should start a retail terror group and claim back our customer rights by force. Whos with me?
You should seriously consider getting commission from TradeMe for the amount of referrals you do on their behalf! :)
Post a Comment