Customer service rant

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JOhnH

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Why do cashiers talk on the phone, or to other employees instead of paying attention to the customer in front of them? This has been happening more and more lately, but it happened 3 times today.

At Publix I wanted to ask the cashier if one of my items was the one on sale. The advertisement was not clear and the signs in the store were mixed up, but she was talking to the bag boy while ringing me up and the item rang up at full price. She didn't stop talking to the bag boy until I didn't' pay. This delayed the line as she had to look it up and fix the charge.

I go to a specialty store to buy coffee and a few other things. I usually use "apple pay" by swiping my phone over the Credit Card machine, but today I forgot my plastic card and wanted to ask if they took Apple Pay but she was too busy talking on her cell phone. When the time came to pay, they didn't have swipe capability, so she had to cancel the order.

I took a water sample to the pool supply store. She started testing the water while talking to the other girl behind the counter. I wanted to tell her about an issue I was having but she ignored me. Finally, she looked up and said "your water is fine", so I left without getting my question answered.
 
JOhnH said:
Why do cashiers talk on the phone, or to other employees instead of paying attention to the customer in front of them? This has been happening more and more lately, but it happened 3 times today.

At Publix I wanted to ask the cashier if one of my items was the one on sale. The advertisement was not clear and the signs in the store were mixed up, but she was talking to the bag boy while ringing me up and the item rang up at full price. She didn't stop talking to the bag boy until I didn't' pay. This delayed the line as she had to look it up and fix the charge.

I go to a specialty store to buy coffee and a few other things. I usually use "apple pay" by swiping my phone over the Credit Card machine, but today I forgot my plastic card and wanted to ask if they took Apple Pay but she was too busy talking on her cell phone. When the time came to pay, they didn't have swipe capability, so she had to cancel the order.

I took a water sample to the pool supply store. She started testing the water while talking to the other girl behind the counter. I wanted to tell her about an issue I was having but she ignored me. Finally, she looked up and said "your water is fine", so I left without getting my question answered.
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I feel your pain.

I don't mind seeing people having comradery at their work and joking around a bit/talking, but you gotta draw the line when you're holding things up and show no sense of urgency. The customer still has to be a priority.

The worst I got was at Walgreens. The cashier guy literally stopped mid check-out with the register drawer open, pulled out his buzzing cell phone and watched a 30 second video before finishing the transaction.
At first I thought it was a work phone or something paging him so I didn't say anything. But then I rotated slightly and saw he was just watching a short TikTok or youtube. He stood there with my change in his hand looking at the video like a zombie before remembering he had to hand my change back. I was so dumbstruck by the audacity to do that right in front of a customer that I didn't even say anything.
 
Get use to it..

In 1993 a friend of my wife (then girlfriend) worked HR for Disney Corp in Anaheim, CA. She shared with me a report they produced called Employee 2000 - scary, but 100% spot on. I would like to see what they are saying today. One of the reasons I am retiring next year... I don't have the patients for the younger workforce.

Regarding your water question, do you think the person that did your test was capable of answering your questions? Running a test in one thing, making an interpretation of the results is another.

Add in - was at a restaurant once where the average age of the patrons was 50 years plus... and yet there was rap music blasting... I could see some were annoyed as was myself and when I asked the manager to turn it down she gave my a blank look and said it keeps the employees happy... I explained to the young lady, there will be no employees with out customers.. The music stayed loud, and I walked out before my meal came.
 
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Publix has gotten pretty bad. Slow, indifferent checkers, produce going bad on the shelf, constantly rising prices and a lot of the BOGOs are gone, coupled with an average (at best) bakery and the most overrated thing about Florida - their subs. Publix at this point is getting on par with Walmart. Give them a year and Publix will be in Winn-Dixie territory.
 
And then picking up a pizza I ordered and paid for online, and the person behind the counter points to the tip jar. I have been tempted to say, ''Oh, thank you'' and pull out a dollar for myself...
 
ateamer said:
Publix has gotten pretty bad. Slow, indifferent checkers, produce going bad on the shelf, constantly rising prices and a lot of the BOGOs are gone, coupled with an average (at best) bakery and the most overrated thing about Florida - their subs. Publix at this point is getting on par with Walmart. Give them a year and Publix will be in Winn-Dixie territory.
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Our Publix is still quite good - no bad produce and a lot of BOGO deals, as well as relatively attentive cashiers - but I wouldn't be surprised if that varies by store or region. I have noticed that usually they staff the registers with the older contingent so maybe that is why I haven't noticed a degradation in service? The prices are still lower for similar-quality items than they are at our local Wal-mart, so I don't think the rising prices here at least are Publix's fault. I can't comment on the bakery or the subs, though, as I don't buy those items.
 
An hour ago at the grocery store, the older cashier did in fact pick up her phone and answer a text as she was checking me out (using voice to text). But, she also spent almost five minutes helping me navigate the chain's app so that I could get an extra $1.50 off the box of White Cheddar Cheez-Its I will soon devour while watching two more episodes of The White Lotus (much to the consternation of those in line behind me).
 
Local Family Dollar has disabled the self-checkout. Cashier told me that too many people were stealing by not scanning all of thier items. Aww come on ... :nono:
 
@SkyChaser and I were driving down to visit my folks and pulled into a drive through. Sat there at the order-microphone for five minutes and no one greeted us (yes they were open). We parked and went inside. Stood there for another five minutes (she can correct me if my times are wrong) and no one even acknowledged out presence. We left, went to the Waffle House next door and were greeted by three people before we had even sat down. Got our food, ate, and left a decent tip.

I'll be amazed if that Wendy's is still open next year.
 
Bought a bottle of wine at Aldi two months ago, they have this kind of nonsensical policy to check all IDs, but ok, I play along (60+). My retired military ID is first on my stack so I hand that. The “kid” (30s?) looks at it and says, “Not sure if I should accept this but I suppose I will.”
I say, you should. It’s why you speak English.”
I have noticed the past few weeks that checkers accept it with no guff and even say “Thank you for your service.” So maybe something was said.
Now about that lawn, kids…
 
Minimum wage is too high
That’s the problem
But people working in 14 year old jobs need to be able to support a family buy a house car and make a living
 
Providing good customer service is not something that comes intuitively to most people. It requires training, procedures, and continued reinforcement. That all costs a business time and money.

I'm impressed by businesses which have put forth the time and resources to have well trained staff who provide above-average customer service. Chik-Fil-A in particular, because they are dealing young, inexperienced workers with a high turnover and low fast-food margins. I think a big part of how they get it to work is that the operator (owner, in the franchise model, which CFA is not) is required to work in his store and is not allowed to have multiple businesses which would leave him delegating the daily operation to managers.

Iflydogs said:
I have noticed the past few weeks that checkers accept it with no guff
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There are so many different types of government IDs that it isn't surprising that ID checkers will run across ones that they haven't seen before as most people present their driver's license.
 
Iflydogs said:
My retired military ID is first on my stack so I hand that. The “kid” (30s?) looks at it and says, “Not sure if I should accept this but I suppose I will.”
I say, you should. It’s why you speak English.”
I have noticed the past few weeks that checkers accept it with no guff and even say “Thank you for your service.”
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It cracks me up when my 92 year old mom uses her military ID (ret), and they say ''thank you for your service''...

I tell them it is hard to believe she served in WWI as a mule skinner, (not to be confused with MauleSkinner) or I'll tell then she is the last surviving civil war confederate soldier, and the most common replies are...''Oh really.??'' Or ''That is interesting''... :frown2:
 
Timely post. I ordered a OXO brand coffeemaker from Amazon. It did not work right out of the box. The outer shipping box, made of that flimsy chicom cardboard, was disposed of. I put it back in the original inner box with all associated packing/manual etc as per new. I then ordered another coffemaker of a different brand, Bunn. When it arrived I used its outer cardboard shipping box to pack the first failed unit for return via UPS; this outer box, plain brown cardboard construct, happen to have sticker with "Bunn model-xxxx" on it. About two weeks later I get a notice from Amazon that they did not receive my returned more expensive OXO unit and will charge me for it. I also received a notice that they received my Bunn unit and credited me for it (which was NOT returned). After a 30 minute phone call with a foreign, but pleasant and easy to understand, CS rep I got it straightened out...or so it seems. I just got an email stating that they reversed the refund on the Bunn unit and are charging me again for the OXO unit that I returned. Grrrrr......
 
mandm said:
Minimum wage is too high
That’s the problem
But people working in 14 year old jobs need to be able to support a family buy a house car and make a living
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More like, people working in 14 year old jobs shouldn’t still be doing those jobs by the time they’re going be having kids and buying a house.
 
ateamer said:
More like, people working in 14 year old jobs shouldn’t still be doing those jobs by the time they’re going be having kids and buying a house.
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If that's the only work they are capable of, I don't begrudge them that.
But that doesn't mean they need to be paid like they were doing real work.
I had one or two room mates until I could afford a place of my own. If I wasn't capable of moving into better paying jobs, I'd probably still have a roommate or two. It would have never crossed my mind to get married and have kids when I was making minimum wage.
 
mandm said:
Minimum wage is too high
That’s the problem
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Sooo....the quality of worker is low because they are paid too much?

An intriguing idea.

You must be of the "We don't need to pay people more to improve morale, what they really need is a pizza party" school of thought.

As we all know, workers perform at their best when they are struggling to make ends meet and need to work 80 hour weeks to survive :rolleyes:
 
Katamarino said:
Sooo....the quality of worker is low because they are paid too much?

An intriguing idea.

You must be of the "We don't need to pay people more to improve morale, what they really need is a pizza party" school of thought.

As we all know, workers perform at their best when they are struggling to make ends meet and need to work 80 hour weeks to survive :rolleyes:
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I'm glad you agree! :biggrin:
 
Why would you let work get in the way,when you can use social media with your friends?
 
I hate to see kids grow up under the precarity that being working poor (which way too many who self-report as middle class actually belong to) engenders, but moralizing socioeconomics as a price floor for reproduction? That's just eugenics by another name. Noooo thank you, count me out of that odious tribalist impulse.
 
I’ve never been in a position to fire someone for ignoring customers and not doing their job, but apparently I’ve caused a few to quit by requiring the opposite.
 
hindsight2020 said:
I hate to see kids grow up under the precarity that being working poor (which way too many who self-report as middle class actually belong to) engenders, but moralizing socioeconomics as a price floor for reproduction? That's just eugenics by another name. Noooo thank you, count me out of that odious tribalist impulse.
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Can you please explain what you mean here? Honestly do not understand what you are trying to say.
 
Iflydogs said:
Can you please explain what you mean here? Honestly do not understand what you are trying to say.
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A low-key implication was made lower-income people (and class by extension, though they'll deny it) shouldn't procreate on the basis of said poverty. I retorted I'm not a fan of eugenics.
 
I remember working some pretty rough jobs in my minimum wage years. But, I suppose, I knew my place. “Sir” and “Ma’am” were part of my vocabulary, and I had personal pride in a job well done. I still see that in a few places, sometimes unexpected places, but not often enough.
 
I don't think there's any problem with any generation, or really any problem with the employees themselves. Everyone's hiring from the same pool. Or to roughly quote Ed Deming, no bank ever failed because the tellers counted the money wrong.

I had hotdogs for lunch yesterday. The same place I've gone for over 20 years. Customer service was great. It always is. Warm, friendly, welcoming. Because the 3rd generation owners are THERE.

The general public sees an ad for the latest signature sandwich or drink, from some franchise that's trying desperately to distinguish their version of garbage from some other chain's version of garbage, and people stand in line for it. The general public treats fast food people like crap, the fast food companies treat their employees like crap, and the fast food companies treat their customers like crap. If any responsible adult saw the storage areas of one they'd probably throw up. But we see the pretty ads and smiling happy people, and we want some version of mechanically separated chicken cooked in diesel fuel and hexane with hot sauce on top, and we put up with the filth and rudeness. And that's why the german's bombed pearl harbor.
 
hindsight2020 said:
A low-key implication was made lower-income people (and class by extension, though they'll deny it) shouldn't procreate on the basis of said poverty. I retorted I'm not a fan of eugenics.
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Are you a fan of people having children without having the ability to care for them?
 
Larry in TN said:
There are so many different types of government IDs that it isn't surprising that ID checkers will run across ones that they haven't seen before as most people present their driver's license.
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Pro tip - When you are picking up your kid from the elementary school and the nice gray-haired lady volunteer at the front desk asks to see your photo ID, do not hand her your concealed carry permit.

Trust me.
 
Half Fast said:
Are you a fan of people having children without having the ability to care for them?
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I'm not sure what @hindsight2020 is talking about for sure, but speaking from personal experience, a lot of people think that those who can't afford to have all their children in sports or give them all music lessons or take them on vacations to Disney every year shouldn't have children "because they're too poor to take care of them". I don't think people should be even attempting to conceive when they don't have a way to feed, clothe, and shelter resultant children, but I also think that if you can feed them, clothe them, shelter them, and love them, you are plenty rich enough to have them.
 
hindsight2020 said:
A low-key implication was made lower-income people (and class by extension, though they'll deny it) shouldn't procreate on the basis of said poverty. I retorted I'm not a fan of eugenics.
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Is there anything that you think people should be able to afford before they buy/do it?
 
hindsight2020 said:
A low-key implication was made lower-income people (and class by extension, though they'll deny it) shouldn't procreate on the basis of said poverty. I retorted I'm not a fan of eugenics.
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I think there's a step missing between saying that one who cannot afford to feed his own mouth should not add to the mouths he must feed and eugenics.
 
I’m not denying that bad service didn’t exist but some of your complaints are on you for not actually speaking up. If you had a question on an item you should have said something before they rang it up. If you had a question about your water you should have asked instead of just leaving. A simple “excuse me” would have worked in both cases. The cashiers are not mind readers and if you aren’t letting them know you have questions they are just going to ring you out and send you on your way just like they did for the 100 customers before you and the 100 that will be after that same day. A cashiers job is very monotonous and talking or small chat with coworkers is a normal way to help pass the time.
 
MauleSkinner said:
My guess is probably not.
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Only one way to know for sure. Staying silent and complaining about it later to a bunch of random people online not connected in any way to the store certainly isn’t going to get anything done.
 
kmacht said:
Only one way to know for sure. Staying silent and complaining about it later to a bunch of random people online not connected in any way to the store certainly isn’t going to get anything done.
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Seemed like you knew for sure. :dunno:
 
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