Monday, December 29, 2008

Customer Service - What is it?

I am not usually one to complain. I did, however, complain to Sheetz headquarters, last year, about their cashiers. There is one particular cashier in Ford City, that doesn't have a clue about customer service. At first I thought she was having a bad day but after about a month of bad days, I realized that she just sucked.

When I would approach the counter, there would be no greeting. She would ring up my items, but she would never tell me my total. After I paid and was given my change, she wouldn't even hand me my bag and she never once thanked me.

It got to the point where I would purposely just stand there and stare at her until she would tell me what my total was. Some days it was a total stare down. She's looking at me like I am stupid and I am looking at her knowing she's stupid. Finally, it clicks and she tells me my total. Still, no greeting and no thanks.

So, I wrote to home office. I was assured that it would be addressed. I can say that one year later, I still have the stare down with her.

So, tonight, I had a similar experience at the Butler WalMart. I watched this young, douchebag boy cashier move at a snails pace with the two people in line in front of me. I noticed that he didn't seem to ever say a word.

When it was my turn, no greeting, so I swiped my card and waited for the "Did your cashier greet you today" to which I replied NO. I then stood there and watched him scan 24 identical cans of cat food individually. Each can swipe was approximately 3 seconds. Pick up can, swipe, put in bag, repeat. I guess the idea of hitting Quantity 24 and scanning one can, placing all 24 cans that are in a box into a bag and being done with it all in 5 seconds was beyond him.

So, he's finished scanning my items. No total. I realize I am paying with my card but MOST cashiers will say your total. What if I couldn't see the total and was using my debit card??
Lastly, he handed me my receipt. No thank you. Actually, the only word that he said to me was "Here" as he turned the bag thingie towards me.

On my way out, I flagged down a Customer Service Manager and pretty much told him that the cashier at Lane 25 was a douche bag. I plan to follow up with an email.

Customer service sucks now adays. The youth of today have no initiative to do anything. I really don't think that asking to be greeted, told my total and thanked for my purchase is too much to ask for. The douchebag should apply for a job at Sheetz. Sounds to me like he is management material!

7 comments:

Burgher said...

I hear ya! I make it a point to be obnoxiously nice to those people- say (with a "touch" of sarcasm) "Thank you for being such an awesome cashier- you really made my day- can I nominate you for a customer service award?"
LOL

~Tonyia~ said...

That is SO true!
Actually I did have a good server recently and I posted about it on a forum but after reading this I need to blog it I think. Today the youth suck so bad, they could care less!

When I was young and working retail we had an entire training period that focused solely on customer service, wth happened to that?

Anonymous said...

It seems sort of nasty and petty to go to such extreme measures to get an employee in trouble for something so simple as not saying "thank you."

Anonymous said...

"It seems sort of nasty and petty to go to such extreme measures to get an employee in trouble for something so simple as not saying "thank you." "
Are you kidding me? Manners cost nothing and 'Please and Thank You' will get you farther in life than you think. This is part of what is wrong with society today. People are so into themselves, that they do not think of others. People act this way because no one has required better of them. It is time for people to speak up, otherwise nothing will change.
I have to sign this as anonymous because I do not have a google account, but I am Carol in Indiana.

The Purple Pinkie said...

It seems sort of nasty and petty to go to such extreme measures to get an employee in trouble for something so simple as not saying "thank you."

DUDE, you are obviously from the same generation as this waste of space cashier. He said one word to me during the transaction "Here". You think it is petty and nasty to complain? Get real. If this was back in 1984 and I acted that way as a cashier at Jamesway, I would have been fired.

It is not too much to ask to be greeted, told my total and thanked. That is BASIC customer service. If you can't do that, then get a real job where you don't have to deal with people.

Anonymous said...

See, I agree with you. Yeah, maybe some people obviously think its "petty" to conplain about something like this, but imagine if EVERYONE was so apathetic that they shrugged it off. Its this kid's JOB to be pleasant. If he treats customers with such disdain and people just stop caring enough to complain about it, then what does that tell us about our society?

Anonymous said...

I could not agree with you more. I run past these types of people ALL the time and I get very irritated. One time at Shop & Save customer service a girl did that to me, she walked up to wait on me but only starred at me. After what seemed like forever I said "Ummm HI" and told her what I needed. In some places it almost seems like some of them are mad because they HAVE to work, God Forbid! Grrr