Rudeness: Over-the-Counter Edition

Normally this space is devoted to good things about my young family, but today I thought I’d excuse myself from unicorns and rainbows and focus on something that I suspect annoys lots of folks.

Crappy customer service. Not over the phone, but in person.

Yesterday morning I’m standing in line at Starbucks and a counter person clearly sees me and says nothing. He just stares. So, I also say nothing and stare.

Finally he says: “What’s up?”

Crazy me, I was expecting to hear, “Hi, what can I get you?”

Sunday at Babies R Us, I place my things on the counter and try to follow along as the counter person mumbles incoherently something about a rewards card.

“I’m all set, thanks,” I say. “I just want to check out.”

She proceeds to mumble about – I think – some sort of service protection plan. It was tough to tell what she was saying because she wasn’t looking at me, and her words were muffled and inaudible. It was like she was reading from a script somewhere in a dark closet.

“No thanks,” I say.

“Up to you,” she says surprisingly clearly, and throws my stuff in a bag like a litter of kittens headed for the river.

Didn’t say thanks. Didn’t say have a nice day. Didn’t say squat.

Sunday night Bixie and I headed to Fish in Sausalito for an early supper with Gus. The place is always packed, so we felt blessed to find an empty table outside. I get Bixie’s order – a hamburger — and stand in line for fully 20 minutes. Not a big deal; it’s par for the course at Fish. However, just as the person in front of me was finishing placing his order (I’m next!) a young girl appears next to me and tells the line of people the following:

“I don’t know if you know this already, but the kitchen is transitioning for the next half hour. So, um, here’s the menu you can order from until we’re done.” She holds up an abbreviated menu that had no sign of a burger on it. It was primarily fish-related salads and beverages.

A second later it’s finally my turn to order, so I nicely ask the counter person if he can hook me up with a burger for my pregnant wife, who either can’t have or doesn’t want a fish salad. I point at my wife outside, who is all set up at the table with our infant son, and she’s starving for the burger she said she wanted 20 minutes ago. And besides, that random girl with the new menu appeared just seconds ago – is there any way you can help me out?

“This is the menu for the next half hour,” says the young man, pointing to the piece of paper. “Sorry.”

To his credit, he sort of apologized. But it rang hollow.

End result: I paid $33 for a bowl of guacamole and chips, one garden salad and a Coke.

And I didn’t enjoy a bite of it because I was pissed off that the restaurant ruined what was supposed to be a fun dinner outside. It wasn’t because they changed the menu – that happens. No big deal! The problem was that they let people stand in line for 20 minutes before telling us we were wasting our time.

Look, I know retail counter clerks make terrible money. I get that. I worked at a convenience store once. And I also know customers can be condescending jerks. But the part I don’t understand is the lack of basic communications skills or simple common courtesy.

You know how you know that customer service is on the wane? Because every now and then you’ll meet a cashier or store clerk who is *helpful and nice*, and you walk away thinking to yourself: “Wow, that person was actually helpful and nice – for a change.”

Being rude is becoming the rule and not the exception. I can remember when it used to be the other way around.

I know I sound like an old man, talking about how it “used to be.” I can picture the conversation I’ll have with my kids some day:

“When I was your age, clerks and cashiers used to say ‘Hello’ and Have a nice day’!”

And my kiddies will elbow each other conspiratorially and say, “Sure, dad. I bet they did.”

But they did. They did!

It was all unicorns and rainbows back then.

Got any examples of poor customer service you’d like to share? I’d like to hear about them.