Nov 30 2008
Rotten Customer Service
I’ll admit it. I seem to attract poor customer service. I’m not sure why or how. It just happens.
On Thanksgiving Day, some of my family and I went to K-mart’s Thanksgiving Day sale. They had a number of awesome deals going so I sent my hubby and daughter on to our hostess’s house to get the food into the oven and the rest of us stopped to shop for an hour or so. The store was in a horrible disarray, but I can attribute that to the shoppers. Lots of people just putting stuff back wherever and causing a lot of chaos on the shelves. Also, we did have ONE employee who was kind and helpful and actually went out of his way to tape a box back together on a game because there was only one left.
My rotten customer service encounter went something like this. . .
A K-mart employee saunters past me with an unpleasant look on her face. Tired of walking up and down the aisles in search of an item in the disorder, I flag her down and inquire:
Me: “Hi. You guys had a set of walkie talkies in your ad for today for $15. I think they were a toy item. Do you know where I might find them?”
Her: “Have you checked up and down the aisles?” She gives a lazy wave of one hand in the general direction of the toy department. Okay, I’ll bite. . .
Me: “Yes. I wasn’t able to find them there. Do you know where they are?” My irritation is rising.
Her: “Well, if you didn’t find them, we must be out of them.” She again begins to shuffle her feet and angle away from me.
Me: “You have no idea where I should look? I could be overlooking them.”
Her: (while walking away) “Nope, no idea.”
Me: (laughing sarcastically) “Thanks SO much for your help.”
After another delightful encounter at the checkout counter where a price rang up incorrectly and the cashier just looked at me dully, not offering to do a price check or give me the item for the ad price, I took my very small pile of sale items and went on to our Thanksgiving meal. My bad mood was quickly elevated as I spent time with friends, family and food. While I maintain that having to work on a holiday is no excuse to treat an innocent customer poorly, I guess I can offer the poor girl a bit of sympathy. She did have to work while most folks were home having their turkey.
