thepowerofme

The question for the day is this, “What happened to customer service?”  I for one would like to know.  It seems that gone are the days of the customer is all ways right and is now replaced with the attitude that I will help you if I feel like it.  While I interact with the public all day long my interactions are very short and too the point, followed by a brief thank you as they exit the bus.  But nothing gets me going faster than having to put up with poor customer service.  Lucky for most people, I am not the one that gets stuck doing the grocery shopping for my family.  If so my bi-polar rants would most definitely get me black listed from most of if not all of the grocery stores in Laramie, Wyoming.

Recently, my wife was grocery shopping and came along a great buy for chuck roast at the Safeway store in Laramie, Wyoming.  She is a mad shopper that always looks to get the best bang for our buck.  So when we see a great cut of roast on sale or round steaks we always go to the butcher and ask them to grind it for us into hamburger.  This was no exception on this fine winter day.  She picked up two roasts from the case and got the butchers assistant to take the meat back to be ground.  Then the tirade began pouring out like a waterfall of cuss words from Richard Prior.  While he was behind closed doors it was not a problem to hear what was being said and how loud he was saying it.  Then like an angel of death the assistant returned with the ground meat that was just ground through once.  For those of you that have never worked in a butcher shop that results in leaving big chucks of fat as large as a fifty cent piece at odd intervals throughout the package of meat.  Lucky for him I was not there, or my bi-polar rant would of involved an irate customer entering the infamous butchers shop and having a face to face interaction with my packaged meat.

What was he so mad about, was it not his job to cut meat and package it for the general public looking to buy it.  It would be like going to see a heart surgeon for an open heart surgery to find out he only works on testicles, and then bitch about it because he was actually going to have to work on hearts instead.

But my wife’s story does not stop there.  After receiving this cellophane package of fat and meat my wife decided to go and complain to the store manager.  Or to word it better, attempted dialogue with store manager.  Upon reaching the service counter she was told rather rudely I might add that the store manager was out of the building.  When she asked to speak with the second in command she was informed they were out of the building as well.  It seems that every one in charge of this wonderful supermarket goes to lunch any time some one wants to complain about something.

While I do not understand why some one complains about doing their job I understand folks can have a bad day.  But how bad of a day would this fine gentleman have if every one decided to stop buying meat at this location?  I wonder how long it would take for this greed driven company to replace his wonderful meat counter with a vegan counter full of chilled tofu and patches of hydroponic wheat grass.  While the wheat grass would have to be cut yourself due to the fact that providing employees to better serve the needs of customers seems to have faded just as fast as basic customer service.  After all of that I wonder if he would look back and realize that his job could have been spared from the long line of company cut backs, had he just spent a few extra minutes a day going the extra mile for his customers with just a smile and a thank you.

I have worked in the public sector for most of my working life.  From working in a local grocery store, waiter, cook, or water delivery person, I have done it all.  I have even worked as a Kirby door to door salesman, selling over priced vacuum cleaners to the general public.  Never did I complain to a customer as a bottled water delivery driver when I had to deliver water in three feet of unshoveled snow, or battle mad dogs looking to remove my man jewels for their chewing delights.  Or complain to the cat ladies whose houses smelled like a giant litter box when they wanted to talk to you for a few minutes while the whole time trying to hold my breath.  I just took it each and every day because they were the customer and they were the only reason why I was there.

I never once forget how I was getting paid.  When working with the public they are the ones that paid my salary each and every day.  They were the ones that supplemented my wages as a waiter with a few extra dollars here and there for prompt and courteous service.  While at times I would of liked nothing better than to poor a cup of scolding soup over their self righteous heads, I refrained and answered every request with a “Yes, Sir”, “Right away, mam.”  Or the rehearsed yet sounding sincere farewell of saying “Please come again.”  Even though I was begging and pleading with God that they would never again grace this establishment with their needing requests and poor manners.  For without customers I would not have a job.  No job meant no money, and no money meant no BEER.