It seems to me that as the United States’ economy transforms itself into what is called a service economy, we the people receive less and less service. These thoughts have been percolating in my mind lately while I’ve stood in line at various places: grocery store, bank, discount store, post office, etc. I’d swear that I spend a lot more time in lines than I used to. Why would K-Mart have only two registers open on a Saturday morning? Why did I have to wait in line 25 minutes yesterday at Piggly-Wiggly to buy 7 items? Why is telephoning any business now an obstacle course of phone menus and being put indeterminably on hold while a recording continually reassures you that your call is important? And the DMV – well, let’s not “go there.”
When I called customer service because my internet connection went down this past winter, I was on hold for 50 minutes. I assumed that there was some massive failure of the system and everybody was calling at once. No – it was just business as usual.
This morning I went to pick up some prescriptions from a pharmacy. When I arrived, there was a man ahead of me who obviously was experiencing a problem with his insurance coverage. These things happen. It took a little while, but things were eventually straightened out. End of story, right? Wrong. The man found this entire affair fascinating and proceeded to go on and on about every problem he has ever had with any insurance company in his entire life. He soon had two clerks and a pharmacist involved. He also kept looking back at me and making comments to me in an effort to get me involved in the conversation. Why in the world would I want to stick my finger in that wringer? I just wanted to get my prescriptions and get out.
Afterwards, I went next door to a grocery store. In the checkout line, the clerk was very actively involved in personal conversations with each of her customers. The yammering went on and on as the rest of us had to wait our turn. A couple of times she spotted people she knew in other lines, and started long distance, shouted conversations with them. And most of these people were more than happy to respond and ask questions of her and discuss all sorts of matters that had absolutely nothing to do with purchasing goods in a grocery store.
Maybe it’s just me. Maybe other people consider shopping part of their social life. I’ve always gone to the store to get what I need, not to meet people, or to make friends, or to tell everyone details about my personal life. Shopping or banking or working have always been a means to an end for me. I do those things to support my social life, not AS my social life. Maybe we need two different types of stores: stores for people who know what they want and just want to get it, and stores for people who want to wander about endlessly and chat with everyone.
I blame this and much more on the dumbing down of America. This country used to pride itself on excellence and individualism. That is no longer the case. Today, amongst the many “rights” conferred upon people is the right to drag anyone down to your level. As the PC police use “equality” as an excuse to make everything and everyone as stupid as possible, ignorance must be valued as much as intelligence, carelessness cultivated over craftsmanship, and volume holds sway over insight. Welcome to the land of the rude and the home of the dullard.
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5 comments:
I think many are failing to teach their children to respect other people. That gives rise to this nonsense.
The only way to combat this is to be vocal about, without being rude.
Lastly, K-Mart sucks. They abuse their employess and penny pinch without regard to customer impact.
Can I be the glass half full? I just--minutes ago, called customer service for a company from whom I made an online purchase. I needed a product replacement for a defect, totally not their fault. I'm getting a replacement and a prepaid return label.
They bent over backwards for me. I waited probably less than 1 minute for a live CSR. Unreal! I will shop from them anytime!!! It can happen. We just are forced by some companies to accept the awful as usual and customary.
I whined to a friend who's worked in retail for years. She said retailers are well aware of consumers' complaints, but they've done studies and found that people continue to patronize the stores no matter what the complaint, so they see no reason to hire additional staff or properly compensate them. Quality of life no longer matters, just quantity of dollars.
Orbs, you’re right about that yak yak yak shit. Yesterday I was in Adam, WI in a grocery store just to get some beer and ice. The customer and cashier talked so much the cashier made I mistake, what a fiasco that was. The ice actually started to melt on the conveyor.
But in the same turn as KK, I went on AT&T’s site and used their chat room, it was a great experience. The rep from AT&T said she was going to take me to a private room so no one could see my cell number; she actually reset my phone from her location and solved my problem. It must of took a whole 10 minutes.
You have to remember, sometimes the problem is not the companies side of the counter!
For phone calls, try the Gethuman.com web site. It will give you ways to bypass the phone tree for many major companies.
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