There are three things that I hate, yes HATE, in this world: seeing children suffer, eating octopus and wasting my time with know-nothing salespeople or customer service representatives. I already give to charities that help children in need and refuse to try the eight-legged sea urchin anytime I am offered, but I have not found a solution to my third pet peeve.
Over the holidays I was stressed about buying certain products in specific price ranges and even if I tried to overcome my dislike for store attendants my hate only grew more. Whenever I went to clothing stores and asked people if they had pieces in certain colors or sizes I always receive the answer, “You know, I am not really sure, I haven’t really checked the new stuff yet.” Or “Ummm, yeah, I don’t know let me check and I’ll get back to you,” which never happens.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand people cannot possibly know every detail about the business they work for, or have an exact count of the inventory memorized. When I ask a question, I would still like a definite “yes” or “no” answer even if it’s a lie. My problems with bad service didn’t stop at the mall.
Before leaving for break I headed to the registrar’s office to ask if I was going to be blocked for spring semester registration. I was in line for 10 minutes since the place apparently has only two attendants and one phone line that never stops ringing or gets answered.
While one of the workers tried to shut the phone off, check e-mail and answer my question, I wasted 10 more minutes and was finally told, “I am not sure, you’ll have to check with Financial Aid or something.” I felt like telling this worker, “Thanks! You just made me wait in line while you chat on Instant Messenger (IM), listen to my dilemma, even though you were not paying attention and simply directed me to somebody else since you are either too busy or just plain careless to do the job. Remind me to meet you after work and beat you up for your amazing help. Toodles.”
The worst experience was when my car died out, again, in November and I was told by the repairman that it was the alternator. I returned a week later only to find that my car had a new motor, steering wheel changes and break patches fixed simply because, “the alternator wasn’t really ‘it’ and the other things were played around with.” This foolishness put my mom out a grand and put me in the Christmas gift doghouse for the mechanic’s unapproved changes.
All I am asking is for store managers to actually manage their workers. Teach employees to know the business’s most important facts. Encourage professional service by saying “thank you” and “you’re welcome” instead of “yeah sure” and “whatever.” Place an employee in an area he or she best understands so people like me don’t get frustrated with lacking service.
According to Dennis Parker, a Wisconsin Technology Network columnist who recently wrote a column entitled “Death of Customer Service”, “great customer service died a slow death during the past 20 years. It died due to neglect, greed, selfishness and rude behavior by companies and service agents.” I can only hope that these service agents realize the amount of business they continually lose due to uncanny attitudes and that the golden days of “Hello! How may I help you today?” return.
— Bessie King is a member of the News Staff and a middler journalism major.
