Shopping, even when ultimately after a lengthy, miserable experience I manage to find something I absolutely cannot live without and must add to closet, home decor, or kitchen accessory repertoire, is mentally and emotionally draining.
Let's not even consider that my time is money and that fuel is now so expensive I have to calculate mileage driven and add this to the overall cost of anything new I purchase.
I had a sobering conversation with a friend last night about the state of customer service and expectations of customers in general. I commented that a particular restaurant I like to frequent had some of the nicest servers and would bring half my meal at once and the other half later if I wanted it to stay warm over a long period of time while I was working.
When she responded in a semi-state of awe, something terrifying struck me. I obviously felt these were things substantial enough to point out, and yet why wouldn't every dining establishment have servers who treat customers nicely? And how hard is it to put sauce on five wings when ordered and then throw sauce on five more an hour later when you have a steady stream of customers who are ordering wings?
It's not rocket science. It's not like I asked them to cook half a baked potato and then cook its other half...
Pondering this more, if they refused to honor that simple request or the people I had to deal with were rude or inattentive, then why would I spend my money there in the first place?
Companies do not cater to us - do not make us feel special or that our business is important to them for one reason:
Because we tolerate it!
Yes, we visit WalMart knowing we're going to have to yield to employees dragging pallets of product around the aisles and blocking us at every turn, making us feel that we as customers are interruptions to their work. We go to the grocery store and have to scan and check ourselves out without getting one red cent off our bill for the extra effort when there are 20 customers in line and one human worker.
We pass a trash can in the McDonald's drive-thru lane that is so overflowing we can't even shove in a single dirty napkin and yet the pick-up window attendant says she can't take that used soda cup we bought at the last McDonald's and throw it away for us.
Oh, I am more than sure there are reasons for how customers get treated, but I'm also certain that - regardless of legalities and regulations they can hang their hats on - ultimately the goal is to save them money. And this works for them because we continue to allow them to do it.
I know that economic factors don't help, because as companies provide less and poorer service we remain patrons if they can keep the price of the product low. We do it consciously - accepting the beating on a quality of service level just to bring it in for fewer bucks!
And trust me, they count on that fact.
The problem is that if we don't band together and take a stand, nothing will change. We have to find a way to hit their pocketbooks - to let them know we will drive 10 minutes out of the way to Starbucks for our coffee if it means they know our name or hell simply offer a smile and some brief conversation.
That we'll pay more for that new cocktail dress for holiday parties if it means we can get a dressing room without being strip searched and don't have to stand in a cattle corral of 40 people to check out only to be given the practical silent treatment by a cashier and not even be thanked sincerely for our purchase.
I challenge everyone to pick one thing that is important enough to them to pay a few extra cents - or even better dollars - for. Find a vendor who will make that experience a pleasant one for you. Then pass the news on to your friends and family... and your online network!
Let's buy where we matter and stop padding the bottom line at stores where they either don't realize or purposefully neglect our value.
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