Went down to Windward Mall to get a Triple Prime Bacon Cheddar Burger at Ruby Tuesday. Was seated almost immediately, which was a surprise. Guess it wasn’t very busy during the economic downturn – lots of empty tables. It took at least three minutes (probably more like five, but I don’t want it to seem like I’m exaggerating) for server first contact. She was a trainee being ghosted by an experienced server, so the fault really falls on the trainer no matter how nice she was. It is inexcusable to have that long a delay before a face-to-face with the customer. It is worse to use customer dissatisfaction as a training tool – don’t allow the customer to become unhappy then point out to your trainee, “you don’t want to do this,” instead, proactively address the customer and lead by example. I almost walked out. That whole “not busy” thing manifested itself in reduced staff, so even if it wasn’t for the trainee floor staff, the kitchen was understaffed, so food prep was slow.
My burger came out fine, predominantly “medium”, with a bit of a char on the edges. As a cost cutting measure, plates come with a little metal bowl of ketchup instead of them bringing a bottle to the table. I had to ask for a second cup, but got it a lot quicker than I got initial service. I can’t really fault the food. It wasn’t really worth $14 USD in my opinion though. The $3.50 Blue Moon hefe was.
Where does one go to top off a night of customer dissatisfaction? Of course to Borders – the only place in the mall where you can get more disservice than Ruby Tuesday! I quickly found a manga I wanted and took it up to the register. There was only one station open, and there was an older couple waiting there. Apparently the cashier had gone to check on something. She eventually returned, and finished the transaction, but not before dragging it out with all the canned rhetoric they are trained to give you. The girl in front of me went up and was captured by one of the “do you want to___” questions, in this case, donating a book to Toys For Tots – a worthy cause, so this didn’t bother me. Midway during the sale, another worker slithered up to the edge of the register area and asked the cashier, “did you get ___’s call?” The conversation went on for a while in as close to a whisper as one can possibly manage across that distance between the magazine rack and the second farthest register.
Finishing the transaction, the cashier went on her celly, her waifish body squirming slightly in her tight black tee and black jeans, finger twirling the wire on her handsfree since her black hair was too short, black high-top Chuck Taylors going alternately from toe to heel on alternating feet as she rotated her hips from left to right.
“Yeah, I was busy… with a customer.” She said “customer” with that rolling-the-eyes open-jawed derision that all teens have as a practiced art. I instantly envisioned whoever “he” was being some hipster wannabe hanging out at Starbucks across the street by Long’s, nursing his chai latte next to his fixie while Twittering on the netbook that he carried in his Chrome messenger bag. Look at his bike and you’d get, “Yeah, that’s mine – not everyone can ride one.”
No, beyotch, you are still busy with customers, since there’s me and the lady behind me waiting for you to get off your personal call on work time and work. She eventually looked at me with a frown from behind black-rimmed glasses and said, “you can come here,” with that same slack-jawed face. That’s a direct quote. No shit.
“Did you find everything you were looking for?”
Not really, since I didn’t find good customer service. “Yes, I did.”
“Are you a member of our rewards program?” she scanned the book. Beep.
“No, I am not.”
“Would you like to sign up?” I‘m sure they get some kind of points for signing people up, otherwise they wouldn’t ask in the first place. I’d be dammed if I’d do anything to benefit this person even if I wasn’t in a rush.
“No, not right now,” I leaned to take a fake glance out the storefront, “I’ve got someone waiting outside who I told ‘I’d be right out’ when I got into line five minutes ago.” Full snide mode activated. No, really. I’m not shitting you – this is as verbatim as I can get!
“Would you like a bag?” she didn’t even flinch! Could she be so jaded or vacant that she can’t detect a biting dig?
“No, I don’t need one”
“Hold on, this one takes a little long,” she waited for the second printout with all the advertising krapp on it to come out of the thermal printer. She really seemed to not have caught the dig. “Here you go. Have a good evening.”
“Thank you. You too.”
I actually felt a little sorry for her. For a second or two.
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