Monday, November 24, 2003

Customer Service

I don't want to come off sounding like some old fart complaining about the days when doctors used to make house calls and the guy at the corner grocer knew your name. But, dagnabbit, what the heck is up with the lack of customer service these days?

OK, on Saturday, when I was at Mall Number One, I saw a really nice coat in the shop of an Outdoor Wear Retailer. It was a good coat, which I didn't entirely need, but it would certainly be great to have. I was too focussed on my Soft Kit Bag mission, though, to take time out for coats. I put it out of my mind.

This is what I do with things I'm not sure whether I should buy. Most of the time, I'll forget the item by the next day. But if, on the next day, I'm thinking, "Damn, I shoulda bought the coat," I'll go back for it.

And I did. The next day, I found myself at Mall Number Two. Mall Number Two also had a branch of Outdoor Wear Retailer, so I went in to try on the coat. I tried on the Small. It was huge. I stood there in the middle of the store looking pitiful for awhile, all wrapped up in this big coat -- until a Cheerful Salesperson came up to me. I asked if the coat perhaps came in Extra Small. No, it did not. Cheerful Salesperson added that it she didn't think it was too big. I lifted my arm and flapped the bit of sleeve that was hanging over my hand. Cheerful Salesperson conceded the sleeves were a bit on the long side. She said I could fold them up. On a $20 coat, maybe. If I was gonna buy this thing, it would have to fit.

I pointed out to Cheerful Salesperson that other coats from the manufacturer came in Extra Small -- I had seen them on the rack there. Was she sure this didn't come in Extra Small? She was. I said that us smaller people need to keep warm too and started muttering something about discrimination against people with short arms.

Realizing she wasn't going to make a sale, Cheerful Salesperson gave me her scripted exit line: "OK. If I can help you with anything, my name is Cheerful Salesperson."

I called after her, "Well, you can't help me, can you?" I mean, REALLY. Why offer to help me when you have been of absolutely NO help at all to this point?

Today, I found myself back in Mall Number One to buy some other things. I walked by Outdoor Wear Retailer and went in, on a lark. Looked at the shelf of coats. Yep. An Extra Small right there on the rack.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

<shakes head> I feel your pain. I asked the drivethru girl if everything was in one bag. She said yes. (without looking), when I got around the building I looked, and <gasp> it wasn't. I went right back around and YELLED. Come on everyone just do what you are being paid to do...It's all we ask.

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately, customer service is a lost art. Very few people practice it and the ones who do only get abused anyway, so eventually they stop providing it also. What a shame. Glad to hear you found a coat in an XS though.

Anonymous said...

Oh, ye short armed old fart!

The drugs made me say it.