Failures in a Modern World

[John in Covina]

I don't know about you but it seems to me there were a lot of things they just seemed to do a whole lot better as little as 30 years ago. On Sunday, i stopped off at Staples which by the way is so similar to Office Depot that I really can't tell them apart. i was interested in buying a new printer, because while the old one technically works, it is not capable of printing in the crisp and precise manner that made it such a cherished member of my PC empire. i spent some time on the web and saw that some people were Epson fans others were in the HP camp.

Meanwhile, back at Staples den of darkness, I walk in and stroll around the 2 whole aisles of printers with home to minor industrial printing capacities. Normally when i come into a place the minions are all over me like flies on the horse poop pile. But that is only when i not only know what i want but can find it easily. Today however the entire crew is in full hipster mode equating irony with total lack of service. I ask the girl in the next aisle where she is restocking the cell phone accesories, if there is anyone that can help me with a question on printers. She look startled and almost put upon that she should be asked to help. Her instinctive deflect the blame powers kicked in and she said Wow like I'll call like the tech guys to like help. With that she produces a cell phone and her voice peels out of the paiging system. Tech service to the printers, tech service to the printers.. She looked over to where 2 guys but unmistakebly hipsters talking about hipsterisms and how ironic things are are helping an actual customer for a few moments. Unbeknownst to me hipsters have selective hearing and they have not only disregarded the page but are currently working to hack the pentagon on behalf of Al Qida, so are too busy to come over to help anyone. 10 minutes later i speak to the girl who is still just in the next aisle, asking "are they going to come and help me?" She is shocked that they did not come yet with a Snap of the cell phone she paiges the the tech dolts again, i wait another 7 minutes and then walk over to the next aisle and tell the girl please let them know not to bother helping me I am leaving now. I flipped off the the tech dolts on the way out and will be contacting the store manager soon. There is a lot I can put up with but this type of worthlessness deserves some type of slow and torturous death.

In Roman times, somebody's head would be on a pike in front of the store as a warning to the other hipster slackers... Now where can i find a good inexpensive pike?

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

You'll probably encounter the same calibre of staff at Pike Emporium.

 

[Gregg Axley]

I experience this at a few stores, especially Best Buy.
Which is why I buy clothes online, and a lot of other things. Cuts these people out...
What I've done in the past, is the following...
"I need to buy (insert your item), I have the money now, and I don't have a lot of time, please get someone to assist me so I can get this done."
This comes from years of hearing people "pontificate" about what they might buy, while I stand there waiting.
Plus in the past 11 years, I've been married to an impatient Texan that pushes the issue if I don't get any action from the clerk.

 

[hatguy1]

Customer service is beyond dead in the 21st century. My pet peeve is walking into giant home improvement box stores and browsing round an aisle where there's dozens of variations on something (the caulking tube aisle is a great example) pondering what the hell the difference can possibly be among all these tubes of caulk and have the help just watch you stare and wonder without asking you anything - assuming you can find them anywhere round. Menard's, however, is definitely the opposite of this. EXCELLENT customer service there.

 

[J.W.]

Remember the times, when stores were closed on Sundays? SCNR

 

[LizzieMaine]

If you *expect* service in a big box store, you're expecting too much. The whole point of such stores is to sell in volume at cut-rate prices -- and a trained service staff isn't part of that business plan. They figure if they lose a few customers because of this policy it's no great loss -- because they'll always have a surfeit of shoppers who only care about price.

If you want a good deal on a pike, I'd suggest finding a locally-owned small-town hardware store run by a pot-bellied elderly man in a flannel shirt, who'll rumble and grumble and go down to the cellar and find one that's been in stock since 1910. Except the big boxes have driven all those stores out of business.

 

[dh66]

Amen Lizzie

 

[hatguy1]

If you *expect* service in a big box store, you're expecting too much. The whole point of such stores is to sell in volume at cut-rate prices -- and a trained service staff isn't part of that business plan. .

I don't know.... Menard's seems concerned about it enough to have a very well-trained, customer-oriented staff. I even asked one of their management staff about it once. He said the company spends a lot of money and time in testing applicants for the psychological traits that lend themselves well to customer service.

 

[John in Covina]

Big chain store where service is a slogan! Reminds me of Sky High Airlines We have our Heads in the Clouds!

 

[Flat Foot Floey]

I agree to Lizzie. People prefer big box stores or buying over the internet because it is cheaper. Why is it cheaper? Because they cut out service.
The worst thing is when people get good service and THEN buy somewhere else because it is cheaper. Once you found a store with nice and knowledable staff you should reward them with loyalty.

I am not saying John did all that just that the trend didn't come out of nowhere (or from the hipster staff itself)

 

[Stanley Doble]

I blame reincarnation.

According to the theory of reincarnation we are all reincarnated over and over into different lifetimes until we achieve perfection and merge into the God head.

So, the world's population should be diminishing ever so slowly as a few souls every generation make the grade.

BUT we know that over the last thousand years, the world's population has increased from 250,000,000 to over 6,000,000,000.

So where are all the souls coming from? They must be from animals who have got promoted to humans.

This makes sense when you think of all the animals that have gone extinct.

So now you know why you meet so many Dodo birds and animalistic bastards these days.

 

[HudsonHawk]

I agree to Lizzie. People prefer big box stores or buying over the internet because it is cheaper.

I prefer the big box store over the internet because I can walk in, look over the selection, get what I want, and take it home that very day. Price is irrelevant. I will not buy clothes, hats, shoes, underwear, watches, vehicles, guitars, etc...over the internet. They are things I want to see first hand before I purchase them.

 

[TallErik]

I blame reincarnation.

According to the theory of reincarnation we are all reincarnated over and over into different lifetimes until we achieve perfection and merge into the God head.

So, the world's population should be diminishing ever so slowly as a few souls every generation make the grade.

BUT we know that over the last thousand years, the world's population has increased from 250,000,000 to over 6,000,000,000.

So where are all the souls coming from? They must be from animals who have got promoted to humans.

This makes sense when you think of all the animals that have gone extinct.

So now you know why you meet so many Dodo birds and animalistic bastards these days.

Lol

Brilliant post!!!

 

[Edward]

What we have here is the triumph of modern capitalism. It calls this to mind...

[video=youtube;1oc4PGvmIFk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oc4PGvmIFk[/video]

Many a true word spoken in jest, and all that...

 

[sheeplady]

I flipped off the the tech dolts on the way out and will be contacting the store manager soon.

There's no reason to flip somebody off in this situation. It makes you no better than them. You could have informed them that they lost a sale and walked out without being rude yourself. Instead you used a profane gesture to counter being ignored. You made the world a much ruder place just by that gesture. You faced the decision on how to act in this situation: with dignity or without a shred of dignity. You chose to add more negativity and rudeness to the world just because you were angry.

You can't hold the moral high ground if you've chosen to counter rudeness with more rudeness. When you contact the manager and s/he talks to her/his employees, you're going to be the customer who flipped off her/his staff. It really ruins your credibility.


The world would be a much better place if people followed the Golden Rule more. If you don't like the idea of being flipped off by a store clerk, don't flip off store clerks yourself. You just modeled the exact kind of rude behavior you are so upset about. You wonder why these young people act like this? Because they grew up seeing whole generations of people who think it's appropriate to flip off somebody in public. See it enough and you start to think that how you treat people doesn't matter.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

I perfectly understand John's anger and frustration. Communication is getting your point across in a manner that others can understand. Unfortunately, for many today, a rude gesture (or worse) is the ONLY language they understand. You just can't be nice anymore because it just goes right over their heads. Either that or they take advantage of you.

The world would be a much better place if people followed the Golden Rule more. If you don't like the idea of being flipped off by a store clerk, don't flip off store clerks yourself. You just modeled the exact kind of rude behavior you are so upset about. You wonder why these young people act like this? Because they grew up seeing whole generations of people who think it's appropriate to flip off somebody in public. See it enough and you start to think that how you treat people doesn't matter.

Though I suspect that some of these folks are the sort that, given a chance, would flip you off gratuitously and without provocation because they think it's cool and bad@$$.

 

[Dragon Soldier]

I know I mentioned it on another thread but... You guys really don't appreciate the level of customer service you have.

Try Europe for a while and you will know your orders.

 

[Edward]

Ha!

FWIW, I tend to find the level of service improves exponentially with how well the workforce are treated by their employer. No sense of being valued by the company = no impetus to provide good service on its behalf.

 

[Rudie]

I know I mentioned it on another thread but... You guys really don't appreciate the level of customer service you have.

Try Europe for a while and you will know your orders.

Agreed. I am always astonished about the level of customer service in the US compared to Germany.

 

[Dragon Soldier]

Ha!

FWIW, I tend to find the level of service improves exponentially with how well the workforce are treated by their employer. No sense of being valued by the company = no impetus to provide good service on its behalf.

Could be true, I've no experience of working Stateside to compare.

I did have a chum staying locally for a while though, fellow from North Carolina, who I once called a Yank. Seeing as it was North Carolina I thought that would be okay, some mistakes you only make once.

He almost starved in the first few weeks he was staying here as he would not stand in a queue if there were tills without staff behind them.
His way of putting it was that he did not stand in line to pay people his money, I can't deny his point, but he was here for eighteen months and his attitude had adjusted by the end.... It had to or he would have died.