I’ve been kinda bummed lately, but OTHER PEOPLE ARE NOT HELPING.
At work, I’m standing in a short line in front of a cafeteria food station while the cooks are dancing around, making noise signals from one station to another, and burning items and messing up orders. I recently had something prepared incorrectly while I was the only one in line.
I went to a mall food court today for lunch, where I placed my order as one customer of many in a line that moved sequentially. They managed to somehow mess up the order of the dishes and I had to tell them whose plate belonged to which customer. I paid for my food but was still waiting for one last item. The girl behind the counter asked me IN SPANISH what I was waiting for.
Later today, hoping to get a predictable service, I went to a Starbucks in which the barista incorrectly prepared a Carmel Macchiato. I’m no barista, but I’ve had the drink enough times that I know how it is made. Shouldn’t someone employed by Starbucks know the procedure better than a customer? After all, I haven’t read the training manual. (Didn’t they just retrain 135,000 employees?) About three years ago I challenged a Starbucks employee who misconstructed a drink. They dug up an employee manual to confirm the procedure — and I was correct.
Maybe it’s not me. I feel that somehow (and lately), everybody is just not caring. I mean, is it difficult to warm a hamburger bun on a grill without completely charring it? Is it difficult to keep plates of food in order? What about following well known, published directions?
I know it is not my job to police, educate, and train the masses at large. But when I am dealing with stresses of my own and need some predictable, reliable services, where can I turn to? You do your job, and I’ll do mine.
Your post made me smile. When people ask me what the biggest difference between my homeland (US) and my current residence (Netherlands) two things come to mind: rights-on-red and customer service. The Dutch, themselves, even admit they have no customer service in NL. The woman asked you in Spanish if you needed any help. At least she asked. In Amsterdam you’d have to open a juggler to get any attention at all and then it’s still 50/50 you’d get what you want. Anyway, so customer service is flagging in Silicon Valley, at least you can still take rights-on-red.