Time to Vent

If the thought of someone with few things to worry about at the moment bitching about a relatively unimportant problem annoys you, it is recommended that you avoid reading the following entry. You have been warned.

Something is bugging me.

I was in town today, seeing a few friends and taking care of some stuff that has been piling up since I decided to barricade myself into my room to try and study. This is not unusual. We had lunch, chatted about stuff, strolled around town, had ice cream and wondered why people hate students so much. Anyway during my day I spent money, as I am rather prone to do. Nothing noteworthy about this either. There is a point to this twaddle.

Replaying my day in my head I realised that the art of customer service is virtually dead. Let me show you:

1. Waitress at restaurant declines to smile as she takes our order.
2. Guy at till graciously pauses his telephone conversation to take my money. Would you like a tip? Tough shit.
3. Comic book clerk stops playing with his phone long enough to fleece me. The cad.
4. I buy a bottle of coke in a newsagent's. "Next!” I approach the clerk. Instead of making eye contact with me, his attention is immediately drawn to the beverage in my hands. He scans it and barks the price at me. He looks impatient as I pause to find the correct change. Trying to inject a sense of civility to the transaction, I look him in the eye and say, "thank you." He looks to the next customer. "Next!”

Taken separately, these are all very minor incidents, but when I put them together I get the feeling that customer service is gone. It felt like I was intruding on these people, as if by buying something from them, I was somehow wasting time that would be better spent chatting to their friends or messing with their stupid fucking phones. Bitter? Maybe a little. But when I am paying through the noise for stuff I expect a little attention. Now, does poor customer service make we want to spend more money or less money? Let me think about that for a minute. Hmmm. Is the answer, ”No fucking way.”

Indeed it is.

Rant over. Normal service will be resumed tomorrow.