It seems like in the last few weeks no matter where I go the conundrum I run into is not that there is a lack of availability of product to buy. Nor is there a lack of places to buy the product. No the issue is usually that either the people that are supplying the product have such poor attitudes that I can't shop there or the people are asked to do too much with too little support. Secondary to the issue of not enough folks on the premises in order to take care of the business, is the one where some brilliant strategist gets the absolutely great idea to try and replace people with machines and then have those machines wait on people. It never works.
In the first case it looks like somebody is at the controls of an airliner and they're purposely trying to fly that airliner in the ground and managing the business into a slow painful excruciating decline. In the second case it seems sort of pointless because it's never any faster, it's never more accurate, and it aggravates the hell out of the customers. My problem is that I am watching these people that supposedly know how to run businesses manage theirs into the ground, by making poor choices about capitalization expenses, the utilization of labor, hiring decisions (which is different than the selection of staff), and day-to-day operations.
I see it everywhere I look. And trust me it's not hearkening back to the good old days where there were 62 people waitingto take my two dollars. Trust me I'm not naive, I've been in business a long time. Either as an employee of someone else's business or as an owner of my own I understand how hard it is to make a dollar. I understand sometimes it is more about what you don't do that about what you do.
Go into any big-name big brand box store. Almost all of them have tried this. Some people will tell you they actually enjoy it. At the front of the store there will be 15 or so checkout lines, maybe more, in the space where 2 or 3 of them used to be is now the automatic check out yourself cash register. At the end of the self service cash registers will usually be one person overseeing the operation of the registers (If you are lucky). During the peak of the day this person looks like they are managing an insane asylum and are running back and forth pulling their hair out trying to keep up with all the crap generated by self checkouts. Authorization problems, errors, pricing mismatches, entry errors, you name it they have to run back and forth and swipe their card and fix whatever. Every once in a while one person will walk up with a pack of batteries scam them and pay for them and walk out the door happy as a clam. Usually though, the customer looks more harassed than the employee, and by the time they leave you can see almost exactly what they're thinking on their lips. It's almost as if the business wanted them to say "I'm never coming back here again."
Go into any restaurant, it doesn't make any difference whether it is fast food or sit down you will see the same things.
In a fast food restaurant where they do not seat you, you will stand in line during the peak time longer than if you had cooked the food yourself. When you finally make it to the register to order, the person taking your order doesn't know the menu, doesn't have a clue, can't answer basic questions, has the math skills of a turtle, and is about as fast as one.
In a full-service restaurant where you do wait to be seated, the person at the front door who is your hostess, is also probably a 16 or 17-year-old very pretty young girl, who because she cannot get an alcohol serving license, is the poorest trained person in the building. Somebody told her her job was to triple seat the server (who is a table hog) that scares her the most. Secondary to that she thinks her job is to get your cardiovascular exercise in for the day by running to the other end of the restaurant, waving the menus to get your attention, showing you where the table is with a downward point , all the while throwing the menus down on the table and passing you on the way back to the front door, telling you to "enjoyyourlunchKatieisyourservershe'llberightwithyou." Zoom, zoom .
Harassed servers with that deer in the headlights panicked look on their faces, not a busboy in sight, management that you couldn't find if you had an electron microscope, and then when you go to pay your bill and either you pay the harassed server or the person at the register has to find a manager because he doesn't know what to do with the seven cents you just handed them. Yep, I'll be coming back here.
Keep cutting labor costs though, because that is exactly the answer to the problem.
Does anybody else see this lack of service that I see? It is pathetic and ridiculous.
I called my cable provider yesterday and asked where the application was that allowed you to reset your cable box. Then I spent two hours searching for it online. I'm hardheaded, I should've just said "Please reset my cable boxes they are displaying the wrong time", but no not me, I have to do it myself. So I go where the lady sent me. It's not there. I call them back "You guys said the DVR reset application was at whateveritwas.com and it is not there". She actually says to me "That's where it is at on my computer!". If I had not been so aggravated and pissed off to begin with, I probably would've laughed. Instead I said "Obviously you don't know if the difference between the Internet and an intranet. Please put a supervisor on the phone". after another 10 min. of hold and getting to the supervisor I find out that I'm right ,they are wrong, they reset my boxes and they work now. And it's my fault. I am so stupid.
Next I call my wireless phone provider. I discovered on my bill that they charged me for something I should not have been charged for, and I have a double charge on one phone. I explained to the woman very politely what the problem is, and she promptly tells me I am wrong and Oh by the way I'm an idiot,like every other customer that calls in to speak with "Customer Service Representatives" well not in so many words, however her condescending tone, her superior knowledge and attitude, and the audible sigh that she could put into her answer made me understand just how stupid I was.
Then, as we got into the details of the bill I discovered that I'm not so stupid after all. After $20 in removed charges and $80 in adjustments later, She actually says to me, "is there anything else I can do for you today, have I answered all your questions?". I said "yes ma'am, there's something you can do for me and for every other customer you talk to for the rest of your employment with this company. I said "You can go attend every customer service training class that your company offers because you don't have any skills, and you made my face red and my blood pressure go up by treating me like an idiot."
I don't think anybody had ever told her the truth before, I'm not so sure she understood what I said or why I said it. Oh well.
Then the poorest choice of the day comes next. I really am an idiot for subjecting myself to this crap again. I went to Walmart. The largest company on the planet with the largest number of locations, I'm not sure but probably the most employees, the biggest buildings you've ever seen, staffed by some pretty nice people who just don't have a clue. So I was led to believe that it had become a quieter less aggravating place. All my family and friends said "Oh you should try it, its quieter, they remodeled it, the people are friendly etc, etc, :::::: Ha ha ha - I call Bullsh## !! Same old overhead mic every 5 minutes, same old unfriendly staff, same old stupid crap waiting forever on a 15 minute thing. No way I'm gonna do this ever again.
I am pasting a note that I sent to Walmart on their website yesterday. the upshot of this story is that 3 tires, 1 tire moved from the front of the car to the back of the car, 2 windshield wipers took 3 and 1/2 hours to complete. I know it probably won't do any good, and that any response I get if any will be some canned were so sorry letter, will try to do better in the future, our management has been apprised of your complaint, and then somebody can get bitched at because I complained. Not the way they should go about it but that's what'll happen. Next Saturday they will probably be busy too, and guess what ? I will wait until Monday and buy my tires for my other car at a local tire shop. Obviously they don't need the money.
Here's the text of my note to Walmart:
I had not been the Walmart in my town (in NW Georgia) for a couple of years. It is so aggravating to shop there with the constant loud overhead microphones and the lack of staffing . Today was the first time I have made a decision to go back here to make a major purchase. I just spent3 to 3 1/2 hours or so in the auto section purchasing $401.29 worth of tires and assorted items.
Most of that time I spent waiting. Waiting in line to tell you I wanted to spend money, waiting in line outside at a fence line to tell the service technician what I wanted done to my car and then waiting and waiting and waiting some more while I had 3 new tires balanced and rotated and had 1 tire moved to the rear end of the car.
Didn't you guys know that on Saturday in the springtime at 12 o'clock noon you were going to be busy in the auto Garage ? If you did know that you're going to be busy, then how come there was not enough staff there to handle the business? It was and is ridiculous.
See here's the thing. No matter what the reason is for how long it took, it is irrational and unreasonable for you to expect the customer to understand it. Should it take 2 hours let alone 3 to 3 1/2 hours to get 3 new tires? How long should it take? What should happen when it takes longer?
I did speak to a couple of your folks. A supervisor named Sheila and I spoke to manager named I think Edem. They were very apologetic and listened and responded appropriately and sincerely with great empathy. In my view she was good and he was perfect. I also spoke to one of your associates whom I think was named Brandon, as well as one of your technicians in the shop. All of your folks were great. They were nice pleasant people trying to do too much with too little. Your manager instructed the cashier to take money off my bill as an apology for the wait or service. I didn't want that and it wasn't the point of my complaint, and I didn't allow the cashier to do it.
I understand that labor hours must be watched very closely because it is one of your largest expenses. For whatever it's worth whoever is paying attention there doesn't understand. If the point of cutting back all the people in that section is to save money, I think you're looking at it wrong. If I could have found someone when I was very aggravated I would have got my keys back and left, and followed the other three or four people who left rather than purchase tires because they did not want to wait. they left and didn't spend somewhere between 300 and $1000. Save two or three man hours or sell $1000 worth of tires, on Saturday at noon in the springtime? Which one do you think is a better way to look at it?
I'll tell you one thing, from the look on your managers and associates faces from having to deal with people like me and other angry frustrated customers I would not want to work for you under these circumstances. I'm surprised you can even keep the staff you have. I would've quit long ago.
In I could've went on and on and on but you get my point.
You guys have a good day. Thankx for reading my rant !!
- Big Mike
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