RESURRECT DEAD ON PLANET JUPiTER

customer service

As someone who spent too many years of my life in the hell that is customer service, I’d like to share an experience I had this morning. It left me uncomfortable and confused. What I witnessed was the most blatant display of customer abuse since I’ve seen since a co-worker of mine told one of our clients to “sit the fuck down.”

Since, what happened is better than a description of what happened, here’s a play version.

The scene is Whole Foods. A Young man stands at the checkout, the cashier having left her station for a manual price-check. The young man is pretty hipsterie, greased, slightly long hair, short, thin, dressed in striped polyester. My cashier asks him:

Cashier 2: She didn’t believe you?

Man: No, I guess not. It said $8.54, but it rang up 16 something.

Cashier 1 Returns.

Cashier 1: Next time you cause such a big problem at the counter, why don’t you make sure you know how to read a sign first. All you’re doing is wasting time, wasting all of our precious time. It said YOU SAVE $8.54. The price is $16.

Man: oh

Cashier 1: Here’s your damn book.

I exit the store.

Now while cashier 1 was living the dream, I couldn’t help – as a customer – to be offended. Even as someone with a history in customer service I couldn’t help but be offended. This little hipster dude was not the customer to go nuclear on. He might have been a pain, but you save the ultimate blowout for someone worthy. If you’re gonna get fired, go off on an egotistical lawyer, or a belligerent elderly person. From hipster dude’s reaction, he hardly knew the meaning of the word irate. She should have saved her final outburst for someone who would have jumped over the conveyer belt swinging a organic sausage. That’s all for now.