Customer Service, or a lack thereof...
In a recent posting, qualin had a small rant about the lack of Customer Service at one of our local Wal*Mart stores. (The orignal posting can be found here.) I was at the same store yesterday, and I'm sorry to say that it's still in pretty much the same state that Qualin had found it in. Mind, I did get an excellent price on some clothes that I needed, but the change-rooms (at least room #1) are still a horrible mess. At least the change rooms actually have locking door-knobs, and doors that go all the way to the floor. I may be a bit of an exhibitionist on FurryMUCK, but not in RL! I value my privacey greatly, and changing-rooms and public washrooms have always been a stress factor for me. Anyway...
The lack of customer service is certainly not limited to Wal*Mart, or any store for that matter. Pretty much every store in Calgary is screaming for staff, and they'll hire pretty much anything that is still breathing and has a pulse. Surly teenagers are often employed in such situations. You do get the occasional one who really does put in the extra effort, but sadly those are few and far between. Last night at the Canadian Tire store on 64th Ave NW, I met a young clerk who did his best to help me, and when he was unable to he gave me the name of the manager who would be in the next morning who should be able to help me. The deal was that I wanted to purchase a Halloween display, and it seemed that the only one they had was the one on display. I have to give the young man credit for trying as hard as he did, and for giving me some contact information when he couldn't get any further, but had he done a more thorough check on the store's computer system, he would have found that the other stores had plenty of these items in stock.
In any case, given the information that he provided, I went back to the store this morning. After waiting patiently while two clerks dealt with one customer at the service desk, I was able to explain what happened last night, and may I please speak with so-and-so, who can authorize the sale of the display unit, blahblahblah. Well, it turns out that so-and-so isn't in, and won't be in for quite a while. Then this other young fellow from another department offers to take my contact info, and they'll get back to me. I explain that I can't really do that, as I'm only in town for another day, then I'm back to Saskatchewan. "Well, I'm afraid we can't help you then," he replies. Now, he wasn't exactly rude, and he had offered to take my contact info down, but the tone he used was quite curt and dismissive. Really not impressive. Now this fellow, being a section manager (I think) ought to have known to check the other stores' inventories to see if another unit was available. He didn't do this. So I left the store with a rather annoyed taste in my mouth, and went to one of the larger Canadian Tire stores up on 36th Street NE. I often find myself wondering why I even bother going to the store on 64th Ave, as this sort of thign often happens. They're the smallest store in the city, their stock is limited, and I've had more issues with surly staff there than at any other store in the franchise.
As it turned out, the store on 36th Street NE had several of the items in stock, at a better price than I had expected, and I wound up picking up a few more items as well. The cashiers were polite and curteous, and I left that store a much happier customer than when I had left the 64th Ave store.
I should also mention that there was another clerk at the 64th Avenue store who put in the extra effort to help me purchase another item that I needed. Not finding the item on the shelves, he checked the computer which said they should have some in stock, so he went down to the warehouse (in the basement) and brought up enough stock to refill my request and restock the shelves. So, kudos to the two clerks who actually put in the extra effort, and a big fat THPPTPTTPTPTTPTPT!!!!! to the surly manager!