Disappointment Tuesday 003
Apologies for not posting this on Tuesday but I found myself too exhausted to sit down and write last night! But it’s about an event that occurred on Tuesday so this is where it belongs!
I know it’s the week before Christmas and everything, so going out into the City on my lunch hour and getting bombarded with stupid people and harried shop assistants is to be expected. So when every jerk blocks the escalators in the shops, I will just deal with it and vow to get past them before the next set on the next level. But what I cannot abide by, whether it’s Christmas time or whenever, is shitty customer service. Yes it’s busy, yes there are thousands of idiots converging on the City for their last minute gift purchases, but adequate customer service should exist regardless of the time of year. I’m not asking for back rub’s and a stream of compliments from every employee whose shop I enter, I just feel a basic greeting is the absolute bare minimum of customer service when it comes to retail.
So anyway, I went to Myer as there’s a certain shop I love that has a concession stand in the men’s section (won’t name name’s… yet) because a) I love their stuff and b) because there’s a dress there I’ve told people I want for Christmas and wanted to see if it was still in stock before they headed in themselves. It wasn’t too busy in this part of Myer, but there were a few customers in this particular section, quietly browsing. I quickly note there are two shop assistants for this section, both of whom are folding and putting away clothing and chatting to each other. I figure they will end their conversation soon enough and walk by so I can ask them if the dress is there or not. But no, they seemed to be actively avoiding contact with all customers, not greeting myself or anyone else and definitely not asking if anyone needed some help.
After about 5 minutes I was getting pretty mad, I could see the dress wasn’t there but I found a great skirt and wondered if they had other sizes. But at this point the female employee was too busy describing the ugly underskirt she was wearing to her male co-worker, and upon turning the corner I witnessed her hitching her skirt up and him teasing her about it. The last straw was when they both walked into the middle aisle and kept chatting (this time about some “ugly” shirt of his), so that both myself and another customer couldn’t get through. I gave them a withering look and the girl said “We should probably move and stop blocking the aisle” which was when they finally stopped gasbagging and meekly walked away.
I was so angry by this point, I left, and left the section almost completely deserted as I can only imagine how put out the other customers were too. Not once did either of these so-called retail assistants greet a customer, nor did they ask if anyone would like a hand finding anything, or in fact acknowledge our existence at all aside from a cursory glance now and then (probably to make sure we weren’t stealing anything). Maybe I’m just old fashioned but I just can’t bust in on someone’s conversation, nor do I think I should have to do so in order to get served.
In conclusion, I have emailed them a letter of complaint. I’ve had great customer service there before (I actually bought a dress from that very shop which has featured in my blog before, but again, no names…yet). I don’t expect anything from them, I just hope those two twits get into trouble and they learn the value of good customer service!
Have you had a bad customer service experience this Christmas?
