How often do you walk out of a business beause of the service?

In My Humble Opinion
61

Once spent 45 minutes or so in a dentist’s waiting room only to then spend another hour in the chair staring at a poster and looking at some brochures without a single word from the staff. Finally got up and walked out. The front desk person seemed a bit offended but I told her I was more offended by spending two hours of life sitting around and not even getting a “Oh, he’s deep in a procedure” or “He won’t be ready to see you for a long while, we’re terribly sorry, would you like to reschedule?”

Given that people have to basically work their lives and job schedules around these appointments when they come up, to leave someone hanging like that was inexcusable.

62

Yesterday, at a McDonald’s.

I was going to buy coffee but discovered the car window was frozen shut, so I parked and went inside, only to be stuck behind two people. I stood there for nearly 10 minutes as the line grew behind me while the first person was trying to make up his mind between two “meals” and the other four drones behind the counter doing busy work — nothing. The other till was closed.

So I walked out. But my righteous indignation thawed along with the window, so I bought a coffee at another McDonald’s.

63

When comparing my own tolerance threshold against those of others, it seems I failed to consider a possible preexisting element of seething, untapped rage. My apologies.

64

Last time we did was last summer. It was a local bar/restaurant, one we’d been to many, many times. This time, we stuck our head’s in, and it was really busy. I had some shopping to do at a place down the block, so we decided to go do that, and then check the restaurant again when we walked back to the car. So we went and got my stuff, came back about 20-30 minutes later, and lucky for us, there were two barstools available. We walked in, got to the stools, and then Mr. Athena looked at me and said “Hey, I’ve got this big bag, I’m going to run outside and put it in the car so I don’t have to watch it the whole time we’re here.”

We were parked across the street - literally, across the street, not “across the street in a 4 story parking garage” or “across the street, down a block, and turn right” We were in a lot directly across from the door to the restaurant. Not at all far away. This is important.

So he went to do that, and the bartender came and asked if she could get me something, I said “hmm, give me a minute to decide.” Then, from behind me, I hear a waitress call to the bartender. Seems that it had started raining out, and there were people eating their dinner on the outside terrace. The waitress was asking the bartender to help her find room for the outside people so they didn’t have to eat in the rain.

Bartender looks at me, looks at the empty chair next to me, and asks me to move down. I say “no, I can’t, my husband is sitting there.”

She says “We can’t let you save seats for people who aren’t here.”

I say “He is here, he walked in with me, he just ran to the car in the lot outside to put away our bags.”

She repeats “I can’t let you save that chair.”

I gawk. I can’t believe she’s doing this. I say again “He’s here, are you really saying you are giving away his seat?”

She says “We need these seats for the people outside because it’s raining.”

I’d had enough. I stood up and left. As I opened the door to come out, Mr. Athena was walking in. When I told him what had happened, he nearly went in and started a fight with the bartender, but I talked him out of it.

He did call and talk to the owner/manager the next day, who gave a half-hearted “sorry” but nothing else. We’ve never gone back.

The bad thing is that we will probably eventually end up going back. In a town with only a few good bar/restaurants, it gets old boycotting one of them. I’m sure eventually someone will talk us into going there.

65

I do this:

ahem “'Scuse me. '***Scuse ***me! Hi, yes, I’m looking for {item}. Could you please help me find it?”

I’ve been ignored (at first) by plenty of underpaid staff. I’ve never felt the need to walk out of a business, though … I simply draw their attention, and then continue on with my errand.

66

Holy fuck. :eek:
Just hearing about that sort of exchange makes me feel like I just entered some other dimension, or Candid Camera is filming or something. It’s so unreal, I cannot actually believe that someone who is employed for the sole purpose of helping customers responds to a simple request that way. I half expect their face to peel back and morph into some unearthly demon or something. That’s when I definitely make my displeasure known to management.

I’ve been employed in some sort of service position for my entire life (18 years in hospitality, another 18 in academia) and I cannot abide rudeness or unwillingness to help in a service person. I’m a big fan of the “contact us” page on the corporate website - it helps with the need to vent and occasionally results in prizes.

We used to have a Friendly’s nearby, which was one of those bizarre black-hole anomolies compared to literally every other Friendly’s I’d ever been to. Staffed by sullen zombies, I’m pretty sure, all of whom had clearly worked very hard to perfect that magical distance-stare that makes the person right in front of you become invisible. I stood at the walk-up window for several minutes, just wanted to order an ice cream to go, and watched three or four of them stand there lazily wiping a counter or whatever and gazing blankly all around them, including straight at me, not one of them able to see me (nor willing to make the first move). I left, went right back to my desk and explained my experience on the corporate site. A few days later, received a nice boilerplate apology and a $15.00 gift card (which got used at another location). I actually went back twice, thinking they’d learn from that…had virually the same experience and ultimately got two more gift cards. Not long afterwards, that location was one of the many that got eliminated.

We have two Big Y locations nearby - thankfully, the one closer to me is the one that apparently has good management and the climate there is very healthy and happy (as supermarkets go). Anytime I’m at the prepared food section to pick up a chicken or whatever, those folks always acknowledge immediately and come help as soon as they can. Not so at location #2! They have also perfected the distance-stare. Last time I put up with their shit, it was two lackeys and the department manager - yeah, the guy with his picture on the wall right there! - who were putting all their energy into not noticing that person standing at the register. By way of experiment, I waited it out for about three minutes and then pleasantly asked if one of them could help me. They all whipped around with great “surprise” as if a ghost had appeared, and said “OH be right there!”. :dubious: Got my stuff and left, went right to the corporate website and recounted my tale, making a point of comparing it to every experience at the other location. I closed with the suggestion that employees/management at location #1 give a seminar in good customer service to those at location #2. No gift card, but an email apology. Meanwhile, I avoid location #2 at all costs.

67

Carson’s is the undisputed heavyweight champion of shitty customer service.
My pregnant wife was yelled at by an associate when she tried to return a set of crib bedding. Apparently even though we had the receipt and the item was unopened they couldn’t find the transaction in their system so they decided berating a pregnant woman in front of a line of other customers and accuse her manufacturing a fake receipt was the proper action.

This is just one of the horrible experiences I’ve had there and why I will never step foot in the store again as long as I live.

68

It happens once in a great while. The last time I REMEMBER was about ten years ago in a “seat yourself” chain restaurant. No one came to take my order for the longest time, so I finally just left. I did that once at a car dealership, too. Honestly, if you’re going to ignore me, I’m gone.

69

Quite often, actually. I have little patience with shitty customer service. If you don’t want my custom, there are plenty of places that do.

70

I don’t care if I’m not greeted by salesmen. I actually prefer that. If I need help I’ll ask. The thing that gets me is waiting forever in check out lines. I have walked out of wal mart big lots cvs and Von’s/Safeway. I’ve noticed it’s usually because of annoying moron customers than it is incompetent employees.

71

So you punish the business because their customers are “annoying moron[s]”?

72

Try shopping at a high end department store as a man sometime. I won’t be bothering with Nordstroms ever again. I took a day off work so I could search for a special, expensive dress for my wife for Christmas. Middle of the day, zero other customers in sight in the whole women’s department and I couldn’t even catch the eye of a single employee. When I approached someone and asked for help they were busy. When the absurdity of the scene, me strolling the aisles of pretty dresses while Nordstom employees dove into dressing rooms or behind checkout counters at my approach, became too much I just left.

73

Sometimes the business needs policies that insulate the other customers from the idiocy of the few.

The Post Office is a great example of this. The last time I went there I waited for seven minutes (Not an exaggeration; I checked my watch) because the woman in front of me was trying to buy $2.01 in postage to make up the difference on a package. First, she didn’t like the picture on the $1 stamps, then she was astonished that she had to pay extra if she wanted some other denomination (since it didn’t come out exactly right. Then neither of them could do math properly for a while. She finally ended up buying the two $1 stamps that she didn’t like the picture of and—and this is the best part—taking the package with her because she had a $0.01 stamp at home she could use. Clearly, this is the act of a person who does not value her time or others’. A sensible business would have a process in place to let her dither all she wants in a way that doesn’t affect the five of us in line behind her (she was the only one there when I arrived) from transacting our business.

74

Reminds me of shopping for a car in the not so good old days. I’m a female. I was usually in my work clothes (business suit suit or dress) stopping on my way home from work. One place I walked in, and all of the salesmen (male) walked away, or if they were “caught” at their desks, immediately picked up their phones. I felt like I had cooties. Nobody would talk to me. I eventually heard of a female friend-of-a-friend who sold cars and bought a new car from her.

Another time, in another dealership, I was in the showroom comparing window stickers, pretty much decided on what I wanted but trying to choose between a 2-door or 4-door. Nice Buick. Salesman walks up and blurts out “Where do you work?” I name a major insurance company nearby. His reply? “You can’t afford that” and walks away. No, I did not buy the car from that dealership.

So I can sympathize with your Nordstrom’s experience. It sometimes works in the reverse, and for big ticket items.

75

I’ve only ever walked out of a business once. It was Bobick’s. A driving range/golf store. It was the weekend and I went there dressed leisurely in a jumpsuit. I was ready to spend up to $500 on a set of clubs. I browsed around for about 15-20 min without being helped. Then a guy in a suit walks in and is immediately asked if he needs help. I walked right the fuck out.

76

Took me a minute to figure out if this was supposed to be a whoosh.

Listen, I dislike bad customer service as much as the next guy. I worked in retail for a few years and I always made an effort to provide superior customer service, not because I gave a shit about the store but because I took pride in my own personal work ethic.

The sad truth is, most retail establishments do their best to make their employees feel absolutely worthless, demoralized, disenfranchised. This usually translates directly to the customer experience. You can immediately tell when a place treats their employees well (Trader Joes, In’n’Out) because the employees generally go out of their way to treat the customers well.

77

And now you want to pound it into others. You are an example for us all … not a good example … but an example.

78

I never expect good service in retail and am always surprised when it happens. I know what those kids are being paid, and I feel it would be wrong of me to expect them to care about their job for that kind of money.

79

This had my choking on my coffee. Too funny!

80

nods similar experience awhile back. Even in a big city, the places that do what nobody else does at a certain price point…unless they’re selling babies to the devil, we’ll probably go back.