I tend to write in my blog about poor experiences with stores if the store or the district management or even corporate management doesn't do anything to rectify the situation. The negative stuff ends up on the top of Google searches and that doesn't usually sit well with corporate suits who don't want that kind of bad press.
I have other methods as well. For example, the Quik Trip/QT at 48th Street and Baseline. When it first opened, the service was terrible. LOTS of people waiting in line for one single cashier. I remember one time standing there with fully 15 people ahead of me. There were 2 other cash registers, why couldn't they call someone else up to help this out? I took matters into my own hands, found the manager and asked why he only had one cashier with THAT many people waiting? The situation didn't get better - until I started talking with the District Manager or whatever his title is. I made several phone calls to him about that store and another in Chandler.
I learned their policy as well. I think if it's over 2 people waiting in line, they are supposed to call for another cashier. If it's really busy, they need 3 up there. It's not maybe they should call someone else up, they HAVE to call someone else up. Who wants to go into a convenience store that isn't..............convenient?
So, standing in a long line at the QT at 51st Avenue & I-10, my thoughts were fixated upon their policy. This particular QT is also a truck stop that has numerous diesel-only fueling lanes. They have a large parking lot for truck parking as well. It isn't the biggest truck stop on earth, but it's a pretty popular one judging by the amount of trucks I always see parked there and the amount of customers in the store itself.
Anyway, there were 8 people in front of me. There was a young, latino girl running the cash register. She was paying absolutely no attention, whatsoever, to the long line that had formed. She was completely oblivious to it. There were 2 employees standing behind the partition just behind the girl at the register. They were paying no attention to the line that was growing even longer, either.
Maybe a minute later, an employee came in from outside, walked through the register area and loudly called out for help. This got the attention of the babbling employees in the back who were laughing it up and caring not in the slightest bit about whether customers were being taken care of or not. Amazing. I get annoyed at such incompetency, to be honest.
Anyway, I finally get up to one of the registers and go to the left side. The cashier was helping another lady and told me she would be with me in a second. All well and fine. Then, a dude walks in from OUTSIDE, walks right up to the counter and asks the lady for a box of Marlboro's in the red box. This woman apparently forgets that I am there and starts looking, at a snail's pace, for this guy's cigarettes. She wanders back and forth looking for them and I.........finally had enough. I left everything I was going to buy sitting there, including a large fountain drink (tea, unsweetened) and walked out. The woman sees this and calls out loudly: "SIR!!!". I didn't even slow down. I simply continued walking out.
The next day, I called the district office in Tempe. The woman on the phone took my complaint, apologized and then said someone would be calling me back. 3 days later? No call. Next stop - headquarters. Foregone conclusion I won't hear anything back this weekend. It's not the end of the world, but it IS unacceptable. First, the service at the store and second a promise to get a call back which never materializes. Now, if it was Circle K I wouldn't even bat an eye. You get people working there that don't give a rat's @$$ whether you are happy or not. I rarely go into Circle K's because of that. In fact, almost never, just occasionally go up to the one that is 2 blocks away from me for a bag of ice, but that's IT. 7-11's the same thing. Some pretty rude people working behind those counters. Not ALL of them, of course, but more than not. The other thing about those 2 chains is - what is the deal with not having public bathrooms available? Lol.
QT? I expect a better level of service because they promote that their level of service is better, which it usually is. This story is............to be continued.
3 comments:
I would like to add here that I have spent a lot of money in fueling my truck at this QT. I have a card that let's me go to any truck stop I want to go to. I am not told I have to go here or there. When talking about $500 worth of fuel in one stop - and that isn't even that much compared to OTR trucks - and doing it over and over - we're talking some money and profit here. Not to mention my purchases inside the store. Just saying : )
Wondering how much time you would have spent if you waited patiently on the existing line until it was your turn
versus
how much of your time have you now devoted to your current crusade?
Is it really worth it?
fin
Umm, it was my turn when the man walked in from outside and the woman behind the counter - who had just told me she would be right with me after getting done with the lady in front of me - turned to him instead and then started an elongated search for cigarettes they apparently didn't have.
I had waited quite patiently, thank you, until the point she dissed me and started dealing with a customer that hadn't waited AT ALL. I had been waiting in line for around 5 minutes at this point. I don't know how you can say I hadn't waited patiently.
Yes, it's worth it. The QT up the road no longer does this junk to it's customers, that was my doing from contacting the district manager enough times until the problem was solved. The point is to solve the problem and not have to deal with incompetence. I have devoted - in making phone calls - about 5 minutes. The district office personnel were very kind and I didn't have to wait forever on hold or make repeated calls. So, no, I haven't spend that much time dealing with this.
I still don't get where you say "waited patiently on the existing line until it was your turn". It WAS my turn! That's the point. Not only was it my turn, she knew it was my turn after the lady in front of me but chose to help the guy that HAD JUST WALKED IN THE DOOR FROM OUTSIDE to get him his cigarettes! I am not sorry and I don't care what anyone thinks about my way of dealing with it. If a cashier is going to treat their customers that way, I am going to take whatever action necessary to make it right.
Post a Comment