Before I begin, I want to give you a little bit of info on me. I hate to shop. Going into stores and walking around with a lot of other people is not my cup of tea. Going to a mall is what my nightmares are made of. I won’t even drive past a mall, let along go into one. Now you know my feelings on real world shopping I can begin.

Last night coming home from work, I had to stop off at the dry cleaners. In the same shopping center as my dry cleaners is a Staples. I have been meaning to pick something up so I decided since I was going to be there, I might as well go in and by what I needed from Staples instead of just ordering it online like I usually would. <– Mistake #1

I go into Staples try to find what I was looking for, no luck. A good employee saw I was floundering and came over to help. He knew exactly what I was looking for and showed me right what I was looking for was located. Fabulous customer service, life is good so far. I looked at a couple of options I had to choose from and finally decided on one and took it to the register. <— Mistake #2

There is of course only one register open and it is staffed by a two people (one woman and one man). The woman had a big TRAINEE sticker on her shirt. Naturally, my powers of intuition took over and I realized that the woman was new and training and the man was her trainer. Ok then. There were 3 or 4 people in line waiting to be rung up and a woman at the register writing a check for her purchase. I was prepared for the woman check writer as there is a law in North Carolina that says anytime I go into any store of any kind, a woman standing in front of me in line must write a check. But that is a totally different subject.

The check woman is finally gone and it seems that I might get out of there before my 9 am meeting this morning when all of a sudden the dreaded phone rings. Not mine, the store phone. The trainee stops ringing people up and begins to talk on the phone. This could be my greatest pet peeve in the world.

Dear store owner/manager, I am in your store. I am in line waiting to check out and more than willing to give you my hard earned money. Though instead of paying attention to me, let’s have your employee focus their attention to someone on the phone who is sitting at their home, on their butts eating Bon Bon’s and watching Oprah! Which by the way is exactly what I would like to be doing if you would let me out of here!!

Anyhow, this went on for like 3 minutes and then finally I had enough. I said in a louder tone for everyone and all to hear, “Excuse me, it is time you hang up with whomever is on the phone and actually take care of the people who are here in your store and wanting to buy!” <– Mistake 3

Between you and me, looking back, I might have been a bit harsh. After saying it, the trainee had that deer in a headlights look and I have no doubt she was either going to cry or jump over the counter and stab me with a jump drive. I did apologize for raising my voice to her when it was my turn, but at the time, I think the only thing she was hearing was the loud cursing coming from inside her head.

I think the only good decision I made during this trip to Staples was that I paid in cash so there is no chance that trainee girl can track me down.

What’s your biggest pet peeves when it comes to customer service?

Technorati Tags: customer service, Bon Bon’s, Oprah

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