Rant #3,947: Shopping From A-Z

I have been covering the shopping industry--both here and abroad--for the past 30 years or so, and whether writing or editing stories about the military retail industry or the overall shopping industry, I think I have a pretty good read at what is right and what is wrong with this industry, encompassing supermarkets, convenience stores, and the like. 

So when I get involved in something that irks me at the local supermarket ...

Well, it irks me.

Yesterday morning, we had a couple of bags of empty water bottles in our pantry, so to keep moving--that is the way I am recovering from my recent surgery--I decided to go to my local supermarket to cash the bottles in.

So that is where I was at 9 a.m. yesterday morning, putting the bottles in the recycling machines--something I have been doing religiously since this was instituted more than 40 years ago in New ¥ork State--and when done, I got my receipts and looked to cash them.

I went to the customer service area, and it was closed.

I saw the woman who usually mans the area, who was sitting near the bathroom talking and using her phone, and she told me, "You have to wait on line to cash those receipts. We are open until 10 p.m."

There was one line open with a cashier, and there were about five people ahead of me, all with large amounts of groceries in their shopping baskets.

I went to the woman again, and she reiterated, "You have to wait on line to cash those receipts," as she was talking on her phone.

"Look at the line," I said. "I am not going to wait on such a line to just cash these things."

"Well, I am sorry, the reason I am not at the customer service desk is that we don't have enough people working this morning."

(What she should have done is go to the one cashier, and tell her, "When you are done with this order, cash these receipts," which would be the common sense thing to do, and by the way, you cannot use the receipts on any of the self-checkouts, areas which are plentiful in the store.)

"Let me speak to the manager," I replied.

Once I said that, it pretty much has the same, exact response as when I tell people over the phone "I will get a lawyer and sue you," which appear to be the magic words to get some action and get people moving to do what they are supposed to do.

She went into the back, and I know she didn't speak with anyone, and then she came back out.

"There is no one here ... give me the receipts."

I handed her the receipts, she took them from me, grumbling the entire time.

She went to a register, and proceeded to give me my money, all of about $6.

"This is very bad customer service," I told her amidst her grumbling. "You don't turn a customer away for something like this. This store has the worst customer service I have ever seen."

This woman has an attitude. I am in this store with my wife a couple of times a month, and I have complained to her several times about various things, including people abusing their rights at the bottle return, where New York State law prohibits people from cashing in hundreds of bottles in one visit.

She replied, "Sir, we don't have people working here today."

"That is no excuse," I said. "All I wanted to do was to cash in two bottle receipts. That should have been done very easily by you. That is very poor customer service."

She replied, "Sir, I have been working in this business for 23 years--"

I cut her right off.

"Look, I have been covering this business for 30 years, and this is not the way to run a supermarket."

After I got my big $6 for my troubles, I decided to do some shopping ...

Minor things like seltzer and a bag of chips.

I got my stuff, went on the line again--it was not as bad now, just a few people ahead of me with only a few items in their carts--and she called me over.

"Go to line three," she said, which I did, and I came across a cashier who was about as happy as I was about the situation at hand.

Evidently, he had wanted to wipe down the scanning area as he began hus duties for the day, and this same woman who was giving me an argument about cashing in two bottle return receipts was giving him trouble by initially not allowing hime to wipe down that area.

She finally acquiesced to his request, but he was none too happy.

"This is the worst supermarket I have ever worked for," he said.

"Yes, the customer service here is really bad," I replied.

"All I wanted was some paper towel to wipe this area down ... and you are right, the customer service here is terrible--

"And it seems to be only the women who work here who have an attitude."

I didn't pursue that line of thinking, but if the woman I dealt with represented how other women who work there act to customers, maybe he was on to something.

Anyway, I checked out, wished him a good day, and I left the supermarket.

I won't tell you the name of the supermarket--only that it has three words in its name and is the biggest supermarket on Long Island related to the number of stores under its banner--but I have had some problems with it before, as a customer--

And now one of its employees is backing up what I said!

I think I need to bathe in that seltzer I bought to completely wipe off the stench of this experience.

Hubble bubble, toil and trouble!