Retail Rant

Consider yourself warned, this is a rant.

I am just going to pose the question: what has happened to retail these days? Perhaps I am really turning into a crotchity old woman, however, the majority of retail clerks and cashiers I run into in my mall and grocery trips these days seem to not be as helpful as I'd ideally enjoy.

I worked in a dance retail store for four years. This was a particularly specialized shop, but every employee knew how to ring customers up, answer the phone, input orders, and generally understand how to connect the dots. I clearly have high expectations when shopping-deal with my transaction and please don't take five million years to do it.

Case in point a few weeks ago on what I thought would be a quick stop at the mall on my way home. Mistake numero uno.

I needed a strapless bra for my bridesmaid's dress for Ashley's upcoming wedding. No big deal, found one, tried it on, bingo, it works. However, the only one I can find in my size is lacking the additional clear and nude straps that go with it. Thus, I am forced to remain in the lingerie section to check out with that one clerk working. (Cue the ominous music.) Naturally, this clerk is handling a woman in front of me, with I kid you not, about 4 piles of miscellanous clothing, and no it's not all lingerie. The two are speaking Spanish for about 15 minutes as I stand as politely as I can muster, checking my watch every two minutes, knowing I have 3 other stops to make in the mall and time is ticking away. Finally, after 20 minutes I am starting to debate the damn bra purchase when the customer pulls out payment in the form of traveler's checks. This could have been moon money to the cashier, which resulted in phone calls to managers and the like. Are. you. kidding. me. Never once in the now 25 minutes has the woman even acknowledged my presence. No "thanks for your patience" or "it will be just a few more minutes." Nothing. She finally waits for a manager to come and deal with the traveler's checks and begins to help me. Hallelujah. As I start to explain my strap situation, she gets flustered with the other customer talking to her and completely returns to her mid-sentence with me. This is about the time steam begins to escape my ears. The manager shows up, there is no real cash in the drawer (symphony's creschendo) and after all parties are satisfied, he sweetly asks me if I am being helped. There are no words. Finally, 30+ minutes later I am able to get out of this ridiculous situation fuming, bra and replacement straps in hand.

Unfortnately, this particular trip encountered more problems at another stop when I tried to ask for a gift receipt after purchase. This apparently, was like turning water into wine for the cashier. By now I was so flabberghasted with stores and their seeming lack of training, I was about ready to pen one of my famous Letters to the Management, but was in such a tizzy I didn't take proper note of names nor business cards. C'est la vie.

The cherry on top of my building ice cream sundae of retail rants, would have to be a pit stop at a grocery store for an Oreo pie crust. The cashier, in total assembly line drone voice greeted me, and after scanning the item, actually threw it down the conveyer belt to the bagging area. A cookie crumb pie crust. And she was doing the bagging! Again, there were no words.

I am not a confrontational person. Hence the blog where I can lay it out after the fact and overanalyze. I don't like telling people they are in the wrong or have somehow annoyed me. However, taking 30 minutes to ring up a purchase, reprint a gift receipt, and throwing my pie crust 4 feet down a moving shoot is unacceptable. And these were not all 17-year-olds, two were adult women.

I know there are people who enjoy their jobs or at least put on a good front doing it with their great customer service skills. What I can't wrap my brain around is the increasing lack of work ethic and common sense that I am experiencing more and more. There may not be any ultimate reason for it, but I am dumbfounded each time it happens, mostly becuase me and coworkers I have ever had in the retail sector, would never behave in that manner.

Again, perhaps I am just turning into an old fart. Or need to find a new mall.