Serving your customers - what a good idea!

(Please read this post with the understanding that I really don't like waiting in lines in retails stores and banks)

(I can be patient, but that doesn't mean I'm happy about lines at all)

(At all)

Banking is a needs-based industry - you need us, so we exist. I, however, like to think of us as a service-based industry. All in all there is incredible product parity in the banking world. That being the case, the only qualities that can really set us apart are convenience and service. We build the convenience into our products, and we're a freakin' huge credit union from a branch/location standpoint. Not as big as others - Golden 1 and Navy Fed, for example - but still pretty damn big. So we're good there. That leaves service, and we focus on that A LOT. We're not a shining example above all, mind you, but we're pretty frackin' good and we invest thousands upon thousands of dollars (and this year, multiple millions) to serve our members as best we know how. Even with failing systems (*shudder*) we can still provide good service.

Apparently other retail chains don't hold to this standard. Lets take...oh, Wal-Mart for example. I go to the self-service checkout line because I hate waiting for a regular checkout line (self-service lines, btw, are one of God's gifts to me...I love them!) and accidently ring one of my items twice. My bad. I have to wait for assistance to have the item voided, though. Can't just be removed. I need a 'leet Wal-Mart employee to enter ye merry keye kode and "void" the item. Now, when you need assistance, a little red light shows up above you, the computer says (repeatedly, ad nauseum or until said 'leet Wal-Mart employee shows up) "Please wait for assistance," and you wait. Emphasis on the wait. The "assistance" I was waiting for, in spite of being less then 15 feet away and having a blip light up on her monitor, was too captivated by cutting out a paper snowflake to notice that I needed "assistance." So I waited for 6 minutes. I could have snapped her out of her focus, sure, but that would have defeated the purpose. Heck, in the time I waited I could have hacked ye merry keye kode myself! Come to think of it, that would have been the epitome of self-service. Eh. The point being, you receive a paycheck to pay attention and assist me, so for cryin' out loud, do it. Please.

I know, some of you are saying that going to Wal-Mart was my first mistake. I would normally agree, but we did have a branch at this one, I needed to make a withdrawal, and some of my folks requested specific gifts from there. I don't like my family very much sometimes.

Okay, the other one that got me was this sale item in a smaller retail store. I went in, picked up the item (heckuva buy), and...*sigh* got in line. Should have gone quickly. One customer at the counter, one in front of me, then me. The problem was that only one clerk was ringing people up, and as it happened, both people in front of me were info-searching rather than purchasing. Now, this is Friday, December 15th. It's a double-payday, it's the holidays, and it's the last payday prior to Christmas. With four people in the store, you'd figure one of them would notice that I've been standing in line for 15 minutes trying to buy one item and open up the 2nd register. Nope. I get to wait. Then, when I do get to the counter the shift manager says, "Oh, sorry about the wait, sir. Sometimes that happens."

Hmmm...so that means you *did* see me there, and you're the one in charge, and you didn't do a thing. But you're sorry at the end, after you have my money, just before I leave. How 'bout this. Try being proactively sorry rather than reactively, because frankly, I don't give two hoots how sorry you are after I've made my purchase. Idiot.

If I go into a store to give them my money, I'd like them to be happy...neigh, eager to take it. As it stands, Wal-mart I already can't stand, and I'll never go into that other store again. Serve your customers, please.