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The holidays are over and I hope you all survived without too many bruises and bumps. For me getting to the New Year finish line can be a struggle. Trying to navigate your way around all of the dolts and dummies that litter your path, without killing one of them, can be a struggle. Thankfully, most of us make it through without serving any serious jail time.
Which is no small feat considering that 99% of us had to delve deep into the retail world. Not only presents for friends and loved ones, but also the much needed supplies for guests that stop by and the many special meals that spot the holiday landscape. As we all know, entering most anywhere in the retail world can be a crapshoot as far as customer service goes, but it is an evil necessity. Well, a necessary evil when you don’t have a choice. There are a couple of types of businesses where you don’t have to worry about a choice because there are so many to choose from. While I have poked fun at the ridiculous amount of nail salons and drug stores in our area in the past, their numbers have in a couple of instances, paid off.
First let’s talk about drug stores. In a perfect world you would hope that the drug store nearest to you geographically would be the place you would frequent. In our case that would be the Sav On Drug Store on Rosemead Boulevard next to Albertson’s. Before I continue let me say that the customer service problem I have been experiencing is not with the staff in the pharmacy. Quite the contrary. The staff there is fantastic and we have never had a problem with them.
Unfortunately for those good folks, a couple of members of the retail section of their store are so incredibly rude and abrasive that it weakens the overall effectiveness of the operation. I am referring to a couple of real pieces of work, or as I refer to them, The Toxic Twins. Never, outside of television, have I seen two ruder checkers.
Maybe it’s the way that they bark at the customers waiting in line to step forward before the person standing in front of them has left, or the fact that I have never seen either one of them smile. Possibly it is the way that they make you feel as though they are doing you a major favor by selling you the various sundry items that you want to purchase.
Whatever it is, they have so irritated me that I have started going to the Sav On or the Rite Aid over on Las Tunas. That way when I need something other than prescription drugs, I don’t have to stand in line waiting for the Twins to do me a solid, like taking my money.
While the Twins’ attitudes are just annoying, wasting my time is even worse. As anyone who has their nails done on a regular basis will tell you, this is an area where nail salons excel. I am not one of those, but I do live with a couple of people who do, and the horror stories I have heard over the years are absolutely outrageous. I have gone a few times to have a pedicure done but until this last weekend had not experienced the little shell game that my wife has gone through.
Regular customers who have developed a relationship with a particular salon generally call ahead to make an appointment. You would think that this would secure you a spot to be able to walk in at your given time and take care of business. You would think that, right? Well not really. You see most, if not all, nail salons welcome and encourage walk in business, which more times than not impacts any kind of pre-scheduling that may have gone on.
With the walk in mindset firmly in place I do just that, as do most people. If there are customers there I rely on the operators to let me know how long it will be before they can take me. I found out that this usually doesn’t work, as my wife later confirmed. The people that work there either have no concept of time or are willing to lie to you in order to keep you from leaving. I’m going with the later based on last weekend.
I walked in and asked how long before I could get a pedicure. The girl looked me straight in the eye and said it would only be a “couple of minutes.” This would be workable. I would be able to knock it out and still make it home for the second half of the Steelers/Bengals football game. So I take a seat and wait for my turn.
After 20 minutes I begin to squirm and the owner of the shop sensing this said something to the girl who was supposed to be taking me. The Nail Girl came over and said she would take me now. She set me up as if she was going to start, then leaves. Another 20 minutes go by and I am wondering what the hell happened to her as I watch my feet begin to prune up.
I look around the salon and see her behind me in the middle of a manicure. I wait another 5 minutes and look back at her again and she is in the process of starting a pedicure on the same customer. At that point I start to get up and dry my feet in preparation to leave and she has the gall to lean over to me and say, “just one more minute and I will start on you.” Yeah right. I told her that 45 minutes was my limit and left. Now I know why my wife and many others change nail salons so often.
While you can’t have your nails done or immediately buy things on the Internet, it is an option when shopping if you have the time. It certainly removes the attitude factor of having to deal with people like the Twins or Nail Girl. But you always run the risk of your package not arriving on time or at all. My wife has used it a few times and only once have we been screwed by using this system, so when doing her holiday shopping, she decided to use it once again.
At first things seemed to be going smoothly. The packages began arriving like planned, my wife monitoring their progress everyday via tracking numbers over the Internet. Then it happened. A week before Christmas one of the packages carrying more than one of my daughter’s gifts was shown as being delivered, but we never received it. Our web Santa had just stepped in reindeer poop.
My worst fears were realized when I found out that on the day the package was supposedly delivered, my normal letter carrier, Robert, had the day off. When Robert is on the job the world is perfect and he never misses a beat. Even at times when it seems like the earth has slipped off its axis and the normal has become surreal, I know that with Robert on the job my mail will be delivered without fail. With equal certainty I can say that on the days that he is off there are things I don’t get, as my neighbors for blocks around will testify to.
So despite my wife’s request that I go the post office and see if by chance the package was there I decided to take another approach, for in Robert I trust. I waited for him to make his usual stop and present him with my tale of Christmas woe. When I told him what had happened he jumped into action. In these days of cell phones and tracking numbers he was determined to do what he could.
He called Juanita at the San Gabriel Post Office who immediately began her search with the promise that she would call me with whatever results she came up with. True to her word she called me with the sad news that the package was not there and had indeed been delivered. Not one to give up she asked for the tracking number and would see if she could narrow down the area and check with Robert’s replacement to see if he had any memory of where he delivered it. There was nothing left to do but wait.
The next day I got another call from the persistent Juanita who wanted me to know that she had dispatched a supervisor to go out in the field to Robert’s replacement. It just so happened that the replacement was with another carrier, Paul, who was familiar with Robert’s route and knew where to look for the package. Later that day Paul left his route and was knocking at my door with the package. The SG Post Office had saved Christmas!
During what is the busiest time of the year for the post office, Robert, Juanita, and Paul gave a tutorial on what customer service is all about. Even though he was off on the day the package was found and delivered, Robert took the time to call Juanita from home to check to see if there was any progress on the search.
That is going far and above the call of duty and it helps restore my hope that customer service is not dead. That these 3 people took the time during their most stressful time of the year to find our one missing package is amazing. I must admit I told Robert he is not allowed any more days off.
On the other hand I am hoping that The Toxic Twins and Nail Girl go on permanent sabbaticals.
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