Customer service

If something seems too complicated I find my interest drops off quickly.

Instead of just scanning my purchase with the cash register, a clerk at Penney's laboriously typed it into her little handheld machine.  It didn't come up at the price I remembered seeing on the shelf so she walked over there with me and I showed her.  Then she took both items back and began typing them into her machine and had trouble because it kept coming up at the incorrect higher price.  All of this was after I waited nearly five minutes for her to take care of the customer before me.

I finally realized I didn't want to wait any more.  I had someplace else to be.  I thanked her kindly and told her I had just changed my mind.  Suddenly she sped up and said, "I can just scan it on this machine."  She was pointing to the cash register!  If she could do that I wondered why she hadn't done it in the first place, but I didn't ask.  I realized that I really didn't want that item anymore, not even if she gave it to me.  It was just too complicated.  I've dealt with her before and I don't know why she does things the way she does.  She is plenty old enough to have done it a million times.

The same thing happened at Target.  All I wanted to buy was a bottle of soda, but they had associates lined up at the machines and the crowd was so big I decided not to buy anything.

At Sears I found something I had spent all day looking for yesterday.  The price was great.  Everything was perfect except that I couldn't find anyone who worked in the store to buy it from.  I finally found one cash register on the other side of the store with two people.  Both were dealing with one woman in line in front of me, but one finally came and sold me what I wanted.  I wanted it very badly, so I waited.

Perhaps retail stores would not be in such dire straits if customer service became a real priority.