I love Target. I love shopping there, and could spend hours wandering down every aisle. I usually have the boys with me though, and they are good for about half an hour, and then they are just done. So I have shopping at Target down to a science. I know how much time I can spend lingering around, and how much time I need to actually shop.
Today after I picked up Ryan from school, we went to Target. We had some more errands to run, so this was going to be a short trip. Right on cue, about 20 minutes later, we were done, and the boys were getting restless. There had to be 50 people waiting in the check-out lines and there were three lanes open.
I used to work in a grocery store. I understand sometimes you just don’t have enough people to open more registers, and crowds come at odd times. So I got into the ‘shortest’ of the longest lines, lane number 18, and waited. And waited, and waited. Fortunately we had the super deluxe cart, so the boys were having fun climbing on and off of it. Fifteen minutes later, when there was only two people ahead of me, I hear the cashier calling- “Ma’am, Ma’am,” and waving at me.
I don’t think of myself as a “ma’am,” so it took me a second to realize she was almost yelling at me. I made eye contact with her and she informed me that she was closed. She pointed to her light and it was off.
I politely told her that I had gotten in her line before she turned the light off, and she informed me, rather loudly (okay she yelled) and very rudely, “No you weren’t.” Now I felt like she was implying that I have nothing better to do than to sneak into closed check-out lanes at Target, waste time standing there, and then lie about it- just for kicks.
I was contemplating my next move, when the mom in front of me, also with two boys, using their cart as a jungle gym, looked at the cashier and said nicely, but firmly, “Actually, she was. I saw her get in line, and your light was most definitely on.”
I told the mom, “Thank you, for confirming that for me,” and the cashier then said, “Oh, well- okay then, I guess you can stay in line.
She guesses I can stay in her line for the privilege of spending money at Target? I so wanted to say something to her, but Ryan and Cole’s eyes were wide as saucers watching me. Even though I had been ‘allowed’ to stay in the cashier’s line, there was no way I was going to- I was too mad.
So with my boys watching, I smiled again at the mom ahead of me, and nodded at her. The cashier was still watching me, and I noticed they had opened another lane way down at the opposite end of the store (this was Super Target), so I told the cashier, “Actually, I am going to go to the line at the other end of the store- it seems to be moving faster.”
I walked as fast as I could- I was so mad! There was only one person in front of me, and he had one item. When the new cashier asked me how I was, I was honest. I told him I was upset, because I had just waited fifteen minutes in line, and then was told the line was closed, even though the light had been on. I told him the cashier was very rude. He apologized many times and told me he was actually her supervisor- he said customers should not be treated like that.
I don’t complain at stores. If I can’t find something, or they are out of stock, when they ask me if I found everything OK, I say yes. I hope the cashier won’t get in trouble, but I felt like this was horrible customer service, and they needed to know customers were being treated like this. I’m glad I spoke up this time.
What about you? Do you complain at stores when you receive bad customer service, or do you just let it go?
8 replies on “To Complain, or not to Complain- That is the Question”
You know with as many people that are out of work these days you would think that customer service would improve. There should be a higher quaility of employee out there looking for jobs. And the ones like the one you ran into would would either change there tune or be replaced. I will be looking for a job come June I guess I need to put in a application at Target.
“Thank you for shopping at Target, have a nice day” See I can do it.
🙂
I agree I don’t like to complain either but I would have had to let someone higher up know how you are treated. I am a cashier and try to be as nice and polite as I can. I love to shop so I treat everyone like I would like to be treated. It is very frustrating that some cashiers get away with these actions when there are others willing to do the same job and treat customers with respect. I do let managers know when I have an exceptionally nice or good experience too, thought. Most of the time the managers are unaware of the treatment and can’t fix things if they don’t know there is a problem to begin with so keep that in mind when you do have to complain so others don’t get that same service and leave angry.
I have spent most of my life in some sort of customer service related position (usually a manager) and I so have a really hard time NOT complaining when I experience bad service. However, even though it is hard not to complain — I generally keep it to myself. I think that you did an excellent job of keeping your cool in front of your boys, walking to the other end of the store, and being honest with the second employee. Possibly the first lady was just having a bad day — lots of people are sick now and perhaps she had already worked overtime and was late to pick up her kids from day care — and she is only human. She could have even been called in on a day off because other people had been sick…generally in my experience there are many reasons why folks provide bad service, and being intentionally rude is rarely one of them…usually they are just at the end of their rope!
You got me with the boys looking at you with the saucer eyes…
I HATE that about SuperTarget! Why are there twenty lanes when only two or three are ever open at one time?! And, the open lane is always the one at the opposite end of the store from where I parked. Nice.
Bitchy cashiers make me mad too because, really, they should be happy they are employed. A self-checkout can do what they do a lot quicker and minus the attitude.
I am a big complainer. If a company does not provide good customer service, I just about always let them know. I may not do it right there on the spot – sometimes I’ll write a letter. I do it because I know that many people wont’ take the time to do it. If nobody takes the time to complain, then service will never improve.
I absolutely complain when given poor service, especially in a service driven industry such as restaurants, etc. I am expected in my job to give the best customer service I can or I risk losing a client. I think with jobs in short supply these days there are people who are willing to be polite begging for jobs, so those who are rude shouldn’t be wasting my time in their position. I am proud of you for speaking up and I hope you do so more often.
Screw the boys…I would have said something about how rude she was being and told her to get her manager NOW so I could complain!
However…I was a waitress/bartender for 3 years and you wouldn’t believe some of the complaints I got. One person complained because they said I was nicer to the other table than I was to them (I knew the people at that table). Someone else was mad because the ratio of croutons to dressing wasn’t 30/70 (totally serious…that’s what she said). I got requests for hot water, lemon, sugar and a coffee cup (all free things…) and the customer would whip out their own tea bag. (so I wouldn’t be able to charge them the $1.50 for hot tea). Other people have asked for lots of ice water, lemons and the sugar caddy. Guess what they were making at the table??? Their own lemonade so they wouldn’t have to pay for it.
Just saying that maybe she had had a bad day with all the craziness that being in customer service entails. So, if she can’t hack it and finds the need to be rude, she should seek employment elsewhere because guess what sweetie: no matter how many lemons your table is asking for so they can make their own lemonade, you better keep smiling at them!