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?