SmallBizResource Blog -- Customer Service

Grocery Store Aggravation

Posted by Gayle Kesten Tuesday, Jul 22, 2008, 06:35 PM ET

Seems like the best customer service stories come out of lousy experiences. So here's what happened to me today, followed by a burst of reason out of my 8-year-old.

After lunch at the food court and a few rounds of video games, I dragged my son food shopping. He couldn't protest (much) considering he had a new Nintendo DS game to keep him occupied. I thought I'd shake up our routine and go to a new grocery store. Well, not new really, but new to us.

This is about as exciting as life gets on a Tuesday in suburbia.

So I filled my cart with groceries to the beat of Mario Party. Only two lines were open when I was ready to pay -- one really long line in front of us, and one almost empty line a little further down. I opted for the short line and began unloading my groceries just as the cashier was finishing with the customer ahead of me.

No greeting from said cashier. Whatever. At the point when I had most of my items on the conveyer belt, I looked up and realized I was on the 10 or Less line. Dang! I immediately apologized (ad nauseum) to the cashier as well as the people standing behind me. It was an honest mistake, though I know I'd be POed if it were me waiting on line behind some dumbo who did the same thing.

But nothing I could do about it now. Besides, the cashier could have pointed out I had too many items in my cart when I first got on her line. My apologies went unacknowledged -- a tad annoying.

Next, I paid by credit card. The machine I swiped my card through was different than the one I'm used to, so I wasn't sure what to press. Again, no word from the cashier, who just punched in the buttons for me, then handed me a long curl of receipts, which I put in my shopping bag and turned to leave. That's when she finally spoke, telling me I needed to sign one of the receipts (all the while ringing up the next person). I looked at the tangled wad in my bag to see what needed to be signed when her long arm reached down over my shoulder and into my shopping bag for the two-inch slip of paper.

Now I was annoyed. "Maybe if you had said two words to me I would have known," I murmured, loud enough for her to hear. Her answer: "Don't you even start with me." She was at least a full foot taller than me, so at that point I bit my lip. I signed my receipt, handed it to her and, out of habit, still said, "Thank you."

My son's response when I told him we were never going back there: "Or we could just go on another line."

If only customer service were so simple. Maybe in time I'll come around.

7/28 UPDATE: Wow! Just a little while ago I received an e-mail apology from an SVP at the supermarket's parent company. He said he was sorry about the way I was treated and "disappointed to hear about this situation." Needless to say, I'm very impressed. Confidence, restored!

Customer Service