What ever happened to customer service?

I stopped by the gas station this afternoon while I was out grabbing some lunch.

The pump wouldn’t accept my card after putting in my PIN because of Non-Sufficient Funds.

I thought, “That’s odd, I know there’s over $100 in that account right now.”

I tried another card and it went through. “Okay, no big deal,” I thought.

I went inside to break a $5 bill for the pop machine at the office.

“Can you break a fiver?” I asked the cashier.

“Mmfmfffmfmfmshmmhmmsmsmbmffmfmrmrmrmrfmfrffmmfmm,” replied the cashier from behind the Plexiglas and mask.

“Sorry, say again?” I asked after holding my hand to my ear, indicating that I couldn’t hear him.

The cashier then removes the mask from his face and replies, “Yeah man, I just need a reason to open the register.”

“Isn’t making a change reason enough?” I asked.

“No man, I have to have a reason to open the register”, the cashier replied.

I just turned around and walked away, shaking my head, mumbling under my mask that customer service was dead and pondering what the heck was wrong with people.

I grabbed a $2.59 bottle of pop out of the cooler and walked back to the register. This time, I got a different cashier.

I handed the bottle of pop to her and asked, “Can you break a $5?”

“Sure thing, hon”, she replied.

“Great thanks,” I said as I paid with the card that was declined at the pump. It took several attempts to get the machine to stop beeping at me because it couldn’t read my chip when I realized what I was doing and asked a question, “hey, I tried this card at the pump and it said there wasn’t any money in my account, but I know there is.”

“Yeah, we’ve got a lot of problems right now…” she said as the register approved my purchase.

She asked me something more, but I didn’t pick up the rest of what she was saying because I couldn’t hear her behind the mask and Plexiglas.

“Yeah. No kidding.”

So now, we can’t go into stores without a mask, regardless of what the state rules and regulations say. Then, the people working there are going to touch whatever we’re purchasing anyway. To boot, there’s a coin-shortage, so paying with cash isn’t really an option. The card readers don’t work reliably, customer-service is dead, registers can’t be opened without a reason, and they have to scan your driver’s license to purchase alcohol or tobacco.

Back in my day, there used to be a button on the register that said NO SALE that allowed cashiers to open the drawer without changing the amount in the drawer.

It just occurred to me…I wonder how places like this get robbed if the cashiers can’t open the register without a reason? Is there a NO SALE or a I’M BEING ROBBED AND REALLY NEED THIS DRAWER OPEN NOW button on the register that the cashier can push to open the drawer if they’re being robbed? It’s probably just a rule that hurts the average customer and doesn’t penalize the law-breakers.

What ticks you off about customer service or the lack thereof? Let me know in the comments below, don’t forget to hit like if you enjoy my writings, and please follow me for more updates