Tuesday, January 23, 2007

PEOPLE PLEASING BUSINESS

Now if you are like me and spending your hard earned money someplace, someplace that could easily be another place, there is a certain amount of customer service that I feel entitled to.

For instance, about two weeks ago I was in a mega-store hoping to find another bag of discounted nuts (oh they were great! About five pounds of walnuts, pecans, almonds etc. etc. still in the shells for close to nothing! I bought one bag where there were two and I returned hoping the second bag would be there...it was not)and picked up a donut and a loaf of bread instead.

It was early, maybe 730AM and I was the only person in the "check yourself-out" lane when I discovered I had left my reading glasses in the car. I can not read a thing anymore unless it is the size of the BIG LETTER E on the eye chart. So I turn to girl who is manning the station and wave her over and tell her that I can not read the screen. She points to a chart above the screen and says "The letters are bigger here" and I look and say, "I really can't read it."

She pounded out my order like she was whipping a carpet on the clothes line and stomped off. I felt terrible. I should have gone to the line where the clerk rang you up, I knew that, but when I started the check yourself out with the bread I did not realize my glasses were MIA.

On the way past her station I said, "Thank you very much for your help".

And the Bitch totally ignored me. Actually raised her chin and looked away. Not only did I feel bad for asking her to do her job, now I was feeling angry with her snub. I let it go, thinking that is she is a representation of the attitude the check out clerks have in this store, I will not go back.

Let's go to Cancun.

Joe and I usually eat in the buffet/free style restaurant area for people who do not want to dress up and read menu's at the All-inclusive resorts. On our second night there we were escorted to an area where we promptly began ordering Apple-tini's. Which we drank all through out the meal and then lingered at the table afterwards in deep conversation that can only be brought on by several Apple-tini's.

Our waiter was great, bring us the nectar of the God's at the perfect intervals.

The next morning we are standing and waiting to be seated for breakfast, the waiter from the night before breezes by, catches sight of us, and motions us into his station where he takes care of us and never lets our Mimosa's run dry.

That evening, we sought him out...and so on and so on.

The last evening we where there we gave him a nice big fat tip.

Now we are on the Beach and the beach-bar maid finds us. She is the most fabulous bar/beach maid I have ever encountered. She went all over the beach gathering drink orders, never writing a thing down, yet always arrived with the correct drink. At the end of the day she gathered up all the plastic glasses and constructed a tower ten feel high and balanced them back to the pool bar.

She was fantastic. She did not even bother to ask us anymore. Anytime she came past our beach chairs, she had a beer and a Pina Colada!

I tipped her everyday!!!

Gosh, it sounds like I did nothing but guzzle alcohol all week. Hmmmmmmm.....I think I did!

Anyway, I love being treated like I am appreciated for the dollars I am giving away.

Somepeole belong in the People Pleasing business and some do not!

4 comments:

Paul is a Hermit said...

It's good that you have wonderful memories of good service on your trip, little else can ruin the emotional high you arrived with. Well, maybe being thrown into jail but beside that, not a lot.
Look at how you remember their actions, until consumption overtook memory, if it did.

A pox on the checkout girl. I hope she goes to Cancun and has a rotten time because of the service. Poetic Justice.

Paul said...

Mary, Kathleen and I leave for Cancun on Feb.10. We want your servers!

Also, we'll be seeing the Saw docs in New Hampshire on March 15, introducing her daughter Amy and Amy's husband. We'll be wearing the Galway football shirts that my niece bought for us in Tuam! Hay!

Apple martinis rule!

Lisa :-] said...

All I can say is, the girl at the checkout counter didn't stand to benefit from any big fat tips no matter what kind of job she did. And she acted accordingly, unfortunately.

Loner said...

I think there are not enough people who have experienced the joy/trials of waiting tables - if they had you'd see a lot more people behaving well.