Customer Bad Service

I needed to get a money order. I'd been putting it off, but Tuesday was going to be the day. And when my wife called to ask me to pick up a couple of things for dinner at the store on the way home, it was the perfect two-birds-with-one-stone situation. So I stopped at King Soopers, which is the first supermarket I came to on my way home.

Two guys are at the customer service counter with a stack of money. I approach as one of them disappears. The other guy is still there, counting the bills. I give him a few seconds to finish his task, but he just keeps on going. I start to get uncomfortable about being ignored and pretend to be interested in the sign telling about the tomato recall. But I can't really focus - the kid has done nothing to acknowledge my presence. He has to know I'm there - he's standing facing me, and I'm less than three feet away, directly in front of him. I keep waiting, trying to be patient. At least 45 seconds go by from the time I first walk up, maybe more. He's still counting and writing. I'm almost in disbelief - he hasn't looked up or said hello or the done the correct thing, which is to say, "Be right with you sir."

Finally, I give up and walk away. He finally says something to the back of me once I'm 10-15 feet from the service desk. But I'm not coming back now. I decide not to purchase the other requested grocery items from King Soopers because I'm too bugged. I suppose some people would have done the throat-clearing noise or said something to shake the boy from his money-counting stupor. But I didn't because I don't have to. It's not my job.

And I should know, because once upon a time, I was a customer service clerk. At my store, Harris Teeter, customer service was priority number one. If I had pulled a stunt like that and the customer had complained about it, at the very least my manager would have spoken to me about it and some sort of disciplinary measure wouldn't have been out of the question.

I didn't complain to a manager, because that's not how I roll. I'd rather vote with the almighty dollar. I'm not saying that I was the Great Master of Customer Service, because I wasn't. And I know Kroger Corp. doesn't care as much about service as HT. But come on - acknowleding the presence of the customer? That's Customer Service 101.