I have tried to make this blog about food, travel, and fun and today I'm going to the source of our food, at least the source for a city-boy, living in the 2nd most populous city in the U.S. The grocery store is just where we have to go to get our groceries. Unfortunately the problem that I'm gonna write about is something that I see all over, not just the local Pavilions, but every other grocery store that I have stopped in, not to mention coffee shop, gas station, restaurant, hardware store, and wholesale outlet. I'm not trying to be harsh, but you know you have noticed it too! Customer service is terrible at so many places, why else do we go places like Trader Joe's? I mean they have great products, but they generally have good customer service. Why do I choose a place like George's Diner over any of the other dozen diners in my area? I mean the food is good, but the service is consistently good! Why do I go to Thyme Cafe in Santa Monica instead of Champagne French Bakery? Well to start I love the fresh seasonal beet salad Thyme has, but Thyme goes the extra mile to provide great service!
That isn't the stuff that annoys me. What annoys me is knowing there is a rush and at least 10 people waiting in each line, and there are 3 employees not doing anything to help right in the front of the store. Okay let me rephrase that, one guy was eating chips by the time clock, another guy was taking return items back to the shelves and another guy was emptying the trash bins at the cash registers. I've been going to this store for the better part of the last 5 years and you start to know the people that work there and what they do. These guys were baggers, and they weren't bagging!
At this point I will say this, I'm old school, if you work in retail you don't take breaks or stand around and do nothing in front of customers. When you do that then people e.g. people like me look to see who else isn't working and when I say working I mean not helping me get out the store faster, or with less of a headache. I understand stuff needs to go back on the shelf, every shift has "go-backs," and granted trash bins need to be emptied. But this is stuff you do when things are slow or you have a full staff. I know one of the other cashiers was on break because I saw her in the back of the store going to the warehouse. Obviously "Chip" was taking a break, but right by the time clock? I know there are perishables that need to be taken care of, and trash bins need to be emptied. But none of that takes precedence over this next thing!
Every customer should be made to feel like YOU are doing YOUR best to help them out...
I'll just say most of my recent visit to Pavilions didn't make me feel like that!
I think what made me feel better is what I noticed about the cashier, I'm not going so far as saying that he was handicapped or disabled, but he was definitely not completely able. If you've gone to the Pavilions in Marina Del Rey in the evening you have probably seen him or waited in his line. I admire him for holding it down and working such a physical job, what I didn't admire was his coworkers standing around, even the front-end supervisor this evening wasn't there supporting the front-end. The "supervisor" showed up and opened a cash register to ring folks up just as our cashier was finishing ringing us up.
Customer service is bad nowadays because "supervisors" and "managers" let customer service be bad! Each of them has it in the power of their hand to make it better for customers. I say this from experience, every job I have had has involved some form of customer service, over the last 15 years as a front line employee or as a supervisor or manager I knew it was my job to make the customer feel like I was doing my best. I didn't have to jump through hoops, or do an extraordinary job, I just had to do the best with what I had.
So "Thank You" to our cashier tonight. You did a great job making me feel like you were doing your best. You could teach your coworkers and supervisors a thing or two.
