Customer Service - High Demand, Short Supply

I am a stay at home mom. As such, I have time to do all the shopping for our household. I generally try to do my shopping in “off” hours - early mornings and during the week when the rest of the working force is at their jobs. I make it a habit to be in a store when it is not crowded, even during the maddening Christmas season rush. Consequently, there is no excuse to not receive good customer service, yet it happens time and time again.


Case #1: Bad Customer Service

Last week I was doing some Christmas shopping. Since I do not have a “paying job” (other than writing for Associated Content, which I love) I try to stay within a budget and find the best deals available. I did some research online for an item I was trying to find and found a website that listed CircuitCity as a vendor.

I walked into CircuitCity because it was right next door to another shop I was patronizing (Bed, Bath & Beyond which offered exceptional customer service). There were several sales clerks standing around, all trying to appear busy, stocking shelves, etc. I finally managed to tap one of them on the shoulder to get his attention as he was removing items from a box to stock a shelf of merchandise. I had found an item online, I explained to him, but didn’t know if his store carried it. Giving me a look that clearly showed his frustration at my, the lowly customer’s, interruption of his all-important task, he told me, “It will state on the web page whether it is only available online or not.”

Well, stupid me! “I don’t have a computer with me,” I replied, with just a touch of snideness.

“There is one over there,” he pointed in the general direction of the front of the store. “You can check our inventory on it.” He then proceeded to go back to his box, clearly unwilling to put forth any further effort.