hi, can i ignore you?

doc and i have noticed this phenomenon lately — and it’s really not that much of a phenomenon, it’s just one of those things that made you think “wow, is this actually happening?”

have you ever been completely and utterly ignored by a customer service person at a retail establishment?

example #1: while having breakfast last weekend at a popular (read: we put everyone else out of business) bagel joint, our order was incomplete when doc went to pick it up. so he stood at the counter by the cashier, waiting for someone to ask him if he needed anything. the cashier was right there, ringing up peoples’ orders, and the bagel drones were walking back and forth behind the counter, going about their own business.

he stood there for probably four or five minutes before anyone noticed he was standing there and asked him if he needed anything. he was not two feet from this cashier, who never once looked his way. he told me that he was perfoming an experiment, and waiting without saying anything to see how long it would take for someone to notice him.

example #2: a few nights ago, when we picked up dinner at a local chicken restaurant, the same thing happened: he went to the counter to ask for some salt packets, and stood there for several long minutes. the cashier was nowhere in sight, but there were several chicken drones and a chicken manager behind the food service area, who could clearly see through to the dining room, who completely ignored both Doc and the two other customers who were waiting to be helped. finally one of the other customers said loudly, “HEY” to someone in the back, who then came out. who knows how long he would have waited if the other customer hadn’t said anything.

i told him that there was no way i could wait that long, even for the sake of an experiment. i’d give about 30 seconds and then i’d start waving my arms or loudly saying “excuse me?” to anyone in sight. i’m too impatient.

example #3: numerous times at the grocery store and various other retail establishments, i have been totally ignored by the cashier. the cashier is busy talking to another employee, or looking around the store while scanning my groceries, or just flat out ignores me — and sometimes does not even tell me my total, so that i have to ask, and only then do they begrudingly mumble what i owe.

it’s just amazing. i shouldn’t be amazed by this stuff anymore. i should be jaded. is it rudeness? lack of manners? apathy induced by a pathetic minimum wage paycheck?

on the other side of it is rude customers, of whom there are all too many. i do feel sorry for people working in the retail world; i’ve experienced it myself. i’m especially put out by customers on cell phones, who completely ignore the cashier while continuing their conversations. i heard about a post office somewhere around dallas that has put up a sign stating “we will gladly assist you after you have finished your phone conversation.”

and then again, there are the occasional super-nice and helpful customer service people. i had a good experience with one at southwestern bell a few weeks back. she was so pleasant and really made me feel like she cared that i was having a problem. so i wrote a complimentary letter to her supervisor. it’s sad that i felt compelled to write a letter for what should be standard service. but unfortunately “standard service” these days is often apathy at best.