Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Not subscribing to the "Burger King" concept?

So, I run to the Dunkin Donuts on base a little while ago to grab a wheat bagel and a cup of coffee. First off, before I even place my order I give the woman my credit card and my Patriots Dunkin card so that it can be recharged. I could’ve done it online ahead of time, but I really wanted to see if they had any new Red Sox cards in stock yet. (Yup, I’m really moving on from football.) So I asked the girl if they had any instock and she sort of snorts and says “Um, no” in a sort of chippy way. I thought “Hmmm. Maybe not a Sox fan...?”. Anyway, she says to the person behind me after I sign the card: “Can I help you?” Huh? I wasn’t done yet! I just put money on my card, wouldn’t you ask me if there’s anything else I’d like? So, I said “oh, I’m sorry – I wanted to get coffee too.” So, she loudly sighs (because clearly - I’m imposing upon her) and sends the person to the woman next to her who was smack in the middle of helping someone else.

So now I’m thinking, “okay, this woman is having a bad day.” So I give her a big smile and place my coffee order – which as we all know, is one that unless I’m a regular customer of yours – or you buy it for me regularly – needs to be written down. She looks at me blankly when I place it and says “can you repeat that?”, which of course I did. Then she asked me to repeat it again...I could see her trying to register it, but it wasn’t quite getting there. So, after I joked (like I always do) about how it’s a “very busy coffee” – she picked up the black pencil and starts to write the specifics on the cup as I’m saying it for the third time.

Now, she’s off to make my coffee - but I’m no fool...I’m watching her to make sure she’s doing it right. And wouldn’t you know, even though it’s written down in front of her, she takes cream and pours it into the cup. “Oh, I’m sorry – not cream, milk please – extra milk” is what I interrupted her with. And she loudly sighs and sort of snidely says “no, you said – you said extra cream”. Okay, I’ve been known to make mistakes in my life time. But trust me on this one – I no way, no how said extra cream. So I said, “No, I’m sorry – I’m allergic to cream...(big lie) I need milk please.....I’m pretty sure you wrote that on the cup." (she did.)


Good thing she threw it out, because she had written it on a medium cup.
Imagine the horror I would’ve faced when and if I asked for it to be in a large cup instead?
(In a large cup, medium hazelnut/coconut – extra milk and 4 splenda is the traditional coffee order)

Clearly, I’d have been wearing my coffee.
Which, given the fact that I’m wearing black pants and a white shirt – would not have been a good look.

4 comments:

Shayna said...

Rebecca,

Now see....I would have been nice in the beginning, like you, but of the attitude had continued? that would have been it! lol I can only take that kind of attitude for so long, before I would ask to speak to the Manager... especially if I've done nothing to provoke it. Why is it that so many people who in my opinion, dislike people....have customer service related jobs? Boggles my mind!

Anonymous said...

People who work in a postion where they have to deal with the public should at least "pretend" to like other people! Customer service has gone down the tubes in recent years. Years ago when I worked, we would have been canned for treting someone that way.

Anonymous said...

Well, at least it appears that you got someone who speaks English. That's less and less the case at places like that. At least you knew you had a shot at being understood.

chesneygirl said...

There is no such think as "customer service" in America anymore. It is sad.