Albertson's
Corner of College & Johnston St
Sunday 10:45am
It was a pretty light contingency of shoppers, especially for a Sunday morning after multiple church services in the area have let out. And especially with today being Super Bowl Sunday, I would have figured that there would be a lot more people getting last minute supplies, snacks and libations. So for those who have the mindset of getting in and getting out in as little time as possible, today might have been an opportune day for you. Except if you went through the customer service checkout.
The concept of the customer service acting as a checkout has always bewildered me. Sure, when I'm in a hurry and every checkout line is 8 deep, it is pretty refreshing to get that "I can help you over here, sir"; and subsequently brought over to VIP checkout. It's always made me puff out my chest a little. "I'm going check out at customer service. I'm an important customer!" Besides the boost to my ego, the expediency of checking out quickly is a convenience. But that's what the "express" checkout (___items or less) or the even-faster check out (in theory), with no employee interaction, is for. Most shopping centers have evolved to this concept of giving options--regular checkout, express checkout and self checkout. By doing this, it keeps the Customer Service line on a separate island, which through my eyes, becomes VIP checkout. So by that rationale, I would think that you would want your team leaders/all-stars representing what your store would label "Customer Service".
Unfortunately, this morning, Albertson's chose to put someone that didn't seem to be playing at an all-star level today. The young lady representing the best of Albertson's today lacked a bubbly personality. If she was a two-liter bottle of soft drink, she wouldn't be making that hiss sound when you open it. Her expressions were flat and deadpanned. As she took twice as long as needed with the person in front of me, I noticed that she was giving everyone the impression that one of the following things were going on:
1. I hate working Sundays.
2. I hate talking to people.
3. I really don't care what you think.
It could have been a combination of the three, but the faint and redundant-sounding "have a nice day" was neither nice nor genuine. Such a shame! Here's your chance to be an all-star customer service representative of Albertson's. And you blew it. A few hours from now some "all-stars" of professional football are going to be playing their hearts out. I doubt they will blow it. Maybe this young lady can take a time from some NFL-ers: Be great on Sundays!!!
