Posted by
Louie Majunk on Saturday, September 09, 2006 11:46:10 PM
As I waited in line at the so called "convenience store" to buy a newspaper and some chocolate junk food, it certainly was not me who was getting all the convenience. It was some people in front of me. They were taking forever to pay for just a few items. I didn't pay much attention to what they were buying. Money orders? Lottery tickets? Hot dogs? I did, however, notice that while one woman at the register was deciding what she wanted, he buddy ran to an aisle to grab one more thing. Don't be too critical of the clerk here. She was trained in "customer service."
Once again, a few customers got plenty of service while the rest of us got plenty of frustration by waiting in line that much longer. It is a typical business practice here in the west (even in the cities) with friendly, sociable people. As I see it, these great people are one of the many things that make living here so great. For the most part, I have always felt this way unless I am standing in line at some business. The convenience stores, supermarkets and some fast food restaurants are those which make me most irate.
Well, I have had selling jobs here in both wholesale and retail. The business philosophy in the west seems that we should be nice to the customer to keep him or her coming back. I doubt this thinking works very well. There are some businesses I avoid like the plague because I have too often stood in line waiting for a clerk to converse with some lonely customer, politely explain to another why the store cannot give both a coupon discount and a store discount, or inform yet another customer that personal checks from Croatia are not accepted.
Again, don't get me wrong. I love the west, and it would take a miracle for me to move back to the East Coast where I grew up. The social scene is too impersonal. Some say the business world there is just as bad, but why do people have to get so personal over buying and selling a loaf of bread?
It is just a different way of living in the east. Life is faster there. People don't seem to have time to talk or argue with one another, and customers don't expect five solid minutes of space when making it to the register. Maybe life is simpler in the west, but business is simpler in the east: You get in there and get out!