More Sterling Customer Service

I'm thinking I should simply rename and refocus this blog. I rarely get as excited or animated as I do when discussing the various customer service issues I encounter.

So, I'm in OfficeMax last evening -- had to pick up a receipt book for my son's nanny. I headed over to the area and perused the various offerings.

The first one I saw, obviously, was the most impressive. A giant book, with three receipts per page, carbon-copy included. There were 100 pages (so, 300 receipts) and the book cost $15.

There were then varying products in descending price (and quality). My use was nothing spectacular, so I tried to find an economical choice. Finally, I found one - 50 pages, one receipt per page, no carbon-copy, but when you pulled the receipt out, a stub was left behind for record-keeping. Price was $1.89. They also had a 5-pack for $7.29. I opted for the 5-pack.

I headed up to the register, and the cashier asked, "There are five books here; do you want all five of them?" (now, remember, this pack is completely shrink-wrapped together). I said I did -- they were sold as a 5-pack. She begins to remove the shrink-wrap and tells me, "No, they're not. Each book is $7.29." She scans one and shows me the price ($7.29), and says, "See?"

I tell her -- I think what's happening is she's scanning the barcode which is giving her the price for the 5-pack (in fact, on the monitor it came up "Receipt book - 2 3/4 x 6 - 5-pack"). She says, "no, each book is $7.29" and she scans another one (which, of course, comes up as the same price). I tell her that the shelf is marked wrongly then; each book is listed as $1.89 with the 5-pack being $7.29.

Then, I say, "you're telling me that 250 non-carbon-copy receipts will cost me nearly $40, but I can get 300 carbon-copy receipts for $15?" She now gets aggravated/exasperated and turns to her boss (who had just walked over) and says, "Can you please tell this customer that these books are $7.29 each?"

He looks at the register, and says, "well, the 5-pack is $7.29" - but he has to buy the 5-pack ... not 5 individual ones (which now, it looks like I've bought, since Ms. Brightness took them OUT of the shrink-wrap).

I would've preferred to see how this all played out, but I was hungry and tired, since this was my last stop after work, before I headed home. So, I quickly explained everything to him, and he overrode her. I got no apology; she just handed me the receipt and walked away.

Interestingly, before that, though, she told her boss, "Wow, I've been charging people $7.29 each all day." -- so, two thoughts there ... first, OfficeMax is probably going to have a fairly profitable Q1 in 2012; and second, what dolt is spending $7.29 on a receipt book?

I'm very worried about this country. More and more people are leaving college with a ton of debt in the form of student loans. They're leaving with the expectation that they'll be making more than I make, just to be able to afford their living expenses and student loan payments. And, when I meet people like this cashier (who lacked even the common sense to apologize for her behavior), I wonder who, exactly, is going to pay them that kind of salary.