Just Smile

Each morning, the tourism department and Main Street department chat a little about their night and what the day is going to look like. We vent about personal things and/or share the good stuff. For some reason, customer service came up today.

It started with me sharing what I had for dinner last night. Tim and I are on our culinary journey in low-carbing, and I bought some Nathan Hot dogs. These dogs were exceptionally good and were super big – it was the Colossal brand. We basically had chili dogs with no buns and a side of lima beans. I did not intend to purchase these super big dogs, but on Saturday morning, our Wal-Mart pick up was not complete and there were several items unavailable. One of those items were my Nathan’s (normal size) hot dogs.

Tim and I had to stop by the dreaded Food Lion to pick up the missing items. We dislike Food Lion because of their customer service. (Now we can only speak of the customer service in the Americus store.) On the other hand, we like Food Lion because for whatever reason, this particular one carries rare and hard-to-find items that say, a Publix shopper might like.

As expected, when we got to the counter, I greeted the cashier:

“Good morning.”

The lady did not even look up and she mumbled, “Mornin’.”

“How are you today?”

“**mumble**”

Still not looking up. We got done with the transaction and I smiled and said, “Have a great day!”

All she did was scowl and hand me the receipt.

Now… I would almost give her an out, considering, we never know what people are going through. However, this is exactly the same treatment I get EVERY TIME I shop there.

Ugh.

What would it kill people to make eye contact and just… smile? That’s all we are asking for. Just a quick smile. I’m not interested in getting to know you or discuss politics, I just want to give each other a little common courtesy.

Alas, it seems impossible.

One thing my team prides itself on is exceptional customer service. I feel there is a great need for more people to learn the basics: Smile, greet, make eye contact, and show you give a damn.

Is that too much to ask?