I walked up to the Macs today to buy a carton of eggs, because, hey, eggs. I was browsing around to see if there was anything else I needed when the door chimes and three guys who look like industrial or construction guys walk in. They head straight for the counter that every convenience store in the history of ever has, usually near the back. You know what I'm talking about. The coffee counter.
All is going well until I hear, "Hey! There's no coffee!" As a former retail peon myself, my first instinct is to dive behind a rack of Doritos until the storm passes. I know what coffeeless customers are capable of.
Fortunately, these gents seem to be fairly reasonable, which any customer service person knows is a rarity. The guys working in the store, however, seem to be a little less so. They are both Indian (as in, from India) and the first one replies, "No, no, coffee is there!"
These construction guys, however, beg to differ, and they inform the guys behind the counter that there is, in fact, no coffee left in the urn. They turn to leave, since the store does not have what they want. This does NOT sit well with the clerk.
"No no no no no!" He exclaims. "One second, one second!" He shoves the other guy out from behind the counter and says something in a language I don't speak. (I assume Hindi, since the Indian guy I worked with when I worked industrial spoke it, but I couldn't say for sure.) I assume he is telling the other guy to get his ass over there and make some damn coffee. In this town, a convenience store without coffee is pretty much an affront against God.
"One second, one second!" The second guy exclaims as he rushes toward the counter to start a new pot of coffee. "Sorry buddy," one of the construction guys says. "We don't have time to wait." I glance at my watch and judging by the time, I guess that it's about their break time and they just wanted to grab a quick cup of coffee before getting back at it. They're doing some kind of road work in the street just outside the door, these guys are probably part of the road crew, which makes the lack of coffee that much more inexcusable. There are dozens of guys out there, and this particular Macs is the nearest and most convenient place for them to buy coffee, smokes, gum, newspapers and whatever else it is road crew guys buy.
The construction guys turn to leave, and the first clerk...I swear...runs to the door and gets between it and them. He does NOT want them to leave. They came in for coffee and by God, he is going to sell it to them if he has to chain them to the Slushy machine to do it. The clerk holds up his hands and lets off another volley of "No no no no no no no!" Once again, my Customer Service Sense is tingling. This clerk must be new to the game or something.
Once again, I'm shocked by the customers' reasonable...ness...as the lead one (also the biggest one. My eyes are about on level with his chest) says again, firmly but politely, "We don't have time to wait, buddy." ("No no no no no no no! One second, one second!") The clerk, finally at least partially accepting defeat, allows them to leave, though not without one final wave of "No no no no no no no!"
Maybe next time they'll just keep a closer eye on the coffee pot.
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