Today I popped out to grab some milk and since it was just one or two things, I went in to the local Plus, which is something of a black hole when it comes to customer service. Although I’ve not seen the woman cashier who’s got more testosterone than most guys and is a real bitch to everyone in a while, I can’t exactly say the service has improved much.

An example of that was how today, when one of the employees was going to go on her break and wanted to buy some smokes and a thing of juice, she cut through the line of people and was rung up by the other cashier. Okay, she’s an employee, but I know from my wonderful days in retail that that’s just something you don’t do, like yell at the customer and say “You’ll forget and be back soon enough!” Yes, I’ve seen that.

That’s part of the reason I go shopping at Tesco. While I’d prefer to support a Hungarian chain, Tesco just has a better range of products (being a hypermarket) and the customer service there is indifferent, not rude. I know that’s hardly an endorsement, because it’s not meant to be, but given how so frequently the employees of a store make it seem like they’re doing you a favor (no asshole, my coming in and spending money there is what keeps you employed) it just gets frustrating.

What’s quite rare is the occasional friendly person, which is quite jarring, to the point that you’re almost thinking if you’re on a hidden camera or something. It’s rare, and I always try to be friendlier in the hopes that the person stays that way instead of morphing into a ball of hate, which quite a few are.

Things are improving, and I’ve found a few places where the customer service people are actually quite friendly, but those places are still not found frequently enough.