Customer Service at the Jersey Shore

Have you ever gotten extremely bad customer service?

I can (and will in a future blog) rave about some of the amazing customer service and fantastic employees I have come across while out shopping in Monmouth and Ocean Counties.

I have come across some awesome cashiers, waiters and waitresses, gas station attendants, small-business employees, etc. that have really made my day.

After all, it isn't easy serving people in a part of the world where everyone is rushed and stressed and prices are high.

But when you have to go to a store for something and the service is downright 'challenging' (ahem) how do you react?

There is one particular store where I have had such bad service, time and time again, that I would swear that someone is taping me for a prank TV segment. At one point I even refused to ever enter spend my money there again.

But recently I needed an 'emergency' item and this store was the only one in a 15-mile radius that had it, and I didn't have time to drive a half hour to another store. So, after years of not entering this store, I entered with a fresh mind.

I noticed that many of the items this store carries are indeed things that I might buy. The store was relatively clean and neat, and, I thought, I am off to a good start. And they did indeed have the specific item, in the right size, that I needed.

So I was about to be all happy about this...and then I got in line.

There were two people ahead of me at the check out counter, each with no more than two items. And there was one woman behind me.

The first person in line had some kind of question or problem that took the cashier ten minutes to solve (already an eternity, in my book, when you are waiting and seeing all of the other lines moving smoothly.)

Finally, that person was able to pay and left the store. The cashier apologized to the next person in line for taking so long, and proceeded to ring up that person's purchase. We were next.

As I put my one item down on the belt, the cashier abruptly walked away. Yep. That's right. He LEFT. He didn't say anything along the lines of "I'll be back in a minute" or "This register is closing." As my son and I are looking around trying to figure out if he is coming back, the woman behind us is starting to get really agitated.

Now another cashier walks over, fiddles with something near the register and, before we can say a word, she takes off, too. At which point the woman behind me in line starts yelling across the store at the top of her voice "EXCUSE ME...WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR CASHIER?"

Guess what? Every employee in the store ignored her. Lol. Finally she leaves the line and marches up to Customer Service, where someone tells her that our cashier moved to another register (?!?!).

By this time, each of the other registers has a very long line, so now we have to start all over and wait at the back of a line. No apology, no explanation, not an ounce of caring. Had I not needed this particular item so desperately, had I had time to drive a half hour each way to get to another store that carried it, I would have put it down, walked out of the store, and once again vowed to never go into that store.

(Yes, I know that with the amount of time and aggravation I suffered I surely would have been home and back from the farther store, lol.)

So much for giving this store another try. I am baffled as to how this store remains in business.

What's your worst customer service story?