Customer Service

There are lots of great things about this country, but customer service is one thing in which America kicks Australia's butt. You know the kind of service you expect to get at say..... the DMV or the city municipal court, that's the kind of service you can pretty much expect from most places here. Now maybe it's because tipping is not the norm here. Maybe if the livelihood of the employee were on the line they would be a little more willing to, I don't know, do their job right.

Here's the straw that broke the camel's back:

I had made a hair appointment 6 weeks ago (6 weeks it took for me to get in!) and that was a weekday morning appointment (because weekend appointment are apparently booked years in advance). So not only did I have to wait 6 weeks for my booking, I also had to take the day off work, just to get my hair done. This morning came, got the kids off to school, took a cab to the hair place (I was 5 minutes early) where 4 other girls were waiting. Hmmm, I only see 2 or 3 stylists, so I'm a bit confused. Well after they get the first 3 girls set up and going they called the other girl over and talked to her and I heard the words "rebook"- oh no. Then she calls me over and tells me that they do not have my booking. Would I like to come back another day? I don't think so, honey. How about you come back in an hour and a half? How about you do my hair right now so I can get on with my day? 

Eventually I got in, had to wait about 45 minutes- but here's what really blows my mind...not a single apology. Well we don't make the bookings, our other salon does that. We normally have 3 stylists, but today we only have 2....blah....blah......blah.

Luckily it's not always that bad or that inconvenient, but unfortunately it is pretty consistent. If you want help in a shop you have to track down the correct person (because heaven forbid they don't work in THAT section) and then you have to really bug them to get them actually come over and explain/show/etc rather than just pointing you in the right (or wrong) direction. And in a restaurant- forget about it. You better know exactly what you want when they first take your order, because rarely will you have a server that checks back in once they've brought your food.

There's my rant- I'll leave it at.