Jackass #20 – Clerks who talk on the phone while taking your money.
Here’s another great jackass I am sure you know.
This is the guy in the convenience store/gas station who is talking on the phone (usually loudly in another language) that continues to talk while you are trying to consummate your transaction.
This is wrong for so many reasons. Above all it is just rude. I can only conclude the clerk is a real jackass!
What would be the right thing for the clerk to do here?
How about providing a quick “excuse me” to me, the customer, while you wrapping up the call? The upraised index finger (the universally accepted indication of wait a second) will suffice.
And just because I am feeling so generous… I would even accept a clerk who gives the person on the other side of the phone the same “excuse me” – and puts the phone down – while we wrap up our transaction.
This may sound like crazy talk but I am merely THE CUSTOMER. We’ve come a long way from “the customer is always right.” Here we have “the customer barely exists!”
Jackasses I say, Jackasses!