What would you do?

[Flyn]

I'm at Sam's Club today and Amy and I decide to get some ice cream and drinks. While Amy was paying for the groceries I got in line and waited 15 mins. for the very slow restaurant worker. The line stretched about 10 people deep instead of the usual 2-3 people. She had a helper but the girl must have been challenged because she was going through a series of jobs that were not critical at the time and taking a long time at it.

I get up to order finally and Amy sees they have a fresh pizza and tells me to get her a slice. The worker looks at the newer pizza and then reaches into the back of the warming tray to take out a piece that had been there before I got in line. I asked her for a fresh piece and she glared at me before tossing the old piece hard into the garbage. It took her around 5 mins. to finish two ice creams and the pizza slice. Took her another minute to realize my credit card was already in the reader waiting for her to push a button.

OK, I get it. She doesn't like her job and wasn't getting enough help. Is this reason enough to intentionally slow down her serving customers?

I thanked her politely and took the stuff to our table. Went back to fill my drink and get spoons/napkins. They are out of spoons so I ask them for a refill of the bin. That takes another 5 mins. for the 2nd girl to get around to it.

I get my drink in the meantime and take a sip. Urrkk! The Diet Coke is awful. There's something wrong with the ratios. Maybe the cola is really low or out. I'm still waiting for straws so I go back up and tell the server the Diet Coke machine is not working properly. She goes "Hmmmphhh. That whole machine isn't working right". I said "Maybe you should put a sign on it saying it isn't working so customers aren't surprised with bad tasting drinks?" She says she can't touch the machine.

OK, the spoons are finally there so I get a couple and Amy and I start eating. While eating, I'm watching the line which gets up to around 20 people. That's a half hour wait time for anyone in the back of the line.

BTW, while I was in line, I saw a guy order an Italian Sausage and the server scrounged around in the bottom of 3 bins for the last of the peppers/onions. She doesn't refill the bins or ask the 2nd girl to refill it. The guy ahead of me ordered an Italian Sausage and she tells him he will have to have it "naked" because there're no peppers/onions. He cancels his order and walks away.

As I'm eating I see 3 workers standing around looking at the line and discussing it. Nobody does anything, they just talk about it.

At that point, I had had enough. I go up to them and ask for a manager. I explained I wanted to discuss the restaurant's service today since this is not the first time I have seen poor service like this. The workers laugh and say "Please, tell the manager about what you are telling us. We're not allowed to say anything. We really want you to tell THIS manager about the problems."

So, I talk with them and we wait ten mins. for the manager to show up. She sees me and looks concerned. I politely explained the several issues I see with the service and ask her what she can do about it. She blames the workers for taking breaks and says she will fix it.

At the time I left, the line was still long and nothing had been done about it. Did I just waste my time?

I will mention it to the store manager next time I am there and see a similar problem. He already knows me because I have knocked on his door to complain and to compliment workers. Maybe he'll ban me from Sam's? LOL

What do you guys think? Is it worth taking the time to try to improve a store service?

Click to read more...

 

[FESTER665]

I would just stop buying ice cream and drinks from Sams club, or spend my money at Costco...

 

[Flyn]

Unfortunately, we have no Costco yet. I'd definitely get a membership if they opened up a store near me.

 

[CMNTMXR57]

Yelp it.

 

[Blownbyyou]

If you don’t like the service don’t go?


I mean complaining about the pop machine I get, but you have a choice to stand in that line...

 

[Flyn]

As a diabetic, my blood sugar had dropped into the 50s which is really low. I was getting alerts from my phone app/ BSmonitor. I mistakenly thought the fastest way to get it up was to get some ice cream from the restaurant. I picked up some peanut butter pretzels and opened them while in the store but my blood sugar wasn't coming up fast enough and I was getting light headed. Probably contributed to my annoyance with them.

I was feeling bad for the other people in line too. They weren't happy but no one else was saying anything.

 

[Blood on Blood]

Complain to corporate and demand a $500 gift card.

 

[Blood on Blood]

Call every day, demanding that $500 gift card, and how they should hire better skilled minimum wage workers and $15 / hr managers

 

[Flyn]

Ha Ha! The manager told me she'd refund my purchase money but I told her I wasn't looking for that. I just want the restaurant to improve so I can get my cheap dinner rapidly and not have to go back up three times. The pizza is actually pretty good. Hot dogs aren't bad either as long as it's not 8 pm.

 

[greasy]

Complains about slow/uncaring workers.....ironic because maybe if they got paid more they would have provided better service from more caring employees. But let’s be honest, I know you don’t agree with people making more than minimum wage in this type of job. Maybe if it was a Hispanic that was here illegally, but a really hard worker you would have had better service, but again we know you want all illegal aliens deported.

You being a diabetic isn’t Sam’s problem, so you can’t blame your low blood sugar on their slow service. Take self responsibility for your own medical conditions.

 

[10sec]

Today, at the local grocery store, the receipt machine broke in the line I was in, all of 2 lines at the time I was there. This delay was about 10min from me leaving the store with the stuff I went there to get. It's a poorly run store with a manager that looks like he's 40 but is probably 25yrs old. If that was the worst thing that happened to me this week, I'll take it. I wasn't bothered at all, those people make shit money and just about all of us on here would rather eat shit than work that job. I do agree with making a manager not be a sack of shit sitting in a room doing nothing though, but unfortunately if you put pressure on them, they put pressure on those poor people making shit money.

 

[EmersonHart13]

I would just stop buying ice cream and drinks from Sams club, or spend my money at Costco...

110%

 

[Bub]

I'm not old enough for this thread. :Io:

 

[Flyn]

Complains about slow/uncaring workers.....ironic because maybe if they got paid more they would have provided better service from more caring employees. But let’s be honest, I know you don’t agree with people making more than minimum wage in this type of job. Maybe if it was a Hispanic that was here illegally, but a really hard worker you would have had better service, but again we know you want all illegal aliens deported.

You being a diabetic isn’t Sam’s problem, so you can’t blame your low blood sugar on their slow service. Take self responsibility for your own medical conditions.

You are assuming. I'd love to see a $15 minimum wage without an increase in consumer prices. Most people in low paying jobs deserve to make more than they get. The only problem I have with increased wages is if there is a corresponding increase in prices.

As far as my medical condition, I was doing what I thought best to fix it. Diabetics have times when our sugar crashes. It's just a fact if you are a type 1 diabetic. I'm not blaming them for the low blood sugar at all. I'm blaming them because they were doing a shitty job.

Because this is an ongoing thing at this store, it's the manager who is failing by not correcting an obvious problem. It was clear from talking with the employees that they did not like the manager. She needs to hire and train competent people or, at least, as competent as she can find. If they have a slowdown, she should put on an apron and help them out rather than hide in the back of the store.

As I mentioned, I have talked to the store manager twice in the past to complement employees who did a great job for me. I think customer feedback should work both ways. Complain for poor service and compliment for good service. Most of the long term employees at this store know me by name and most of them do a great job. The restaurant/fresh manager need to improve. I probably compliment people ten times as often as I complain. Amy says it's ridiculous how many people I talk to when we go out. Today, for instance, I stopped to talk to the greeter, Angel, for a minute when we arrived. He had a big smile, said "Hi Cliff" and shook my hand. Made both of us feel good.

 

[Sprayin]

Complains about slow/uncaring workers.....ironic because maybe if they got paid more they would have provided better service from more caring employees. But let’s be honest, I know you don’t agree with people making more than minimum wage in this type of job. Maybe if it was a Hispanic that was here illegally, but a really hard worker you would have had better service, but again we know you want all illegal aliens deported.

You being a diabetic isn’t Sam’s problem, so you can’t blame your low blood sugar on their slow service. Take self responsibility for your own medical conditions.

You don't really spend time working with people in those positions or never worked one yourself, or both.

You could possibly make the argument that if the position paid more, it would attract a better employee. But saying that paying shit employees better will make them better employees is just idiotic.

As for the OP - complaining won't change anything. Those are systematic issues. The training is shit, the employees are shit, the management is shit, the quality system is nonexistent. If complaining makes you feel better, then that's all it'll accomplish. I wouldn't expect changes.

 

[EmersonHart13]

You don't really spend time working with people in those positions or never worked one yourself, or both.

You could possibly make the argument that if the position paid more, it would attract a better employee. But saying that paying shit employees better will make them better employees is just idiotic.

As for the OP - complaining won't change anything. Those are systematic issues. The training is shit, the employees are shit, the management is shit, the quality system is nonexistent. If complaining makes you feel better, then that's all it'll accomplish. I wouldn't expect changes.

Agreed.

I have been in my current line of work for 14 years (essentially with the same company), doing basically the same job. When I started I made a third of what I make now. I worked just as hard as I do today.... I make more because I know more not becuase my work ethic has changed. Even when I had crappy jobs that didn't pay well I always worked hard because that's what you do when you want to get ahead, better yourself, etc...

Additionally Walmart and Sam's culture sucks. I refuse to shop there for that reason. Go to Costco, you find happy employees that want to help you, like Culvers and Chik Fil A.... I'm not sure how they do it but they do. Company culture is so important. My current place lacks a great culture unfortunately and it is something I do miss and I can tell that this lack of culture is trying to negatively effect my work. I actively fight it because I know if I let it get the best of me it will be bad for my future. So I work hard right through it and focus on the good parts...

Yes I know I should probably look for a new job. Thankfully its way better than Sam's or Walmart.

 

[Fish]

First off, I thought you have an ice cream maker and a soda stream. WTF man!! If I were your wife Id be telling you that since you absolutely needed this shit, you better use it.

For food service, you are punching air when it comes to complaining IMO. Take your purchase money and be on your way. Go when its quiet and dont wait long. Bout the only thing you can do.

Next [MENTION=60]greasy[/MENTION] is going to scold someone for letting their cancer consume their lives. THEY SHOULD KNOW BETTER!!

 

[Flyn]

Ha Ha! I will have to throw the ice cream maker in my car along with a very long extension cord. :toast:

 

[IZZy]

A lot of diabetics I know carry around snack size sneakers or milky ways in case their sugar gets low.

Work ethic has no relation to how much money you make, you either have it or you don’t

 

[Flyn]

I keep a roll of life savers in my car. Don't often need them since I have a BS monitor that alerts me before my blood sugar gets too low. I have a transmitter on my arm that sends the BS to my phone. In this case, I had a busy day with a lot of exercise which, combined with the insulin I took for lunch caused the crash. When I walked into Sam's, I was starting to feel a drop and checked it on my phone app. BS was exactly 100 at that time which is perfect. It dropped to the alert level of 80 while we were shopping and I opened the pretzels. Kept dropping even though I was eating them so I needed more carbs/sugar. 50s/60s are definitely low but not usually immediate danger for me. 40s are when it gets critical. Sugar is faster at raising the level so that's what I was going for with the ice cream.

Being a type 1 diabetic is a daily exercise in balancing food, insulin and activity to keep the BS between 80 and 120. You eat and it goes up past 140 then comes down as the insulin I program into my insulin pump catches up with the carbs. Too much insulin or too much activity and it can crash. It's not an exact science because of the variables so it's a constant battle to keep it where it belongs. I just checked it now and it's at 128 which is good. I also have the alarm set for 200 which alerts when my BS goes too high. If that alarm goes off it's time to take more insulin.

 

[Fish]

Next you are going to tell us you cant play QB for the NFL on Monday nights cause of your type 1 like someone we know.

 

[Flyn]

BS is 93 now and dropping. I ALWAYS check it before bed. Time for a small snack before I go to sleep so I don't get an alert at 3 A.M. Sucks to wake up to the alarm, half asleep, and have to go eat something.

It never ends, guys. Daily routine. Go hug a type 1 diabetic. I'm not crying about it, just letting you know what it's like. I feel bad every time I hear about some young kid who gets diabetes. 42 years since diagnosis for me now and still motoring on. :smile:

 

[nytebyte]

Work ethic has no relation to how much money you make, you either have it or you don’t

Yep. I had a lot of shitty jobs when I was younger and I still did them to the best of my ability and never slacked off.

There is something wrong with most people these days when it comes to work ethic.

 

[Great White Drake]

I worked with a diabetic who’s sugar would go low all the time. When it would get too low, he would drink coke because he said liquid gets absorbed faster.

 

[torquelover]

Get the home office involved. Take video, load it to YouTube under a private account and send them an invite.