A typical scenario:

Guy walks into a popular chicken outlet, looks at the menu, makes up his mind, and addresses the disinterested cashier:

Customer:  Yeah, lemme get ah two-piece dey.

Cashier: We en hah no chicken.

Customer: Wha? Whey yuh mean yuh outta chicken?

Cashier: Well, is chicken we sellin, wuh yuh want us tuh be outta?  Pork?

Now, to be fair, the cashier has a point. From a purely logical perspective, a fast-food restaurant can only run out of whatever it is they sell.

Then again, to look at it from another, also quite logical, perspective, there’s no reason why, when closing is at midnight, a chicken outlet should be out of chicken at 10pm.  It just doesn’t make sense.

It also doesn’t make sense for anyone in customer service to treat a customer this way.

Is it funny?  Hell yes.  Lots of people laughed.  I was laughing, from way back in the line, until I realized that I’d been waiting for 15 minutes and I wasn’t getting any chicken, either.

The embarrassed customer left, taking his money with him.  I left, realizing that French fries weren’t going to satisfy me after 15 minutes spent anticipating a juicy thigh and wing combo.  But we left behind a line of people who were apparently content to order something else.

In a chicken outlet that was out of chicken.

A line of people who witnessed that restaurant’s lack of respect for its customers and were still lined up to hand over their money.

All of which is part of the problem.

I’ve witnessed, and received, a lot of horrible customer service over the past year alone.  I’m sure that doesn’t surprise anyone.  We all know customer service is a problem in this beautiful nation of ours.

By way of a little justification, I should say that I’ve worked as a cashier in many a store and I am well aware of the pressures that come as part of the job. I’m also well aware of how much easier it is to simply do the job and be pleasant than to be sour and disdainful of every customer I see.

The thing is, whether I was being ignored by a sales associate or I was watching another sales associate yell at an elderly woman to “make up yuh mind!!!” (true story), I found myself standing there, struggling with a difficult choice.

In my mind’s eye, I imagined myself telling this sullen, surly, and salty person off.  Reminding her that no one was forcing her to come in every day and collect a paycheck; that the very same paycheck was made possible by the same people she treats like something she scraped off the bottom of her shoe.

I then imagined putting the jeans, pair of shoes, or bottle of shampoo down and walking out of the store, taking my money to a place where they’d appreciate it.

On the other hand, I’d imagine grumbling under my breath, joining the line, and giving my money to a company that obviously didn’t give a crap about the way they treated their customers.

And then, knowing how ridiculous it was, I’d do that.  Because I felt like it wouldn’t make a difference to tell the cashier anything; because I felt like I didn’t really have a choice; because it was just too much hassle to make a fuss.

These days, though, my outlook is changing.  Especially during Christmas season, when huge crowds, long lines, and short tempers come together to turn shopping into torture.  I’ve slowly come to the conclusion that I’m doing more harm than good by accepting horrible customer service and then paying for it.

I’m under no illusions, though.

I don’t think that a company’s policy is going to change when I tell the cashier that the one hundred dollar bill was still legal tender last time I checked and then ask her if she’d reject the same bill if her boss paid her with it.  I know the company’s not going to go broke if I tuck that hundred dollar bill back into my pocket and take it somewhere where the cashier won’t sigh and roll her eyes when I ask her if she can break it.

On the other hand, I know that I’ll feel better knowing I didn’t let her get away with taking her frustrations out on this customer.  And I’m pretty sure that the next time she sees me in line, if I ever choose to patronize that store again, she’ll make sure to ask a customer further up in the line for change, just in case I’ve got a blue note.

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