My roommate (B) and I walked down to the local Tim Hortons. This being Atlantic Canada, there is one approximately every five blocks. For those of you unfamiliar, Tim Hortons is a chain of fast food coffee type restaurants, sort of like a Dunkin Donuts.   Anyway, back to the point. At the counter, B and I both ordered bagels. It was a usual day at Tim’s except that the guy behind the counter made charming banter, joked, and laughed with us as we waited for our bagels to be toasted. As we left, I remarked that he was perhaps the best server I’ve ever had at any Tim’s that I’ve ever been to. In hindsight, I was trying to think about what made him such a great server, and it hit me: He was personable. Gasp, I know. What a surprise.

But the sad fact is that it is a surprise more often than not when you get a truly friendly and considerate staff person. Now, currently working in retail, it has become hideously, blatantly obvious who is a good serviceperson and who is not. The retailer that I work for puts huge emphasis on being friendly, and carrying on genuine conversations. This is certainly not the case at every store. As kind of a little experiment, I decided to go to a few stores around the mall and see what the standard of service was at the other stores.

I went into six stores, including two high-end clothing retailers, two high-end cosmetics stores, a low-end clothing store, and a shoe store. I was completely ignored. I had gone into the mall that day with a specific list of things that I wanted, and was willing to spend the money for them. In not one of the stores was I greeted. That, I suppose is the first sign of failure. In all three of the clothing stores as well as in the shoe store, I didn’t see a single identifiable employee. This was especially upsetting in the shoe store, where you really rely on staff to get you sizes to try on. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes that in-and-out shopping experience is good, when you just grab what you need and go, but it wasn’t what I wanted, and it was certainly not pleasant.

At the two makeup stores, the employees were identifiable, but were all busy doing something else. Still no greeting, but they were doing something at least. Overall, generally unimpressed. I left every single store disappointed by the level of service provided.

I don’t mind spending money on products that are maybe a little pricier, as long as the quality is there. However, if the customer service people available aren’t able to help me along in the buying process, I don’t really want to do business with them. The next time you’re around a store, not like the grocery or a drug store, but a specialty store, take a look at the people helping you. Are they really treating you like you should be treated? Just something to think about.