Customers aren't always right... well, at Tim Horton's anyway...

[4X4]

Originally Posted by jolinar of malkshor

Your probably the kind of person who goes to a full service gas station when it is -40C, leaves the car running so the gas jockey gets smoked out because of the fumes, rolls down the window about 1/4 of an inch, asks to put 5 bucks in the tank, check the oil, transmission fluid, air in the tires, fill the washer fluid....pays with a credit card and makes the guy go inside to process the payment and then when he comes out you roll down the window another 1/4 of an inch so he can barely get the credit card and pen through the window and once you have signed the slip you don't even leave a tip.

Ahaha. I worked at a full serve gas station in high school. Sounds like you did too...

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by jolinar of malkshor

Your probably the kind of person who goes to a full service gas station when it is -40C, leaves the car running so the gas jockey gets smoked out because of the fumes, rolls down the window about 1/4 of an inch, asks to put 5 bucks in the tank, check the oil, transmission fluid, air in the tires, fill the washer fluid....pays with a credit card and makes the guy go inside to process the payment and then when he comes out you roll down the window another 1/4 of an inch so he can barely get the credit card and pen through the window and once you have signed the slip you don't even leave a tip.

Ha ha. I have fond memories of just such people myself. They usually got a little gas on the paint, if not an outright scratch, and I never once let on that the oil was anything but perfect, no matter what condition it was in.

[jolinar of malkshor]

Originally Posted by 4X4

Ahaha. I worked at a full serve gas station in high school. Sounds like you did too...

haha, yup.

[Got Miikka?]

What does Ben Affleck say in the movie Mallrats? "The customer is always an a**hole!"

[NSFL]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

I have to sympathize with the staff at Tim's. I grab my morning coffee with some coworkers at the Tim's in Bow Valley Square, and there's always 50-100 people in line, yet for the most part we never have to wait more than 10 minutes. I read their list of instructions for customers and my reaction was "good for them for trying to make the process go more smoothly, now if only people would listen".

I have to agree with you. I spend probably way too much money and time at Tim's, but I've only had a couple bad experiences and that was because the idiots behind me took my coffee. In my opinion, this list helps to put everyone on the same page. So the quicker they get your order, the quicker you're out of there.

Originally Posted by driveway

One of the maor issues with the whole notion of 'customer service' is that it imbues in people the idea that they are somehow entitled to everything they want, exactly the way they want, and that if they don't get what they want they can treat another human being like crap.

I have exactly no problems with telling rude or angry customers that they need to leave my buisness and they can't come back. If they have a legitimate concern, if we have screwed up or inconvenienced them I'll bend over backwards for them IF they treat me with just a smidgen of respect. An awareness that mistakes happen and that we're all people is all that is needed. Come at me screaming and foaming at the mouth and expect to get absolutely no effort in resolving your issue.

I think this basically is the root of why retail and fast food is hell. This society is all me me me, and anything that contradicts that notion gives them the right to treat an employee like crap.

There are so many times at work that I'd be willing to help out a customer, but they're just so flipping rude that I just won't budge just to make them even angrier. You have a better chance of getting what you want if you stay calm and treat that person like a person instead of calling them names and screaming.

[Locke]

I've never really had any trouble at Tim Hortons. The sandwhiches are great, the breakfast sandwhiches are clutch, and it really doesnt take long to make my double-double.

Yeah I have to wait in line, especially at the University, but service in Calgary sucks balls. Everywhere. This isn't a huge secret, it just means people have to be patient.

[sadora]

Originally Posted by Jayems

I'm glad these folks are making my food/coffee

Not to hijack the thread but this just brings something that most should know. The problem with eating, getting coffee at chains is that they don't need anyone with any skill sets to work there. Cooks at places like a Montana's or Pizza Hut aren't that much different than cooks at a Macdonald's. These places mostly hire kid's that are still in high school or just out of high school that don't really know what they're doing nor do they really care. I'm sure the food will taste somewhat descent because they're all standardized to be put together by an assembly line of inexperienced, unsanitary kids who will be more than happy to spit in your food if you complain about how long it's taking or about the quality of their less than mediocre food. It's no different with the "bakers" they have at places like Timmy's.

[Reaper]

Originally Posted by SportsJunky

They really do need a beverage only lane. I often pray that the people ordering their lightly toasted bagels and cream cheese get the brain cancer as soon as they leave the drive thru. I order black coffee. That's it. A beverage only lane would make me happy in the lap area.

Don't take this the wrong way but if one were to break down your post into literal definitions it makes you sound a little psychotic.

I often pray that the people ordering their lightly toasted bagels and cream cheese get the brain cancer as soon as they leave the drive thru.

Because you are in a hurry and are only getting coffee you pray/meditate/wish to whatever god/deity/imaginary-friend/made-up-thing that you hold to be the centre of your spiritual existence so that the people ahead of you who order food in the Tim Horton's Drive Thru develop brain cancer, a form of cancer that is the highly fatal and debilitating kind, as retribution for making you have to wait a few minutes longer for your coffee.

So, the punishment for making you wait for coffee should be almost certain death, in your opinion?

Try the Decaf, man.

A beverage only lane would make me happy in the lap area.

The implementation of a point of purchase area where one could only purchase beverages at Tim Horton's would cause you to have an errection?

That is a new type of fetish, my friend.

Imagine the personality profile that would be arrived at using only your post? lol

[sadora]

Originally Posted by Reaper

Try the Decaf, man.

[SportsJunky]

Originally Posted by Reaper

So, the punishment for making you wait for coffee should be almost certain death, in your opinion?

Exactly, except for the "almost" part.

Look, psychosis aside, I think many folks would be overjoyed with a beverage only line. The fact that my joy would manifest in my lap area is just an added bonus really.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by NSFL

I think this basically is the root of why retail and fast food is hell. This society is all me me me, and anything that contradicts that notion gives them the right to treat an employee like crap.
.

I find this is often the opposite. The employees in the customer service related industries have the "me" attitude and it gets in the way of providing good service.

I'm nothing but courtious to people in places like Tim's, yet I probably get treated with the same disregard as the a-holes. Eventually I am just going to give up and be a prick since it probably doesn't matter.

I often work 12-16 hour days for a couple of weeks straight, so forgive me if I go to Tim's and don't want to get jacked around by someone who is upset because they haven't had their 15 minute break yet.

[jolinar of malkshor]

Originally Posted by NSFL

There are so many times at work that I'd be willing to help out a customer, but they're just so flipping rude that I just won't budge just to make them even angrier. You have a better chance of getting what you want if you stay calm and treat that person like a person instead of calling them names and screaming.

Maybe this is the root of the problem.

[NSFL]

Originally Posted by jolinar of malkshor

Maybe this is the root of the problem.

Way I see it, in my own experience, I would have given the customer the refund/exchange, which is against store policy, until he called me stupid. Until that point, I would have helped him out, but instead, he lost his temper and crossed a line.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy McGillicuddy

You could spend $7 on one of those fruitty coffees. Or you could spend a couple bucks and get a coffee that has some taste. Not the recycled dishwater that Timmy's passes off for coffee.

Meh, just your opinion.

[4X4]

TTYTT, I don't really get the whole complaint. As I've already said, I worked in a full serve gas station for 3 years. They told me that the customer was always right. Of course there were exceptions, but generally speaking, if I left a streak on the window and the old lady flipped, it was my fault.
Really, nowhere along the way did we start compiling a list of things that customers needed to do to make our job easier. I think we all accepted the fact that we worked for minimum wage and that was the incentive to progress to greater things.
Now, I acknowledge that not everyone working at Tims or any given drive thru and gas station is a high school kid. Quite often they're elderly and or immigrants. That doesn't change the fact that their job is to pour a cup of coffee and hand it to me. If they're too good for that, what the heck are they doing working there? Why aren't they building rockets and curing cancer?
For the record, I don't want to downplay the arrogance that can and often does exist within the customer, but if you think that your industry is the only industry that encounters that, I've got a bridge for sale.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by 4X4

For the record, I don't want to downplay the arrogance that can and often does exist within the customer, but if you think that your industry is the only industry that encounters that, I've got a bridge for sale.

No doubt. If you think that customers buying gas and coffee can be demanding, try dealing with officers who actually run global corpotations when they are paying for your services.

[Kidder]

I think it's a self-perpetual relationship.

Dink customers breed dink servers. Dink servers breed dink customers.

It's really a chicken-egg question.

I usually side with the employees. Seeing what some of them have to put up with is unbelievable. And I agree with NSFL. Typically it is the patron who appears to be overly solipsistic. The store and server is providing you with a service. They are not your beotch. If you don't like what they are offering vote with your money (like many CP posters are doing).

[Clarkey]

They're making peanuts and people treat them like shat.

[Calgaryborn]

I wonder why no one has ever invented a machine like a drive through bank machine where we could just punch in our own order. We don't have a Timmy's where I live so I really don't have a clue on the Tim-speak. Luckly I take my coffee black and I assume they would understand what black means.

[Maritime Q-Scout]

just want to comment on the idea of a drinks only lane.

I've talked about this with customers in line at Tim Horton's (as a fellow customer I've never worked there). I think it's a great idea in theory, but as Homer Simpsons says "in theory, in theory communism works, in theory."

What would end up happening is (ignorant) people would go into the drinks line as it's moving quicker, then throw a gigantic hissey-fit when they're told they can only order coffee. That or (dumb) people will not realize the difference then argue and please to "just make my sandwich, soup, box of doughnuts, and bagel with cream cheese for me, just this once".

Love the idea of a drinks only line, but frankly we as the consuming public are not smart enough, polite enough, or capable enough to actually use it properly. That's not saying the people on this board can't, but people in general.