Calgary Service Industry Rant

[MJM]

After another lunch where my fries were not cooked, and my burger pink, I think i've about had it.

I've travelled the world (been on every continent accept Antarctica), and i've never been subject to a crappier service industry than I deal with in a regular basis in my own city. Just once i'd like to pay for something and receive what I paid for with good service. Sitting at a table for ten minutes before being asked if I even want a drink/menu, having a waitress that doesn't come to check on us once during the entire 1 hour meal, constantly getting raw food or cold food (run of the mill cold food at that), getting strange looks from the waitress when I ask if they could please heat my meal up, having that same crappy waitress expect a 15% tip even though the food and service sucked, etc.

Good god i'm tired of it. Maybe it's because of the previous boom (everyone had pretty reasonable jobs so the people in the service industry are bottom of the barrell) or just the plain fact that the high school/university age group are so goddamn spoiled with daddy's oil money that they could careless about their job because they know mommy and daddy will bail them out.

You don't even have to travel the world to see how crappy the service industry is here. All you have to take is take a 6 hours jaunt east or west of us.


End rant.

[troutman]

It's worse in Banff. No one seems to give a damn, because they are just passing through.

[peter12]

Banff is a crap-hole. 25% more expensive than Calgary and you get served by herpes infected ski bums.

[MJM]

Originally Posted by troutman

It's worse in Banff. No one seems to give a damn, because they are just passing through.

It's brutal in Alberta wherever you go. I'd be appauled if I was a tourist at some of the service I receive here.

It's not even limited to restaurants. I waited 35 minutes the other day at Future Shop in Beacon Hill before one of their nerd squad talked to me about a laptop I was looking to buy my wife. He sure had time to look at his Blackberry though.

[peter12]

It is pretty bad here. When I go to other places and actually get treated like I am an important customer whose business is actually important... it's a bit flattering.

[Peanut]

I noticed a big difference when I was in Vancouver over the Thanksgivnig long weekend. Apparently retail staff do exist that actually help you and actively try to sell you stuff?! I was shocked.

[habernac]

It isn't bad everywhere. Even in aforementioned Banff I had terrific service a couple of months ago when we had a nice dinner. That said, being a person who has worked in the customer service industry in the past, I notice a lot poorer service than I have before. This year I let the manager of a shop I have frequented for years that I wouldn't be back due to piss poor treatment from his staff. They didn't even seem to care.

[alltherage]

Yup, have to agree here. When we went down to Florida we were freaking spoiled by everyone there. My friend embarrassed the hell out of my by telling SUBWAY emplyees it was my birthday, and the employees SANG TO ME!!! SUBWAY EMPLOYEES!!

If you told Subway employees here it was your birthday they'd give you the "I don't give a f***" look and probably spit in your cold cut trio.

[MJM]

When I was inquiring with the cable guy the other day (who was 45 minutes late) about having multiple internet connections and the fact that it might not be that easy because the basement was already finished, I actually had a Shaw employee tell me the other day that maybe I should go with Telus since it was already hooked up and it might "easier".

[4X4]

I don't think it's so bad here in Calgary. I've had bad service for sure, but generally speaking, I'm usually pleased with customer service levels of places I go.

But there is one place that recently pissed me off pretty good. The little engraving booth at the north end in Chinook Center. Went there a couple months ago to get a tag for my dog, there were two little dorks behind the counter, both helping the same customer - for 10 minutes. I'm standing there waiting and neither of them acknowledged me. Finally, they finished helping the lady, and then one of them immediately went over to the machine and started punching in whatever he was going to engrave for the lady, and the other one grabbed his ipod and left.

At this point, I was kind of in shock. They both just turned their backs as if I wasn't there. So I stand there for another minute or two before I say to the one guy "hey, man... I'd like to get a dog tag done please". He says "it'll be quite awhile, I have to engrave an entire set of forks for that woman. Probably about an hour".
I wanted to bonk his scrawney little face off of the counter. Like, really? Were you just going to let me friggin wait that long before acknowledging me? Holy crap. Why didn't you just say so? What the hell do you think I'm standing here for?

I kinda hope he reads this. You know who you are! You're a completely useless SOB.


But what I've noticed alot of lately are ######y customers. Every morning I stand in line at Timmys and without fail, I see some self important person talking on the phone while ordering. If I don't see it there, I'll see it that night at Safeway.

Yeah, they're only cashiers, right? No need to treat them like they're human.

[cmyden]

Yep, there's no doubt Calgary is one of the worst. I knew I had become desensitized to it when I visited Seattle in '07 and gave a look of confusion to a department store salesman when he asked "Can I help you?".

"You want to...help...me?"

"Yes, can I help you find anything? Answer any questions?"

[turning to girlfriend] "Is this a trick?"

[MJM]

Originally Posted by 4X4

I don't think it's so bad here in Calgary. I've had bad service for sure, but generally speaking, I'm usually pleased with customer service levels of places I go.

But there is one place that recently pissed me off pretty good. The little engraving booth at the north end in Chinook Center. Went there a couple months ago to get a tag for my dog, there were two little dorks behind the counter, both helping the same customer - for 10 minutes. I'm standing there waiting and neither of them acknowledged me. Finally, they finished helping the lady, and then one of them immediately went over to the machine and started punching in whatever he was going to engrave for the lady, and the other one grabbed his ipod and left.

At this point, I was kind of in shock. They both just turned their backs as if I wasn't there. So I stand there for another minute or two before I say to the one guy "hey, man... I'd like to get a dog tag done please". He says "it'll be quite awhile, I have to engrave an entire set of forks for that woman. Probably about an hour".
I wanted to bonk his scrawney little face off of the counter. Like, really? Were you just going to let me friggin wait that long before acknowledging me? Holy crap. Why didn't you just say so? What the hell do you think I'm standing here for?

I kinda hope he reads this. You know who you are! You're a completely useless SOB.


But what I've noticed alot of lately are ######y customers. Every morning I stand in line at Timmys and without fail, I see some self important person talking on the phone while ordering. If I don't see it there, I'll see it that night at Safeway.

Yeah, they're only cashiers, right? No need to treat them like they're human.

If you think you get good service in Calgary, i'm going to bet you haven't left Alberta in a LONG time.

[4X4]

Originally Posted by MJM

If you think you get good service in Calgary, i'm going to bet you haven't left Alberta in a LONG time.

Maybe I've got good luck? Maybe it's because I consciously try to be pleasent with whoever I'm dealing with? Don't get me wrong, I'm not pinning your bad service on you, I'm just saying that I don't notice consistent bad service. And yes, I've left Alberta lately.

[Razor Ruddock]

The OP hit the nail on the head. People here are spoiled with daddy's oil money.

[Antithesis]

For every terrible service story I see, I see a mindless customer story unfold as well. I was getting lunch at the Opa near my place and this woman in front of me seemed to be ordering lunch for her entire office, without having called it in first. Not just that, but almost every single lunch required modification of some sort - no feta, no olives, extra tomato, etc - and she was on her cell phone the entire time. The woman behind the counter was being patient and not saying anything as the woman snaps at her for doing something wrong when she has a moment of lucidity in the middle of her oh-so-important phone call.

[Boblobla]

The Mrs. had great service at Le Chateau a few weeks ago. Ended up costing me more money because they were so 'helpful' and suggested all these great 'accessories' to go with the dress she was buying. Good service is over rated

[habernac]

4X4 has a great point about courtesy. The whole "I'm going to be on the phone when I'm in line" thing is stupid. When I worked the counter years back, I would ignore people who were on their cellphone as they came in. You give me your attention, you'll get mine in return.

And you definitely need to take into account that the poor guy behind the counter probably hates his job. That doesn't excuse them being rude, but don't get on their case about someting that's probably not their fault (again, if they're rude, they'll feel my wrath).

[4X4]

Originally Posted by habernac

4X4 has a great point about courtesy. The whole "I'm going to be on the phone when I'm in line" thing is stupid. When I worked the counter years back, I would ignore people who were on their cellphone as they came in. You give me your attention, you'll get mine in return.

And you definitely need to take into account that the poor guy behind the counter probably hates his job. That doesn't excuse them being rude, but don't get on their case about someting that's probably not their fault (again, if they're rude, they'll feel my wrath).

I've been meaning to start a thread about this, but I guess it fits in here. I can't believe how rude some people are about cellphones. Last time I was at the bank, this woman in front of me talked on he phone the whole time in line, and didn't even hang up when she got to the teller. She just swiped her card, slid a cheque across the counter, and waited for the teller to hand her cash. It totally blows my mind how arrogant some people are.

And the Safeway example I gave earlier... Just totally amazing that people will yammer on about the stupidest crap while the cashier tries to get the person's attention to ask if they want their milk in a bag. It really is no wonder that sometimes you encounter a cashier with a hate-on for the world.

[habernac]

it got so bad, I would actually walk away from them and go help another customer. Soon, the regulars all knew better than to yap on the damn phone when they came to our office. I understand if you have a call you need to take. Excuse yourself and do that. But don't walk into my place of business, yakking away on your phone and expect me to help you. It isn't going to happen. Heck, this was over a decade ago. I can't imagine how brutal it is now that everyone and their dog has a phone.

[PyramidsofMars]

eh, I can't help but think you're going to the wrong places. There's good service everywhere even if, yes, Calgary is worse off than most places I've been. Try going to a good pub or something sometime. The shining lights like bartender Christine at the Palomino or the guys at the Ship & Anchor stand out even more thanks to Calgary's generally low standard. Avoid stuff targeted at the corporate 'quick meal and a drink' lot. Just stop going to earls and such.

I have to say since moving to Lethbridge for school I've been shocked more than once at how friendly waiters and waitresses here have been, and even just folk in shops and that, though even then they're not on par with a lot of other provinces and other areas of the world I've been to.