Waiting in Lines #2

The next place I always seem to wait in a long line is at the bank. Don't get me wrong, I love People's Bank, but I hate waiting. A couple years ago they shut down the freestanding branch in the parking lot of Stop and Shop in Groton. All of those customers had to merge with the customers from the branch inside the Stop and Shop. Since they were going to be busier, they remodeled that branch. Do you think they added more teller stations? Of course not. They still have 3. Ridiculous! Especially on a Friday. And the thing that really gets me.... When I worked there there was a rule that the customers waiting in line came first. We were supposed to stop whatever we were doing to wait on those customers. Everything else could wait. Until closing if needed. I guess they have done away with that rule because countless times I have had to watch a teller do something other than customer service while I just stood there and watched. Some times I'm not even acknowledged. Other times the "greeter" (which is a teller or a manager taken off the line just to stand in the lobby) will say hello and apologize for the wait, which wouldn't be necessary if they would just stop "greeting" and process some transactions! Again, I love People's Bank, the hours, the tellers themselves, and the banking products, but it's time to put the customer who is there in person first again. The online shopping, talking on the phone, balancing the ATM or their drawer can wait!

Waiting in Lines

The weekend after Christmas I went to the mall to use my Victoria's Secret gift card. They were having an awesome sale on panties and it was the busiest store in the mall. It took me all of 5 minutes to pick out 15 pairs of thongs but I had to wait in line to pay for them for 30 minutes! Why, if they know they are going to be busy, do they not have enough cashiers to help the customers? They only have 2 registers in the store so there were 2 girls working at them, but they must have had another 10 employees walking around the store with headsets looking busy and important! This seems like very poor planning to me. If I ran the store I would at least double the number of checkouts. If that wasn't possible, I would have a couple of the busybodies helping to wrap and bag the items purchased. As if the girls there didn't take enough time scanning the merchandise and delicately placing it in nice piles, they also wrap each item in pretty pink paper before placing it slowly in the bag. I almost told the girl not to do anything fancy with my panties, just throw them in a bag, but I had already been there for 1/2 an hour, what was another 2 minutes? I won't be going back to Victoria's Secret anytime soon. And I certainly won't spend my own money there, only if I happen to get another gift card, then maybe I'll put myself through that waste of time again.

Ruby Tuesday Restaurant

In the mail today I received a $5 off coupon on my next visit to Ruby Tuesday. I guess they must be starving for business and trying to get people in the door. This might not be the case if they had better service to begin with. Last month while visiting family in Maine, we went to dinner at the Ruby Tuesday in Waterville. It was right down the road from the hotel so in a way it was convenient. There were 10 of us in the party, including 2 hungry children. We arrived at the restaurant around 7:30 pm and had to wait in the lobby for about half an hour. I understand that a short wait may be necessary to accomodate a large group of people for dinner. 5 or 10 minutes is acceptable, 15 minutes AT THE MOST. We could see the table where we would later be seated from the waiting area. It was covered with dirty dishes and the hostess told us over and over it would just be a few more minutes because they were cleaning it off. For the first 20 minutes not a single employee went to that table to clean it. Finally, when my sister in law spoke up and said she would go clean it, she had been a waitress before, they started. At that time the manager came up to the hostess booth and asked if we had been helped yet. I told him that we had been acknowledged, but I wouldn't say 'helped'. He then took us over to the table to be seated and failed to apologize for the wait or even tell us to enjoy our meal. The waitress came over and took our drink order but we still had to wait. Now it has been 45 minutes, it's way past my daughter's bed time, and she's starving! Normally if you are getting an entree with the salad bar you can just go up to the bar and start. Every time I go, I get the salad bar for an extra $1.99. Do you think the waitress said "go ahead and help yourselves to the bar"? Of course not... 10 minutes later when she came back with the drinks and took our entire order, then she said it. Finally we were able to eat! After that I decided no more Ruby Tuesday for our family.... but I'll give them one more shot since I do have a coupon.