Complaints Should Be Directed Up

As I have been watching college bowl game after college bowl game, I have seen several guerrilla-style commercials that have come out in the last few weeks. Mostly they feature someone from one fast food chain going through the drive-through of another chain, speaking into the microphone and trying to either get a burger done their way or breakfast after 10:30. While I get the message they are trying to portray (our restaurant has features that your restaurant does not), I don't like these commercials because they basically come down to annoying the people working the drive-through. Really, those people have enough problems. Do you really think they would be able to give an adequate answer as to why McDonald's doesn't have breakfast after 10:30 in the morning? Of course not, they work the drive-through. Leave them alone.

This reminded me of my own time in retail. I once got a job at MVP Sports, a local sporting goods store, just as they were being bought out and transitioning over to an international chain, re-dubbing the stores Decathlon. One of the first orders of business was to completely change the layout of every store. Instead having all the clothes on those round racks at about chest-level that you see everywhere else, every store was switched to long aisles with more clothes on either side and up on hooks. It definitely felt more sporting goods than clothing store, but I doubt that was what they were actually going for. They probably just thought it looked pretty. (This new store was run by idiots. Once, my French manager sent me around to do pickups at all the other locations without telling any of the other managers, who then called my house demanding to know why I hadn't shown up for work that day. It was not a well-oiled machine. I was not surprised when the stores went bankrupt and the corporation retreated back to Europe a couple years later.)

Anyway, I was working as a cashier one day not long after the store change when a woman came up to my register and I attempted to do my best customer-service, "Act as if I actually care what kind of day you're having" routine.

Me: How are you today?
Her: I hate the new layout.
Me: Oh..... sorry?
Her: Why would they put things up high? It's so stupid.
Me: Ok.... you're total is $24.95.

What kind of reaction was she expecting? Did she think that I would put the store back the way it was before? Because clearly, as a man behind the register wearing an ugly vest, I would be the person who can make such a decision.

So, loyal readers, here is my plea: don't bitch to the people who are working the drive-through or working the counter. They don't have any power and they won't be able to fix any problems you may have with the corporate level. My guess is they don't even really care how your day is going, they were only asking to be polite anyway.