View 374 August 7 - 14, 2005 (original) (raw)
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Polish and corrections took longer than I thought. Now I am taking Sable to the dog wash. I also have to pick up sugar, as the humming birds and orioles have exhausted a 5 pound bag in the last couple of days.
When I get back I will spend the afternoon cleaning up mail, doing a couple of essays for this site and posting a huge backup of mail, and generally cleaning up around here.
As to the need for cleanup, here is the Great Hall in the aftermath of the column:
Sable seems resigned to it all...
Back in a couple of hours at most.
=====
Well I am back, having encountered one of the reasons that affirmative action in positions dealing with the public is probably not a very good idea. I have in mind the "supervisor" at Vons (Laurel Canyon and Ventura), who was supposed to be at checkout line 5, but was in fact doing some kind of transaction on aisle 6 (where the clerk is a lady we have known for years and who was clearly embarrassed by all this); especially since they had just announced "no waiting" on Aisles 5 and 6. They announced no waiting on 5 & 6. I went to 6, only to see there was a customer using the card swipe device. So I went to 5.
Aisle 5 had no clerk, because the customer at 6 was the clerk from 5. I waited a while, and then began loading my groceries back into the cart preparatory to finding a checkout that didn't have another clerk as customer. I was urged to wait. Just a moment.
After about 5 minutes with both 5 and 6 occupied -- 6 occupied by the person who should have been at 5 -- the aisle 6 customer came to do my checkout (mostly bags of sugar and a lot of coffee cream; orioles and humming birds go through sugar something fierce). The bagger had long since left off waiting for her to finish her business with Aisle 6 and return to 5, so this middle aged female with the word "supervisor" on her badge bagged my purchases -- and left them there by the bag dispenser, not bothering even to move them down to the end of the counter where I could get at them. So I had to reach over the signing stand and bag dispenser, awkward at best, and get my bags of sugar and half gallon of coffee cream and put it in the cart.
The supervisor could not be bothered to put the bags in the cart or even to put them on the conveyor to take them where I could reach them. But she did ask me to contribute to some charity or another. I have no idea what the charity is. I often buy one of those "donate a meal" sticker things they sell at supermarkets, but this wasn't that, and I fear my valuation of the charity was much influenced by the fact that this supervisor did not mind keeping me waiting while she transacted her own business, thus taking two checkout aisles (of 3 in service) out of service for several minutes. I said "No thank you, I just want to get out of here." That of course solicited one of those passive aggressive remarks about having a nice day in a tone of voice that indicates they'd rather be damning your eyes.
Well, the remedy is Gelson's, a higher priced supermarket a bit further away where they are all very pleasant, there is always both a clerk and a bagger, and when they wish you a nice day it sounds as if they mean it.
In fairness to Vons, we have always found both the management people and the clerical staff pleasant in the past, and the baggers (convenience clerks) tend to be very nice people with minor handicaps that don't at all prevent their doing their jobs with a smile and a pleasant attitude. This is the worst experience I have had in this market in some years, and I suppose I ought to be charitable. And enough of this. I am tempted to erase all this as mean spirited, but there is a point: if you must promote people because they will sue you if you don't, you might think of promoting them to jobs where they won't lose you customers. Perhaps this woman had some qualities to earn the post of supervisor, but I guarantee you that after my experience I would not promote her in the clerical checkout chain of command. I know at least 4 people who work in that store who are competent and pleasant. I have never seen this "supervisor" before.
=================
DO NOT be drinking coffee or anything else when you visit
http://www.nytimes.com/video/html/2005/06/29
/technology/highbandwidth/windowsmedia/2005
0629_GUEST_VIDEO.html
and do not try to claim I didn't warn you.