Completely Unprofessional

Okay...i'm in a ranting mood after just having one of THE worst customer service experiences of my life. The part making it even worse is it was in a job which I personally have held. If I EVER treated my customers this way, God forgive me.

My friend M sent me an email this weekend asking me if I would accompany her to try on some new eyeglass frames as her prescription had changed and instead of just getting lenses she was thinking of getting new frames as well. I worked in optical between undergrad and grad school and very much liked my job. It was fun to help people pick out frames and I myself, have four pairs that I alternate between. The first place we went was Shopko, as M had already checked out her doc's office, Pearl Vision, and somewhere else. The tech at Shopko acknowledged us with a friendly greeting when we walked in the door, asked if she could help us, told us to get her if we needed anything, all while wearing professional casual dress with a crisp white coat. M tried on several frames, narrowed it down to four frames and from their two. We wrote down the names and headed to Target.

Now, I like Target. I give Target a lot of business. But tonight's experience would prevent me from personally going to, or even referring a friend to their optical department. A "young" lady was behind the desk, in khakis and a red T-shirt. Fine...it is Target. BUT, the shirt had a high school basketball logo on the chest and she was not wearing a name tag. Her hair was pulled into a lopsided braided pigtail. M and I proceeded trying on frames, this time finding three that she liked, narrowing it down to 1. The next task was to price the lenses, specifically the lenses she wanted--hi index with a specific anti-reflective coating. Not that complicated.

The tech requested M's prescription, took one look at it and rudely exclaimed, "Oh, honey, these are really bad". she did this while swiping at M's shoulder in a gesture of disgust. Before M could even ask about the lenses she wanted, said tech bubbled "Oh you should definitely do plastic, they would be SO much more attractive!" No individual serving the public should ever swipe at a patient, make reference to how poor their eyes are, and definitely not suggest the frames one has picked out our unattractive. So we ignored those comments and tried to get down to the business of what would it actually cost for the lenses requested. M asked some specifics about the anti-reflective coating, "What is it?" The tech's response (catch this...remembering she is trying to sell a product), "I don't know what crap they spray on it". She actually used the word "crap" in reference to a product the company she works for sells...maybe because she thinks it is crap but more likely because she didn't know her ass from a tea kettle.

She quickly dials what she says is "another store", the guy on the other end obviously asks why she is asking and she rolls her eyes at M, and fakes a smile as she drags out her response, "because this WONNNNDDDEERFFFUlll lady" wants to know. At this point, I'm ready to walk out, can't tell if M will follow. She hangs up, doesn't have a clue about the product, and is talking to us as though we are a group of teenagers hanging at the local Dairy Queen.

We leave, get half way to the door and decide we are angry enough to complain to customer service. you should have seen the manager's eyes. They go real big when I boldly suggested the gal shouldn't be working there anymore. After filling him on the above details, he immediately went to optical while M and I went around the other way. I would have loved to watch the ignorant young lady defend herself, half want to go back later this week and see if she still works there.

When did the younger generation (and I'm not much older than them) stop respecting others and especially when they are in a service role. Rule #1 Customer is always right, Rule #2 never argue with customer. Forgot to add the rule always respect the customer and never refer to a product in a medically related service as "crap". Don't know what else to say about this one! Grow up kids!