Welcome to MY WORLD

Today I thought I would check out the locations of the health club I am a member of, since I have a new job in a different part of town.

So, I drove to San Antonio, stopped at the one closest to my house, found out which ones have pools (just took 3 employees and 20 minutes to answer that question).

Then I drove across San Antonio to the one closest (it isn't close) to my new job... oh yeah, they don't have a pool. I get there, ask for a woman who can show me around, so she can go into the dressing room with me. After 10 minutes waiting at the counter, there still isn't a person materializing, who was supposedly going to be right there, so the 14 year old at the counter (he looked 14 and acted 14, so he was 14), paged someone, a male, over the PA system. Someone yelled across the club that he was busy. So the childman said he would show me around. He walks out from behind the counter, and I start following him around the corner. As I get around the corner there is a set of stairs. I ask if the dressing room is upstairs. He says yes, as if it was an incredulous question. I told him that would defeat my purpose of rehabing my knee. I don't do stairs right now, so to forget it. I left very disappointed in how my day has gotten started.

Now I am all the way across town, near my new place of employment and I couldn't decide whether to go by and meet some people, including my new administrator. I decide to go by the teacher supply shop and pick up my favorite calendar for the new year. I stop and wait 10 minutes until they are "officially" open. I go in, and there are 4 employees at the front counter. One is on the phone, one is waiting on a customer, one is looking around, then looks straight at me and walks away from the counter and one in walking toward the counter but is talking to someone at the laminating machine. The guy who walked away is now walking back, I say to him, looking at him and with eye contact on his part "excuse me, could you..." and he walks away... says something to the person at the laminating machine, turns back around and I start to say the same thing again. By this time I am getting very P>O>ed at the fact you don't get good service anywhere anymore and that young people don't have a clue what SERVICE means. Then the guy yawns while looking at me, without covering his mouth, so I take advantage "HEY, could you tell me where the calendars are?". He looks confused and asks what is the title of it, and if it is the one they give away free... I explained that if I wanted the free one I would purchase something else to get the free one, and that it is the one that goes for the school year, not the calendar year. He turns walks away and mumbles... I say "EXCUSE ME?" and he says to follow him and he will show me where the calendars are... well, how about that, there it is, plain as day, so I pick it up and head back to the counter. As he rang up the sale he asks if I found everything alright... DOH...

Later in the day I went to Dillards to get a new swimsuit. I hate Dillards. I only go there if I abso effing lutely have to go there. The last time I needed a sports swimsuit that was where I found one. It is also the worst place for service, at least in my experience. I picked out several, started toward the dressing room and there she was.. the salesgirl, yes, girl, she had to be about 16 years old. She showed me into the dressing room, told me to ring the bell if I needed something, which I did after the 2nd suit, she brought the right size and reminded me to let her know if there was anything else I needed help with. I found one that fit, and after I paid for it, I expressed to her what a pleasant experience it was and that I appreciated her actually doing her job. She looked at me as if I were a leper...

Oh well... maybe we won't end up in the second dark ages during my lifetime, but for the most part, I think most of the young, and I mean "very young" workforce (no offense Roxxy) don't have the same definition of service with a smile that I have or most people of my generation.