“Sir, all you need to do is just walk into our store!”
This phrase is used by customer service people in India like it is the magic spell. When you hit a deadwall trying to grapple over bad the bad phone connection with the customer care executive help with your aforesaid bad phone connection, they present you with this amazing solution making it sound as if real people would be waiting with red carpets to solve all your problems with your phone and then some. Most people jump at this option because it is infinitely easier to talk to “real” people face to face than to “real” people over the phone.
But unlike what it is made to sound, “walking into the store” is in reality a humongous pain in the wrong place. Because one does not simply “walk into the store”. The entire process is in reality such an arduous task that it might as well take up an entire day of yours.
To successfully “walk in” to the store, you have to:
- Find the location(s) of the store(s) using multiple tools like Google Maps, the phone, various websites and experience.
- Locate a store that suits you by being near your office/on the way to office.
- Stop by the store on your way to office only to find it closed.
- Sneak out of work during day time and waste time in traffic getting to the store.
- Drive around for 15 min trying to find a parking spot as none of these stores have very thoughtfully NO parking space for customers whatsoever.
- Trip on the doorstep while “walking in”.
- Gape open mouthed after discovering there is some process of hierarchy to be followed in the store.
- Sit around for half an hour waiting your turn, just like the “your call is important to us” thing without the music.
- Try to explain your problem to the “real person” executive face-to-face for 15 minutes.
- Get asked to call the call center to solve the problem (#Facepalm).
- Find scratched/dented car because you double parked it on the roadside.
- Get yelled at after returning to office because you were missing for two hours.
- Cry alone.
The less fortunate ones take a whole day off to “Just Walk Into the Store”. And God help you if you forgot some documents. It is a myth that private companies are any better when it comes to customer care than government ones.
PS: Why do these idiots keep the store open from 11 to 7 when there is no way one can visit them? Or is that actually the intention? If customer service is their intention why can’t they keep it open during hours more suited for their customers?
