Granted, he could have waited a week before returning his item, but that doesn’t qualify as “being prepared for this.” The store, on the other hand, knows from experience that lines will be long on December 26. Granted, all the preparation in the world wouldn’t eliminate lines on December 26; but again, not the point.
Grumbels and Marla are Amazon’s greatest friends.
Comics I Don't Understand 
Well, at least the customer could have brought a book or a crossword puzzle or something to occupy his mind with while waiting in (the expectable) line.
Though I presume, this being 2018 and all, that said customer *does* have a smartphone/tablet/geegaw he could haul out of his pocket and twiddle with, so I guess he’s just enjoying complaining out loud too much to think of that yet. (One minute from now he probably will haul out his geegaw and start posting rants and bad reviews for the store on every platform he can think of.
Merry/happy/takeadeepbreath Boxing Day, everyone.
Dogs are easier to please . . .
https://www.gocomics.com/redandrover/2018/12/26
The customer seems surprised that the lines are so long. But it’s like that every year, so he should have been mentally prepared for this.
What 1958fury said. He should have been ready for this, not in the sense of being able to avoid it, but in not being surprised and upset. If I go to the post office on December 20, I expect it to be busy. I might be annoyed but I don’t fume and rant.
Right — for the store to be prepared could mean actually making it a quicker line, say by increasing staffing at returns. For a customer, it couldn’t mean that; but that doesn’t make it absurd to say he could have been prepared. As has been pointed out, all that requires is that he be expecting long lines, and do something to get in a frame of mind where that is more tolerable.
“The customer seems surprised that the lines are so long. But it’s like that every year, so he should have been mentally prepared for this.”
Traffic is always bad on Friday at 5:15. But sometimes it’s even worse… snowstorm, accident, road construction, etc… so even though it’s always bad, sometimes it’s both bad and worse than usual at the same time.
Maybe they had the same setup last year, and never had more than two people waiting in line.
“Granted, all the preparation in the world wouldn’t eliminate lines on December 26; but again, not the point.”
Well, actually, that is the entirety of the point. You are aware that going to the store on December 26 will mean lines, so you are prepared for that. Your statement suggests you realize the stores cannot eliminate those lines and therefore when you show up at the store and see the lines you shouldn’t be grumbling about it.
He could have let friends and family know his size, his tastes, and so forth, in which case he wouldn’t need to be doing a return.
I would expect that the store wants returns to be less convenient than purchases, so this may be exactly how long a line the store wants (balancing inconvenience against alienating customers). (Although I guess we don’t know how many people are in line ahead of the five we can see.)
Marla is Amazon’s greatest friend because when she hears a customer loudly complaining about something she can’t possibly do anything about, she’s quietly annoyed?
“I would expect that the store wants returns to be less convenient than purchases, so this may be exactly how long a line the store wants (balancing inconvenience against alienating customers).”
Maybe in general, but if they apply that lazy thinking to Christmas time, they’re being stupid: the return of a gift you didn’t buy, possibly from a store you never go to, should be seen as a golden opportunity to gain a new customer — how much would you pay in marketing to actually get a potential customer to walk into your store? If you can make the return process effortless and easy, that person will probably be impressed with your store and come back and shop in it.
“that person will probably be impressed with your store and come back and shop in it.”
Only to eventually be alienated by your non-holiday-season return process.
You either have a full-time commitment to customer service, or you aren’t marketing yourself based on customer service. You market yourself on something else… lower prices, higher selection, or convenient location, or high-level advice. Or you dress your staff in a uniform that is highly revealing (this may be food-service only.)
The challenge with return-season is that it comes after Christmas. The staff is tired and both wants and needs time off, and the ones who don’t get it are frazzled and burnt or burning out. And most of the customers in the store are spending gift cards, which means they’re claiming goods that have already been paid for, and thus aren’t as sensitive to good customer service.
I think I mentioned in another context that when I worked in retail (service desk), half the registers were turned into ‘refund registers’ for several days after Christmas. No lines, no waiting, and, for me, no dealing with TONS of customers at the service desk.
Preparation = attitude adjustment
The three-part breathing exercises I learned from my yogini REALLY help with patience (also falling asleep).
dvandom – nothing helps.