RANT: Poor Service at Giant & Chipotle

Tonight was a bit of a "terrible horrible no good very bad day." In addition to a lack of progress on our household chores, a husband very frustrated about the Ravens game, and a warning for speeding, I had very disappointing service transactions at two of my most frequented establishments: Giant, my grocery store, and Chipotle, the fast casual Mexican restaurant.

When it comes to grocery shopping, I'm probably not your average customer. I usually only go once every month or two, and so each trip is quite a large transaction. However, I never have more than 1 cart full of groceries, I have few (if any) coupons, I bring my own bags and usually help bag my groceries to expedite the process, I shop during off hours (usually after 8:00 p.m.) when there are few other customers in the store, and I'm always polite, friendly, and courteous to the cashiers. While I'm sure cashiers aren't excited to see a cart like mine heading into their lanes, I'm far from the worst customer they can get.

Tonight was fairly typical initially. I was in the store for at least an hour and had a full cart by the time I arrived at the check-out lanes around 8:15p.m. I specifically chose a lane that had no other customers already in line and that had a young male cashier as they generally tend to be somewhat more easygoing and friendly. When I entered the check-out lane and began to load my items on the belt, the cashier seemed less than thrilled to have to serve me, and commented numerous times about my status as a Ravens fan (I was wearing a Ravens jersey). Comments included, "A Ravens fan? What did I do?" and "Because you're a Ravens fan, I'm loading these bags up really heavy... so heavy you won't be able to pick them up," as well as, "Why are you a Ravens fan?" In addition, he made numerous remarks to me and to the cashier in the next lane about how he was going to "beat" and "break the kneecaps" of that other cashier. (Those last 3 lines are almost word-for-word from the e-mail I sent to Giant's customer service.) The cashier was otherwise relatively friendly (and talkative), although that almost made it worse, because I, being the polite person I am, was stuck smiling and responding to the cashier's continued conversation while I was seriously uncomfortable. On top of the general unpleasantness of an encounter like that, I had driven several miles out of my way to shop at that Giant, foregoing two closer Giants to shop there because I hadn't tried that location yet and I wanted to see if it was larger than the other two and if it had the scan-as-you-go option, which the others do not.

I returned home in somewhat of a worse mood than I had left thanks to that encounter, and so I decided to get one of my favorite foods, tacos from Chipotle, for dinner to cheer me up. In hindsight, not the best idea, as my negative experience there just put me in an even worse mood!

My local Chipotle is always crazy busy, despite there being Qdoba, On the Border, and Guapo's locations within 5 miles of it. After 2 Chipotle "runs" where I wound up waiting some 20+ minutes just to place my order, I learned to always order online so I can just run in and pick it up. I placed my order at 9:04p.m. for a 9:20p.m. pick-up time; we had checked Chipotle's hours before placing the order, so I knew they'd be open for a good 40 minutes past my pick-up time. We arrived just before 9:20, and I gave the take-out server my name. She spent about 5 minutes or so looking for my order, then informed me there was no order under that name. I gave her my name again and told her when I placed the order and what my scheduled pick-up time was. She scrolled through the orders and stated, again, that there was no order under that name. Thinking I may not have actually submitted the order, I said I would just get on the line to order. While waiting, I checked my phone and found the confirmation e-mail, so I returned to the take-out area, where I had to wait a few more minutes before I could show the server the e-mail, with my name, order, confirmation number, and pick-up time. At this point, she and the cashier asked when I had placed my order; after stating (again) that I had placed it just after 9:00p.m. for a 9:20 pick-up, they informed me that it didn't go through. They mentioned something about a cut-off time, but didn't give much of an explanation, just stated (again) that the order didn't go through. I remarked that the web site hadn't said anything about a cut-off time and that it had allowed me to place the order, as evidenced by my confirmation e-mail, but received no further help. I had to get on the line and place my order all over again, not leaving the restaurant until at least 10 minutes past my scheduled pick-up time.

The most frustrating aspect of the Chipotle experience was that the error, whatever it was, was clearly not my fault: I had done everything I was supposed to and had the confirmation e-mail to prove it. If online orders can't be placed after a certain time and/or if my order just didn't go through, it was the fault of Chipotle's system, not me. The good customer service response to a situation like that would be to say, "Oh, I'm sorry, online orders placed less than an hour before closing don't go through, but I'll get your order ready now so you don't have to get in line." A business cannot expect customers to know the limitations or restrictions of online ordering, or anything else, if the customers are never informed of them. If orders can't be placed after 9:00p.m., Chipotle's site should (1) state that orders can't be placed less than an hour before closing and (2) not allow any online orders past 9:00p.m.

End rant.

I've filled out comment forms on both companies' web sites; now we wait to see what response I'll get. Regardless, these experiences have made me more wary to return to these stores anytime soon. I'm likely to try out Bloom or go to the Safeway around the corner the next time I need groceries and to head to Qdoba, On the Border, or even Taco Bell the next time I have a craving for tacos.