Caution: Rant ahead!
Let me start by clearly stating a couple of things: 1) I rarely rant about stuff (at least not in writing), so keep that in mind as you read this; and 2) I fully recognize and accept the unquestioned fact that COVID-19 had a worldwide impact on lives, the economy and pretty much everything else we all know.
The virus has claimed millions of lives. My heart goes out to the families who have lost loved ones and to those still dealing with health issues. For the rest of us, the pandemic continues to cause fear … beyond the intensely personal medical side of it, this virus has been a bear, a pain in the neck, a life-altering nightmare of lockdowns and loss of our social lives! Scientists and medical professionals hunkered down and came up with a vaccine and treatments to counter the effects of this deadly virus. At the end of July, nearly four BILLION people across the globe have been vaccinated to attempt to stem the spread of COVID. Yes – there are new variants. Yes – it’s still a threat. Yes – more people need to get the vaccine. Yes – we need to get the vaccine approved for children … there are a lot of yesses. But this rant is about “NO!”
NO! To the airlines that are once again packing flights with little regard for service … you can’t keep claiming poverty when there are fewer than a dozen empty seats on a cross-country flight. Bring back full beverage service! Bring back food for purchase on flights (Five hours is a long time to go with only a tiny packet of pretzels). If you can serve pre-packaged food to first class passengers, then you can sell it to those in economy.
NO! To the ridiculous lack of service in restaurants. If you can’t find someone to work on your wait staff or in the kitchen, then do NOT increase the tables available for customers. This is simple business sense. Your customers will rave about your food and service if they get the care and attention they expect … otherwise you’re just going to lose customers and get bad reviews!
NO! To department stores who seem to be using COVID-19 as an excuse to skip regular maintenance in their stores. I understand there are lingering supply chain issues, but peeling paint, scuffed and scraped displays and worn-to-the-point-of-frayed carpets and flooring are unacceptable – especially in national retailers like Macy’s and Penney’s!
Stop blaming COVID for all the troubles in the world and start moving on. If, as it was suggested in the early months of the pandemic, we have entered a “new normal,” then we need to stand up and tell businesses this is not good enough! All of these changes reflect a lack of pride in the business. Small, locally owned shops are still neat and tidy and well-attended. The owners of these places clearly CARE about their business. The big companies are letting us down and we need to let them know it’s not good enough!
There’s more frustration. I continue to deal with delays for items I want to order online that are “out of stock” and completion of a major yard project that blames “supply chain” issues. Things do seem to be slowly getting better, but the lack of customer service and responsiveness are difficult to explain away.
OK, rant over. I know I’m not alone in my dissatisfaction. Feel free to leave me a note of support (or disagreement). After all, we are all entitled to our opinions and I welcome yours to the conversation.
There’s a whole world out there just waiting to be explored. We all deserve to be treated like we matter.
© The World A to Z, LLC 2021 — Unless otherwise indicated, no compensation was received for this blog.
The World A to Z 