The Customer is Always In the Way

One of the most frustrating things about being in NYC seems to be the way customer service works. Or, more accurately, doesn't work. In fact, unless you're in some swanky upscale shop or the tourist areas, you as a customer seem to be regarded as a nuisance. It certainly makes me reluctant to go anywhere - far less confrontational and emotionally draining to stay home! I thought it was high time I spelled out just what a typical day out might be like. These incidents are all true!

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THE POST OFFICE

I'm used to having small postal outlets in drug stores and department stores - conveniently located and efficiently run. Here, post offices are few and far between. The one I usually go to, the Morningside Heights outlet, is almost a mile away, making it a fairly accessible walk, even lugging a few packages.

The foyer of the post office is huge and decorations are few. You feel like you're on a warehouse floor more than in a post office. There are about a dozen wickets, but only two seem to be open, three if you're lucky. The line up begins near the wickets at the far end from the entrance, and extends down the centre of the foyer. Half the time, the line then wraps around the entrance and winds it way along the side wall full of personal mail boxes. Usually the wait is 30-45 minutes. I always bring knitting or a book to the post office with me!

When you finally get up to the counter, you're treated as if you're an idiot, you're wasting the employees time, or both. Even better if you have a question! Your answer comes about as condescendingly as possible!

Why is the line so long and the wait so lengthy? Having only 2 wickets open certainly doesn't help speed things up. Usually there are other workers about, but who knows what their jobs are! To help reduce lineups, several self-serve machines are available: you can mail packages using a credit card from one machine, and buy stamps from two others. Though the process to use the machines must be confusing, because lineups for these machines are usually nearly as time-consuming as for the wickets. In addition, these machines are often not working or malfunctioning, requiring one of the precious two wicket-operators to deal with the "self-serve" machines!

Once, there was a third worker whose sole duty (as far as I could tell) was to instruct people on how to use these "self-serve" machines! That's a good use of employees!

BONUS FEATURE: If you're really lucky, the wait in line is an even longer wait because one of the wicket workers is using her time to "help" a family repackage boxes of books they were mailing to China! The family took up about half the available counter space (equal to six wickets) and for some unknown reason, they needed to open up all their boxes and shuffle the contents about. The postal worker spent the entire 45 minutes I was in line working with this family. And by "working" I mean that she would occassionally hand over a roll of tape or a pen, and spend the majority of the time standing around looking sour and bored. Yay for efficiency in the workplace!


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THE GROCERY STORE

Here, the best way to serve customers is to crowd everything into very small aisles, so that two carts cannot pass one another. Secondly, be sure the shelves are overcrowded with stock so that should you walk too close to one, trying to pass another shopper, you are sure to knock off several items. Thirdly, make sure that workers block the aisles by leaving stock-to-be-reshelved lying about, but no one around to actually restock.

The best part is the checkout, where row upon row of cash registers sit crammed together so you have barely enough room to stand between the conveyor belt and the next check out line. Cashiers are universally gossiping with their neighbouring cashiers. I am amazed they are able to ring in my groceries while chatting with three other employees. Or at least most of the time they're able to do this. Once in a while (like every few minutes) someone says something so outrageous that the cashier must stop her work to look at the speaker and gesticulate wildly. This is of course an efficient way to work. If you, as a customer, are acknowledged by any of the employees, it's to treat you like you're an obstacle or a pest.

BONUS FEATURE: If you're really lucky, you'll have someone in front of you in line who has a change of heart in his/her purchase. The customer must get another item, preferably one which he/she hasn't quite decided upon yet. This person's groceries are partly rung in, so of course there is nothing for the cashier to do but sit and wait while the customer finds what he/she is looking for. It may take 5-10 minutes for the customer to return, but it certainly is not the cashier's job to help the other customers in line in the meantime.

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THE FAST FOOD OUTLET

First, be sure all junior employees know one another and must chat continously about school/friends/stars while at work. Second, don't train them to understand how to work the menu machine nor the pop (I mean, soda) machines. Third, you must have a manager who has authority issues and yells and intimidates employees at every ready opportunity. This makes for a healthy and efficient work environment. And employees treat the customers as if they're wasting valuable time. It would be so much more pleasant if there were no customers!

As a customer, there is no need to decide what to order while you wait in line. Just stand impatiently and have loud conversations on your cell phone. When it is your turn, continue your cell conversation while trying to decide what to order. Then try to make your order while still conversing into your phone. Be sure the employee gets the order wrong, but don't check until several customers later.

As an employee at this point, make sure you have no idea what the customer is saying. Also, have no idea how to change an order. Also, if you're working to make, package, or distribute the food, don't use the handy screens which outlines each order in the correct sequence. Instead, just ask the one cashier what the next order is, since that cashier is certain to have remembered everyone's order. Finally, make sure you get everyone's order wrong. Especially if they're having the food to go. That way, they won't come back when you've forgotten to include all of the ordered items.

BONUS FEATURE: Run out of some important ingredient. Like, if you are at a Taco Bell, make sure you run out of burrito wraps. Don't communicate this with the other employees until 5 orders have been taken. Also, don't have a policy in place for what to do about this problem. Have all 8 employees in the front food-packaging area speaking simultaneously about what to do, but make sure they aren't listening to one another. This makes for good problem-solving and efficient service. Don't forget to leave out several items from the revised orders! Can't have inconsistency!

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Isn't capitalism great? I often feel like I've paid too much for not enough, and have inconvenienced society while doing so. I think I'll go and hang out with the squirrels and pigeons in the park instead!

Easter/Passover Weekend

Last Friday, I decided to make a magazine rack with some scraps of plywood and 1x1's I've got lying around from furniture-making. It took a few nails before I realized that it was Good Friday, and there was something inappropriate about driving nails into wood....

Saturday morning, Toby thought it would be neat to try his hand at baking challah. We'd been listening to a CBC Ideas program the night before on "bread" and the bit about challah reminded me of the yummy stuff I'd first tried just a couple of months earlier while visiting Andre and Deb in Vancouver. So Saturday brunch consisted of this Jewish, leavened bread. Toby remarked, "It feels wrong to be baking challah during Passover." To top it all off, we ate it with bacon.

Passover Time!

The last few weeks our grocery store has been advertising Passover catering. For a mere $190, you can have a full Seder meal for 8. Last weekend, they introduced a line of matzah-print accessories! Yes, this is your chance to own your very own apron, potholder, tie or skullcap in cracker-like print! Who could pass up such an opportunity!

P.S. Daffodils

I found out why there are so many daffodils around the city. They're a memorial for the World Trade Center disaster. In my opinion, they should have picked a September-blooming flower.

Wild Goose Chase

Well, it was a Notary Public Chase, but that didn't make any sense as a title.

Why do I need a Notary Public? In order for Toby to file taxes, he needs to include a form requesting a Taxpayer Identification Number for me (since I'm a spouse of an American but don't have a Social Security Number). The form requires us to send in my passport (no thanks) or a notarized photocopy of my passport. So notary-public-a-searching I went.

I first used the internet, which turned up a lot of adds for courses to become a Notary Public. Hmm... There seemed to be one at a stationary store right nearby, Ivy League Stationary. I called them up and they said to try their store at 99th St. That is just over a mile away (we're at about 123rd St). So I called another store which is closer (around 109th St). They, at West Side Stationary, said that the Notary Public is in during normal working hours.

This afternoon, I walked down to West Side and was told there that the Notary Public is at their 99th St store,. Hmm... rings a bell, doesn't it? Must be a family business! Anyway, I walk down to that store. They say that the Notary Public is at their store at 119th St. WHAT? Couldn't the person I spoke to on the phone have mentioned that in the first place? Even after I asked, "And the Notary Public will be there all day tomorrow?" they didn't say otherwise.

Have you ever seen the Bakkom animations? (Warning: Big files.) They feature a polar bear with bad luck, and when he gets frustrated, he lets out a loud, "GRRRRR!"

That's often how I feel dealing with people in this city! GRRRR!

Speaking of taxes, here's a photo of the 2-inch binder full of instructions that Toby thought he might need to file federal taxes in the U.S. The pile of paper on top includes instructions for State and City taxes. No wonder he's stressed out!

Furniture Photos, Part 3

While I was interviewing for my visa, Toby painted our dresser (yet another ikea purchase). Doesn't it look striking with the orange-and-green detergent bottles?


And lastly, here are two+half of our desks. All four look the same, but are at different heights. They serendipitously fit along one wall of our living room; our "Wall O' Desks"! Toby finished up the fourth one and added banding around the edges of all the desks while I was away.

Furniture Photos, Part 2

Here are our 'couches'. Each is a twin mattress atop a platform painted red. They double as our guest bed(s). This past weekend we did another trek to that famous blue-and-yellow box store and got unbleached fitted twin sheets to cover up the mattresses. Now they're beige but they match our primer-only walls!


We have two of these 'kitchen benches'. Unfortunately the table legs are in the way; poor planning on my part!


This is another ikea purchase, but I painted it in the red-and-yellow-squares theme to match with the rest of the living room. Some day the table next to it will be painted to match.

Furniture Photos

After much talk, I'm finally posting photos of furniture we'd made, and of our apartment in general. (No we still haven't got up any wall art yet, although we have things to put up!)

Here's a table we got free from our garbage room. It was truly hideous in an "I can't look at this thing" way, but now that I've painted it, it's taken on an "It's wonderfully hideous" manner. The table's legs are claw-footed with leaf-like designs.


This is a photo of our bedroom. The bed is a platform style, and comes apart in 2 pieces (for slightly easier transport). I also paintd the headboard. The nightstands are from IKEA, but painted to match the bed.


Here is our truly small kitchen. I would have said "tiny" but it is way bigger than some in this city. And I thought our Edmonton apartment's kitchen was too small! The sink is just to the left of the photo's edge. That's all there is to our kitchen.

Spring-time Blahs

I've been feeling rather down this past week or so. I think it began with yet another confusing US Immigration-related form. This one is an application for status adjustment; presumably its purpose is to change my status from Temporary to Permanent Resident. But there are about a gazillion pieces to be filled out, and instructions are unclear. I also can't see any difference between this form (another $400, BTW) and the current process we're already in. That is, we had to start the Permanent Resident application process before I could apply for Temporary Residency, and now I'm supposed to (re)apply for Permanent Residency? Huh? The package of forms includes such gems as this one sheet of paper which looks to be a photocopy of a photocopy of a photocopy of a ditto-machine from 25 years ago. It is titled "Spouses of U.S. Citizens". This applies to me, so I took a look at this sheet; it consists of an itemized list of documents. There is absolutly no information as to what these documents are for! Am I to supply these 13 documents with the application? If so, do I need originals or are copies okay? Do I need these documents (originals or copies?) for the interview implied by other parts of the form? Am I just supposed to have all these documents? Are they even related to the current application, or was this piece of paper just some random to-do list and was accidentally included? GRRR!

Meanwhile, my allergies are going haywire, since things are a-bloom. Moreover, I've found 2 odd welts on my neck! Yuck! They're irritatingly itchy and I don't know where they came from! My best theory so far is that they're from some weird hive reaction that I then scratched. Anyway, I'm now moisturizing them like crazy and wearing open-necked shirts with the hope that they'll heal soon!

On a brighter note, Toby and I took advantage of a warm and sunny Sunday to visit parks. We walked through Morningside Park, which normally feels threatening to me. But yesterday it was full of daffodills and magnoli and people playing basketball and frisbee. Even better, we stopped by the pond and found 2 pairs of mallards, a pair of geese (that some know-it-all was telling a family they were swans!), and about 25 turtles sunning themslves on rocks! Awww..... turtles are so cute!



The southern end of Morningside Park is conveniently located one block away from the NW corner of Central Park, so we wandered to the big one for some strolling. Again, daffodils were EVERYWHERE! It's so overwhelming that Toby even expressed annoyance at the sight of yet more daffodils! The Conservatory within Central Park was full of even more daffodils, but at least these varieties had labels. And the magnolias were magnificent! We were able to also identtify some nearly-done mini irises, nearly-done crocuses, and forsythia. Next weekend, I'm guessing that the tulips will be budding. Yay!