Everything these days is self service which basically means a company has eliminated a human being / employee and has substituted another human being (in other words US) to use a machine that has really replaced the employee. And now instead of having rude employees, you now have rude customers.
Not too long ago I blogged about the new SELF SERVICE DVD/MOVIE kiosks that are now on every street corner. There is usually only 1 at each location meaning if someone is at the machine, you need to wait your turn. I am all about being patient, but when your dealing with a machine…there is virtually nothing involving something called CUSTOMER SERVICE. I pull up in the dead of a Northern MN winter and simply want to RETURN THE DVD. Unfortunately I need to wait in the freezing cold for the customer at the machine to make their selection. Even though I go back to the car to stay warm, the couple takes 10 minutes to pick out a movie at the kiosk. The common courtesy here would be to DO YOUR SELECTING AHEAD OF TIME!! Pick out 3 or 4 titles at home and then go do your kiosk button punching. How I long for the days of just handing my DVD to someone and having them say something quirky like “so did you enjoy it?”
Here’s another scenario played out hundreds of times a week at your local SELF SERVICE photo kiosk. The other day I had 5 pictures I needed to print off for my job and decided to take my media card to the photo kiosk. Most stores now have a dedicated kiosk that actually immediately prints off the pictures. Having arrived at the store I found the kiosk chair occupied by an individual who was selecting pictures to print. Again waiting for what seemed like an eternity yet keeping my distance I inched up towards the screen finding out they had 128 Christmas pictures loaded and were printing 30 of them. My 5 pics (at .29 cents a piece) took another trip to the establishment. Etiquette rule here….1) Self service print photo kiosks are not ment for 30 pics to be printed off and 2) If your selecting from hundreds of pics on a media card be smart and DO IT FROM HOME ONLINE!! Grab a cup of coffee and take all night if you want to relive your vacation!!
I’m heading to the bathroom to take my blood pressure medication. My luck is that soon too will be delivered from a kiosk!


