A Poor Day for Customer Service

I am sorry to admit that I have been ignoring the shoe needs of my family. After delaying the task for many weeks, I finally bought shoes for the mini-me's last weekend (see previous post). Now I really had to get E his new shoes before an extremely important meeting tomorrow. So I begged and pleaded, and E finally agreed to meet me at the new shopping center near his new shop. But first we needed to feed the mini-me's so we met at Red Robin.

First, the place was half empty. But we had to wait for 5 minutes so they could clear a booth short enough for a high chair (uhmmm...note to hostess, the booth right next to the one you sat us at was empty and clean when we got there). Our waitress took our drink order and then in a very timely manner took our dinner order. After that, we never saw her again. Finally, after an hour and two extremely cranky kids later, we got our food and a free meal. For the record, we left our replacement waitress a decent tip -- it wasn't her fault we were treated like shit.

Second, JC Penney*** really needs to rethink its staffing in the shoe department. E, the Mini-me's and I arrived at the shoe department at approximately 7:55. The girl working in the shoe department helped us out for 5 minutes. Then she approached us and said that because she was a minor she was required to leave. But she promised me that someone would be there right away to help us. Well, we waited, and waited, and waited. Ray and Chay were running around finding all kinds of things that they needed to "buy" and pulling absolutely everything off the shelves. Finally, after 20 minutes, we left with nothing that we needed and only new Tinkerbell slippers that we really didn't need (but had to be bought in another department because NO ONE ever showed up in the shoe department to help us out). Sucks to be you JC Penney's -- we were ready to spend about $150 on new shoes for E. Your loss.

This so-called "new" shopping center has been open for over a year. The "new" excuse has worn out its welcome. I am giving this place one more chance. But I think I'm done.


***My options in shoe shopping for E are limited because it literally takes bribery to get the man to go shopping. Since Penney's is only 5 minutes from his shop, that's my best opportunity.