Heybartender,

I am writing to say that I was surprised and dismayed when I arrived at The
Local Grocery this past Friday morning (December 23rd, 2011) to pick up the remainder
of my parents' large wine order, only to discover that the order was
incomplete - again.

This was your second attempt at filling an order which was originally placed
in late October/early November (the string is saved in my work email
account), for a total of 8 mixed cases of wine. Before the agreed-upon
pick-up date in November, you had assured me that all 8 cases were "ready
for pick-up in the Wine Department." When my parents and I arrived at The
Coop, however, we discovered that that was not the case, and that for some
reason only half of the order was ready for us. My parents and I were
surprised and disappointed. I did not know what to tell them, because I
thought that you, as the Wine Buyer, HAD filled the order as you had told
me. Sven, who helped us when we reached the Wine Department, was
obviously caught off-guard and was put in an uncomfortable position.

(On a positive note, my parents were/are impressed with how professional and
helpful he is, and I was grateful for his help in that unexpected situation.
He exemplifies excellent customer service, and I will be sure to forward
this email to him as well.)

You and I spoke after that incident - you apologized profusely and assured
me that you would have the remaining 4 cases ready for me on December 23rd.
We exchanged several emails about the order over the course of the last
10-14 days, and you stated clearly at the end of last week that the order
was "all ready for pickup." What happened?
There were NOT four complete cases of wine, so not only was I unpleasantly
surprised again, but Sven was (again) put in a very uncomfortable
position. Then, I had to explain to my parents that you had not completed
the order correctly, and that I had no idea why.
They were predictably unhappy.

The whole thing is especially unpleasant for me because the customers who
have now twice received bad customer service are my parents. They have been
loyal Local Grocery customers for many years - in fact, the full 15+ that I have
worked at The Local Grocery. The orders they place are sizable - 4 to 8 cases at a
time. Good customer service ensures that The LG will continue to have
customers like my parents. Bad treatment will obviously make customers go
elsewhere.

Good internal customer service is important too - and in this case it didn't
exist. Sven was put in a difficult position, I was put in a difficult
position for the reasons I have given, and now you and I are in a difficult
position because we have to work together at The LG.
I did not want to have to write this email, but you have given me no choice.
When the first mistake was made, I wrote you an email and you and I spoke in
person. You assured me that it would not happen again.
Because it has, and because it has had an impact on the same LG customers,
I have had to take a different approach.

What do you propose happens next?

Silly Twunt

This, dear readers, is an *actual e-mail* (names have been changed to protect the innocent as well as the mentally unstable) that I received upon arriving to work this morning. Needless to say, I was somewhat "surprised and dismayed" myself, since it was carbon copied to both my boss and the General Manager of the store. My response, after the initial shock and horror, was to seek out this author and ask her what exactly had been the problem with the order. I had been to work on both Friday and Saturday, and Sven did not so much as mention it to me.

"Half a case was missing," she virtually spat at me.

"Wow. I'm really sorry. I have no idea how that could have happened. I swear that I have double and triple checked that order. I will look into it. Can I get a copy of your receipt so I can see what was missing?"

This is an order that was given to me with very little detail via an e-mail last month. When I replied to the initial request for 8 cases, I asked her "Do they still want the wines to average ten dollars a bottle? And do they still want only wines from the Western United States?" That was the order last time. Four cases, all American, average ten bucks a bottle. She answered in the affirmative. Had I not asked, though, I could have filled that order with four cases of white and four cases of red at any price from anywhere, and it would have technically been what she asked for. Instead I made the right choices in the wrong amount, and in-between had sent her a message saying "Your four cases are ready." After the screwup we talked and she admitted that she had missed the fact that I said four, and she accepted my apology.

In the interim, she has screwed up more than once on things that I needed from her as part of her job. Each time, I have gone to her directly and very politely asked for her to fix the errors, never bringing in her boss or anyone else. Also, since I had been asking a lot of her recently (even though what I asked her for was always within the scope of her job description to provide), I bought her a bottle of wine two weeks ago and left her a note, saying that it was similar to the kind that her boyfriend had liked and I hoped they could enjoy it together, and "thanks for your support blah blah blah." Seriously.

The fact that her parents can't come in and pick their own wine, but want it ready and waiting for them when they show up, is enough to tell you what an entitled bunch of cunts they are. I don't have any problem doing this, mind you, but I am not required to. And their parameters are not easy to work within. Also, I would point out that she realized the error while she was checking out, and rather than simply asking Sven (who said that she seemed completely unconcerned at the time she picked up the order) to go and grab her two more bottles (which is what was missing, and which is not half a case)she drove all the way to fucking Maine with three and five-sixths cases of wine to tell her parents that I fucked up their whole holiday.

My response to follow, of course.