By Kenneth L. Hardin

I’ve opined previously how good customer service should be placed on the back of wine and liquor bottles instead of milk cartons to motivate businesses to rescue it for those who rely on them for products and services. Since that time, good customer service has fallen off the endangered species list and gone fully extinct. It no longer exists and the people whose responsibility it is to offer it just don’t care.

Last week, I threw my hands up in disgust and silently screamed, “No mas” after receiving poor service and even worse employee attitudes at a Jake Alexander Boulevard West auto parts store. As I sat in their parking lot after the negative interaction, I posted to social media what happened and said I would no longer make any purchases in traditional stores. I’ve decided to now do all of my shopping with online retailers. It’s no secret why traditional brick and mortar businesses are struggling while online shopping is increasing significantly. Comedian Chris Rock said it best in a 2002 comedy routine where he joked about businesses having grand openings, followed soon after by grand closings. So, who’s to blame?

I give the side eye to the business owners and leaders who focus more on profits than people. The days of caring about ensuring customer loyalty and retention have given way to an attitude of businesses who make no effort to meet the needs of their consumers. In some instances, they’re the only game in town and therefore hold people hostage. They hire people who have no working knowledge of their products and show an immense amount of arrogance as they revel in their ignorance. I’ve been in local grocery stores, the big box store with the yellow smiling emoji, under the golden arches, the big home improvement store up on the hill, the local hospital and many other service related entities where they act irritated that you have the audacity to expect good customer service. A friend and a well-known local elected official has been given the run-around for nearly three months by a Statesville Boulevard TV and appliance store. He paid for a service they didn’t complete and has been stalled, delayed, denied and ignored while trying to resolve this fraudulent action on their part. After repeated visits to the store and multiple phone calls to the corporate office in Charlotte, they keep playing the game of “it’s not my responsibility” and sending him on a ridiculous circuitous back and forth route. I advised him to file complaints with the Better Business Bureau and the Attorney General’s office for their fraudulent practice.

It’s not just consumer-related businesses. I’ve heard the worn-out refrain that things in government move slowly, so you have to just be patient and wait. That’s a straight up malodorous excrement-filled excuse shoveled by lazy people who’ve forgotten they were elected to represent and protect the interests of their constituents and not the city. It’s used even more by some city department leaders who shirk duties and are so purposely derelict in their responsibilities to citizens, they don’t see their indolence as even a problem. They feign concern by standing up in the ridiculous and pointless community conversations trying to convince residents who are suffering, that they truly care. Residents in crime-ridden and gun violent neighborhoods overrun by disease-ridden dangerous wild animals don’t want to sit around eating free Chick-fil-A sandwiches while listening to false promises and continued decades of inaction.

A couple of weeks ago, I reached out to the city’s planning director, who oversees code enforcement, about a citizen complaint I received regarding a campaign sign code violation involving a large wooden sign that hadn’t been removed for two years in violation of state and local ordinances. I also copied all elected city officials. The only one who showed any concern for this citizen complaint was Councilwoman Tamara Sheffield. No one else bothered to respond. What was even more disheartening was the director spent two days sending me back and forth emails trying to prove the sign violation was not her responsibility instead of simply addressing the issue. After she lazily directed me to contact a county department head instead, it was discovered the sign was her responsibility. The same day, I received another citizen complaint about large wild raccoons in a neighborhood on the east side. These aggressive wild animals have occupied a 15-year boarded-up house. The caller shared that she made multiple calls to the city only to be brushed off and told they don’t handle animal control. The caller was upset at how dismissive and uncaring the city was. I was able to again get Rowan County Animal Control to set up traps and catch the animals. It’s amazing what a little genuine concern can accomplish.

Kenneth L. (Kenny)  Hardin is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists.