For some unknown reason, retail corporate suits, who have probably never stepped foot into one of their stores to work, make silly decisions that accomplishes the following:- Pisses off their customers
- Pisses off their employees
- Some incredibly stupid unintended (intended?) consequences
Take, for example, the store flip. This is where some executive somewhere decides the store is laid out wrong and everything has to be moved. Usually there is no explanation as to why this is necessary.
My wife once worked for a store where men's clothing was on one side and women's clothing was on the other side. I swear, they were ordered to put the men's side on the women's side and put the women's side on the men's side.
???
Who the hell would make an anal decision like that? I'll tell you who. Some MBA who has never worked in a store and certainly never flipped a store. That work is usually done by store clerks, not some sort of special floor set team that roams the country flipping stores.
Which takes me to the Kroger at Nashville's Nipper's Corner. The store was flipped. Left became right and right became left. The move included the pharmacy. The pharmacy was located on the left side of the store, and included a convenient drive-thru window.
The pharmacy is now on the right side, but the drive-thru is still on the left. One now looks at a video monitor of the pharmacy when at the drive-thru. Otherwise, they are looking at a brick wall. A pneumatic tube runs across the store to connect the drive-thru with the pharmacy.
Now this is certainly not the first store to do this, but here is the zinger - while you can see the pharmacy employee on the monitor and you can hear the person quite well, in order for the pharmacy tech to hear you, you must pick up a telephone handset hanging from the wall.
???
Over the years, I have gone through hundreds of drive-thru windows. Pharmacies, banks, fast-food joints, pizza places, even oil change and lube shops. I have never encountered one where I had to use a telephone handset pressed to my head to communicate with the person on the other side.
Now I have used drive-through windows while driving cars. I've used drive-thru windows while drivng pickup trucks. If you have ever used both types of vehicles, you know what the pain in the posterior is with drive-thru windows. If you're in a truck, you may be way above the drawer or window and need a very flexible 10-foot arm to reach it. Conversely, if you're in a car, you may find the drawer or window well above you, so once again you need that 10-foot rubber arm.
But I have never encountered a drive-thru window that requires one to reach out for a telephone handset to talk into. Then you somehow have to hang it up when you're done.
We were picking up a prescription for my wife. We pulled up, and a face appeared on the screen. My wife started saying what she wanted, when we heard the face on the screen say she needed to pick up the telephone. Well my wife could not reach the stupid phone. So we parked and she went into the store to pick up her order.
There are at least three other pharmacies at Nippers Corner. One of them is about to get a new customer...
Now this is certainly not the first store to do this, but here is the zinger - while you can see the pharmacy employee on the monitor and you can hear the person quite well, in order for the pharmacy tech to hear you, you must pick up a telephone handset hanging from the wall.
???
Over the years, I have gone through hundreds of drive-thru windows. Pharmacies, banks, fast-food joints, pizza places, even oil change and lube shops. I have never encountered one where I had to use a telephone handset pressed to my head to communicate with the person on the other side.
Now I have used drive-through windows while driving cars. I've used drive-thru windows while drivng pickup trucks. If you have ever used both types of vehicles, you know what the pain in the posterior is with drive-thru windows. If you're in a truck, you may be way above the drawer or window and need a very flexible 10-foot arm to reach it. Conversely, if you're in a car, you may find the drawer or window well above you, so once again you need that 10-foot rubber arm.
But I have never encountered a drive-thru window that requires one to reach out for a telephone handset to talk into. Then you somehow have to hang it up when you're done.
We were picking up a prescription for my wife. We pulled up, and a face appeared on the screen. My wife started saying what she wanted, when we heard the face on the screen say she needed to pick up the telephone. Well my wife could not reach the stupid phone. So we parked and she went into the store to pick up her order.
There are at least three other pharmacies at Nippers Corner. One of them is about to get a new customer...
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