York’s City Screen is a wonderful facility in the centre of a city that is, some may say, a little too steeped in history and tradition for the good of its residents. The problem is, it seems to know it. Everything is at premium prices and the service can be appalling. Here’s an example.
There was a queue: a guy at the front, being “served”, two girls together, one girl, then me. All the girls and I were there for the salsa class. There were two people behind the counter, each with their own till. One was watching the other one “serving” the guy. There appeared to be some sort of problem. Much faffing was done. The salsa class started. The queue shifted impatiently. More faffing. Then the guy said something about going to draw out some money so he went out and the two City Screen employees sat staring into space. For a full minute or more.
Then the girl who was third in the queue jumped the queue and said “sorry, is there any chance I can just pay for the salsa class?” and got served in a matter of 12 or 15 seconds. The other two girls were affronted at the queue jumping and pushed forward to the other till, which seemed to wake up its incumbent, and they got served quickly! This employee had been sitting behind a functioning till, inert, while a queue built up for an event that was STARTING!
We were all served in about 30 seconds and could’ve been served 5 minutes earlier!
In a traditional customer service model, we seek to reduce customer waiting times as they in turn impact customer satisfaction. In a premium venue, a customer-facing employee who neglects customers shouldn’t be an employee!
I didn’t point any of this out to them because I was pretty sure one of the first 3 words out of my mouth would be a rude one.