Unless you consider Sears to be included in the Borg catagory.
About 3 or 4 weeks ago I was using my 3/4" craftsman combination ratchet wrench when the racheting box end of the wrench fell apart. Well, to keep it brief, I decided to return it and get a replacement, plus I had a craftsman lifetime (bought in 1989) hose that had failed earlier that day and it too needed to be returned.
Upon arrival at the store I placed the items on the counter in the tool department, and the woman at the counter looked absolutely dumbfounded. Even though engilish was obviously a second language for her, I figured she could comprehend what it was I was trying to do. But it didn't seem to be getting through.
Then along came a salesman that works in the department that said "Get So-and-So to do the exchange" Well, So-and-So shouted out from behind a computer terminal across the way "I'm not doing it, I'm going to lunch" quite emphaticly.
So the other guy reluctantly looked at my hose and said, "You have to take that to Lawn and Garden, we can not do that here!". I showed him my wrench and I protested slightly about doing both at the same register, but he held his guns on the hose. "We can not do that here!"
He took my wrench and stared at it as if it was going to tell him "I'm not broken, give the customer an even harder time" He then handed it to me and asked what was wrong with it? I handed it back as I showed him, and he asked what size is it? "3/4 inch" I said, but that's not what I was thinking.
He went and got the wrench and then handed it to the woman to process, I also asked about the hose again, Nope, I got the same story about Lawn and Garden.
Does it need have mentioning that as with most Sears stores, the L&G department is right next to the tool dept.? They really can't get any closer without actually occupying the same space. Besides, I'm pretty sure that I've paid for stuff at either register.
So I stuff the wrench in my back pocket, and walked the 20' over to L&G dept. I throw the hose up on the counter and scan the area, not a soul in sight. I ask my wife to find a replacment hose, so I don't lose my chance to spot an elusive employee. Well I think I would have a better chance of spotting Bigfoot. There were lots of employees around in other departments, and walking about, but none that appeared to be working there. I finally nabbed one guy passing through, and asked him if he worked there, "No", was his answer. So I asked him if he could find me someone, and gave him the brief story about the hose, and the tool dept. etc. etc.. Well he said he would page someone, and off he wandered.
Well, we never heard a page, and he was never spotted again, so my wife insisted we go back to the tool dept. I was fine with that, but now they were forming a line for the register.
I was now now third in line. The same woman as before was processing another transaction, that literally took her at leat five minutes to complete. Seems the guy had an exchange for a socket, but the replacment cost more than the actual or something like that, total confusion on her part. During this time, another man was asking for someone to open a display case for him, the Indian guy was successfully ignoring him, by talking on the phone and then running off, and repeating this several times.
The woman at the register told him he had to wait in the check-out line for someone to help him. He left, vocally disgusted.
I finally made it to the register, put the old and new hoses on the counter, and said I was exchanging this for that, and she processed it with no problem, and no questions. Gee why couldn't they have done this in the first place.
I should mention that this occured on a weekday, the Friday before "Black Friday" the store wasn't being overrun, in fact it was fairly quiet.
So, should I have gone to the main office and complained? I would've if my wife wasn't with me, and we had even more time to waste. Her thoughts were, "What are THEY going to do?" She's right, probably nothing at all.
I found it ironic that all through the store there are these little counter signs that state "Your Satisfaction is important to us...blah blah blah"