You know what frosts my flakes?
Convenience stores with just one working employee.
Apparently, the word “convenience” no longer applies to customers.
You walk into the place and it looks like a tornado just stopped in for a chili dog and lottery ticket.
The coffee station looks like it survived a small industrial accident. Half the lids are missing, the counters are sticky, the floor crunches when you walk across it and, somehow, every napkin dispenser is empty at the exact same time.
Meanwhile, the lone employee is trying to do the work of six people. They are running the cash register, stocking shelves, cleaning spills, making sandwiches, accepting fuel deliveries and probably performing minor surgery in the back room.
So, now there’s a line of 12 people waiting to buy a soda and a candy bar while one exhausted employee apologizes every 14 seconds.
You can always use the self-checkout machine. Because nothing says “convenience” like customers doing unpaid labor while a machine screams: “PLACE THE ITEM BACK IN THE BAGGING AREA!”
I don’t work here! But, if I wanted a part-time retail job, at least I would expect an employee discount and a free hot dog or roller item every now and then.
Why are these stores always filthy now?
Back in the day, convenience stores had enough staff so one person could actually clean something once in a while. Now management probably calls it “lean operations.”
That’s corporate language for: “We discovered customers will tolerate terrible service if they really need gasoline and a bathroom.” And that’s assuming the store even has a public restroom.
And heaven help you if someone buys lottery tickets ahead of you. You’re standing there holding a bottle of water while Captain Scratch-Off asks for: “Ten number sevens, four number elevens, two of the holiday specials and whatever ticket Brenda won on last Tuesday.”
By the time you get to the register, your burrito is stone cold and there’s no ice in your cup.
So let me ask, who exactly is being convenienced here? Because it certainly isn’t the customer standing in line watching the hot dog rollers rotate into the next century.
