It's time to demand more as consumers...

[johnlal]

Remember when people pumped gas for you and checked your oil and tire pressure? "Full Service". Well somebody got the great idea to offer "self service" at a discount. Now everybody pumps their own gas, and guess what? Prices went up anyway. At $4.50 a gallon, why isn't anybody checking my f***ing oil?

Now that healthcare is so expensive, I will expect to talk directly with my doctor for more than his usual 2 minute attention span. Maybe a house call when my kid's really sick. I know it costs a lot to do that, but we're paying a lot now. So I want my money's worth.

Oh, also-- the airlines. They can't get anybody to fly anymore because it costs so much. Hey, how about a steak dinner, an in-flight movie, and maybe a free tote-bag. We'll skip the demand for the miniskirts. That was kinda sexist and silly anyway.

Next time you're at the grocery store, looking at the high prices, maybe you can ask the manager to give you a china plate or a piece to a matching china set every week as a gift for shopping there. And get rid of those "U-scan" machine. "U-Scan?" No. YOU SCAN. I'm paying premium prices for my groceries. I'm not going to bag them myself. It kills me when I go into a grocery store and see 10 unmanned checkout lines. They used to have a guaranty at my grocery. If there are more than three people in line, we'll open another checkout lane. I haven't seen that one in a while. And if I'm paying over $3.50 for a gallon of milk, you can put it in a bag (I'll even bring the bag for you to put it in). Another thing I hate. They have a bagger working two lines, and he looks up at me like "are you going to bag them, or are you going to insist that I do it?" Yeah, buddy, I ain't doin it. You can bag the groceries and be glad that I don't ask you to take them to my car (like they did in the old days).

You know what would save a lot on gas? Instead of a drive-thru window, you park your car and somebody brings your dinner out to you. Heck-- for the price of a Happy Meal, they should be FEEDING it to my kid.

And when you buy a suit at a department store, there should be somebody there to hem up the pants for you. You shouldn't have to take it out to a tailor (or do it yourself) after already paying for a suit.

And Cracker Jacks-- now that we're paying a bundle for a box of crap, could you at least include a whistle that works?

Look-- I'm all about saving money. A lot of these things were brilliant money saving ideas. But, we're not saving money anymore. We're paying artificially high prices for the same services. If we're already PAYING premium prices for the same old stuff, then we should be getting more service.

I know the economy is a mess right now, but we have a chance to rebuild it. Any way you look at it, we're being raped for prices, wherever we go. Take your money to places where they take care of you. Demand better service. If there is only one checkout lane open, demand that the manager open another lane. If he won't do it, leave your full cart there and walk out. Go to gas station (if any are left) who offer full service. If they fail to check your oil, remind them. If prices ever go back down, keep demanding full service, but at a lower price. Since we're screwed anyway, we might as well start rebuilding to our liking.

[sazemisery]

1. The only answer is to STOP BUYING THEIR CRAP

Buy locally! Use the small Mom & Pop stores that are left in your town. They need it and you will get better service 99% of the time. The Corporations are only bothered when they are not showing a profit. And you can demand all you want but they aren't listening. Their ears are in their pockets.

[johnlal]

3. Good point.

And better still, if you can, grow your own stuff.

[NightWatcher]

8. yep, not demand more as consumers, but consume less

along with locally, might I also suggest using Co-ops and other brown markets that pay more to the local provider. Barter, sharing, and other activities that are non taxable and non reported help keep more money in the hands of those who provide the goods and services. Damn the Taxman, why should ha be paid when I get a dozen ears of corn- he didnt help the local guy grow it.

[sazemisery]

26. Oklahoma has a unique Co-op system for food and other..

Oklahoma made products. Check it out at

http://www.oklahomafood.coop/

Many other states are organizing this type of co-op. It has helped me to stay out of the local chain stores for lots of my purchases.

[tanyev]

2. I've tried to find a full service gas station.

No luck. I would gladly pay extra to have my tire pressure checked every so often.

[Romulox]

4. You got what you paid for with your minimum wage $$$

You demanded cheap labor; you got it. Your double cheeseburger was $.99. You live in a bizarre fantasy if you think the $5.25 an hour paid to the "cook" is enough to get your assed kissed too.

[johnlal]

5. Maybe the cook could mention his problem to his union.

Oh, right. He didn't join one.

By the way-- show me where I can buy a BIG MAC for .99 any more?

[Romulox]

6. LOL. Right. He "refused" to join the McDonald's union.

The only thing Americans are good at anymore is scapegoating poor people. :hi:

[johnlal]

7. Anybody in the service industry should expect

to do a little ass kissing. It's not about how much they're paid. It's about what they're there to do. So, yes. If I'm paying for service, I demand service. With a smile. No less.

[Romulox]

9. LOL. Keep demanding. And *pray* you don't get what's coming to you!

Another cheap labor "progressive", eh? This place is crawling with you lot.

[johnlal]

11. Sure...

All of us corporatist, labor-crushing, capitalist hawks who eat hamburgers at McDonalds. I don't think we really have a lot to do with the price of hamburgers or the cost of labor. You know, the minimum wage cooks you talk about are serving their hamburgers to a lot of other minimum wage workers. I think you might look at the guys who compete to put down a couple million dollars to buy one McDonalds Franchise as one of the reasons wages are low. McDonalds generates a LOT of wealth for franchise owners and for the McDonalds' corporation. A LOT of people are getting fat, and not just off the transfat burgers.
So, no. When I treat my child to a crappy meal, I don't feel like I'm the bad guy. Sorry.

[Romulox]

12. No, you don't have the right to abuse a minimum wage worker, just cause you plopped down your $1.99

I don't give a good god damn how much a franchisee is making or is not. This is about the fact that you think that you have the right to a little knee-scraping because you went to a goddamned McDonalds.

Well, if you want better service, you will need to patronize places whose prices reflect the fact that they pay their employees a living wage. Full stop.

:puke:

[johnlal]

13. OK, so only rich people deserve good service. n/t

[closeupready]

14. I disagree. We nominally middle class people complain about service, and

those who work at McDonald's for a living have so much more to be miserable about. It's not fair for you to expect low-income workers to smile when they don't feel like it. They're trained to do that, but if they don't, that's fine, IMO. Just give me what I order within a reasonable amount of time, and thank you very much.

You need to get off your bellyaching whiney horse.

[johnlal]

15. I agree I'm being whiney...

You called me on it, and I'll try to hold back a little.
But I don't agree that only middle class expect or demand courteous, polite service. I think even low-income people expect, and are entitled to be treated courteously.

And I don't agree with Romulox that just because people are paid poorly, it means I should thank them for not leaving a loogie on my burger.

[closeupready]

16. What you CAN reasonably do is, if you go to the same places,

you'll encounter the same service people, and if they continue to get gruff with you, stop, stare and make a comment like, "excuse me, but what did I ever do to you?" or "don't give me an attitude, because I'll give it right back to you, understand me?" I find that doing something like that brings things to a head, i.e., they either stop or else they find employment elsewhere. Be assertive. Cheers.

[johnlal]

18. Thanks.

To tell you the truth, it really doesn't come up that much at McDonalds. They are always courteous to me. My original post suggested that, since prices are going up anyway, we should demand more service. That's when I unfortunately got into a shouting match with another poster about me abusing and debasing poor people. What I really intended to say was that businesses should provide better service, hire more people, and think about the consumer every once in a while.

When the other poster started talking about you're lucky to get what you get, that's what got me off onto a wrong tangent. Sorry.

[closeupready]

19. I understand.

:hi:

[Tesha]

17. You can't buy a Big Mac for $0.99 but you can still buy the equivalent...

...Double Cheeseburger for $0.99 at most McDonalds.

(Just FYI)

Tesha

[johnlal]

21. We had a diner just two doors down from us

That really spoiled us. We could order burgers better than McDonalds from there. We didn't have to "drive-thru"-- we could walk there and pick up our take-out. They had better food and a better menu. Unfortunately the place went out of business, and we are trying to find a replacement.

[Sherman A1]

10. I urge everyone to avoid U-Scans

They are exactly what you think they are..."pumping your own gas for the same price". An internal tidbit I learned recently is that they don't contribute to the hours budgeted for the store. All store hours are based on sales or some bizarre method of computing them (and the chain for which I work, has a really bizarre one). Nevertheless every dollar that goes through the U-Scan doesn't contribute to hours for the checkers, so 10% of the sales go through the U-Scan, that is 10% less labor the store will have budgeted, based upon the principle that "If the customer is going to do their own checking, why do we need people to do it and we save money".

Insist that another lane be opened, but avoid the U-Scans if you can.

[johnlal]

20. Good tip.

I avoided u-scans like the plague when they first opened up. I fell into the practice of using them because local stores rely on them instead of scheduling more people to work the cash registers. I will redouble my efforts to avoid the u-scans from here on out.

[dysfunctional press]

24. i prefer to self-scan, unless i have a huge amount of items.

it's MUCH faster...especially when there's long lines at the one or two regular check-outs that are open, and none on the self-scan.

[RebelOne]

27. I would prefer using a U-Scan to standing

in line behind shoppers with loaded carts when I only have a few items.

[Hidden Stillness]

22. Fake Line of Reasoning

I don't know what the acual point of this thread is, and I will pretend you are not a plant, etc., and just answer a few of your "statements." For every single problem you raised, you directed it to a false cause and "cure." You mention high gas prices, then blame individual gas stations, which are at the low end of the system, not making big profits, and you do not mention hedge and commodities speculators, which are the cause of the astounding price hike, when demand is actually going down.

You mention healthcare getting expensive, then refer to doctors, who are not the problem--commercial insurance is. You mention high grocery prices, set by the manufacturers, then blame first the store manager, then of all things the lowly overworked underpaid bagger! The bagger has more things to worry about, on a poverty-level wage, than being snide to you: they bag groceries, attend to the bottle return, and get carts from the lot. There are never enough baggers to do all the work, they are always the first cut.

Your whole premise is wrong, of course. Things in the corporate world will not improve because "we" did something wrong and must improve ourselves. I am old enough to remember good drinking glasses in detergent boxes, gifts for opening accounts at banks (and 6% interest on ordinary savings accounts!), the gas company did appliance repairs as part of your service and the electric company gave away free light bulbs at its own utility store, and all the rest, and it was not because we "demanded" anything; we didn't do anything at all. Corporations did not run the country then, and shove our faces in the shit at every turn; they were regulated and forced to provide services, meet safety requirements, have unions with actual power, and answer to Congressional hearings, etc., for their behavior. No amount of consumer behavior will make up for the fact that the Government no longer does ANYTHING no matter what happens, or what these people do. They never even enforce anti-trust laws anymore.

[Sherman A1]

23. You are right to a degree

We do need to press for more regulation, however in the mean time we can and hopefully will make the choices we can make that are best for everyone in the long run. Supporting Unions when they are an option. Going to the gas station that has service attendants (we still have one in our area) as pointed out above avoiding U-Scans. Maybe it's not much, but we can each do our little bit to help.

I believe that is really all the OP was looking at. None of us can do it alone, together we can perhaps get their attention..


:hi:

[johnlal]

25. Big changes have to be made

I agree that the problem is more complex than I set out. But the bottom line is that we agreed to give up a lot of service in return for lower prices. And now that we are given the absolute lowest in service, prices have risen. But service still remains low.

It's true that I would want the gas station to provide more service at the pump. That's where I get my gas. I can't pull my car up to Exxon's boardroom and demand a fillup. And of course it does no good for me to ask the clerk behind the cash register at the convenience store to check my oil. They're not set up to do that anymore. But if more of us patronize full service gas stations, they will remain viable, and maybe somebody will find a way to make money doing that again.

And sure, I'm going to ask the manager to put more people on the cash registers if there's five people waiting in line for one register. If the grocery store can get away with paying less people to do the same work, they'll do it. If the grocery store thinks that eventually I'll bag my own groceries if nobody is there to do it for me, they'll schedule less workers to be there. I know that my complaints aren't going to change the industry, but I also know that a squeaky wheel gets some grease every now and then.