How many human beings does it take to change a light bulb? Or to put it into the context of my recent situation, how many does it take to process an online order for in-store pickup? At least five, but probably about eight to ten.
I ordered a product online. Delivery was expected in a week. The day before the product was to be sent to the store, I got a text from my ever-vigilant credit card asking, “Is this charge yours?” At the same time, I got a phone call asking the same question. I was in a situation where I couldn’t answer either. Bad idea. Automation doesn’t care about what human tasks you are engaged in. The charge didn’t go through. So when I could get online I tried to run it through again through the vendor’s site. No luck.
The next morning, I called the store’s customer service. After navigating the phone menu (which is designed to route calls but is not always a good match for how people communicate what they want), I got a nice person who, after a few minutes on hold, told me my item was in the store, and simply go and pay for it there.
At the store, I went to the pick-up counter and provided my order number. The sales associate went to the racks of pick-up items and found nothing. The situation started turning into the famous “Gas Cooker Sketch” from Monty Python.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWqJECZelhQ
She went to another associate to find out where the item was; he thought it would not have been shipped without an approval code. A third thought it might be in stock, in which case my original order could be cancelled and a purchase done with the in-stock item. After a fourth and fifth person chimed in, one of them actually went back to the stock room and found the item. It still had to be charged as a separate sale, and my original order cancelled. Who knows why.
So there was the person who processed the original online order, a stock locator, a packer, a shipper, the transportation people, the stock staffers at the store, the credit card processor, the person who sent the phone message, the person who sent the text, and the five in the store.
One item.
No wonder prices are ridiculous.
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