Subway Needs to Rethink Customer Service

Oh Subway, "sigh", I've been having such a difficult time with you lately!

First, I encountered the shirtless wanna be rapper working at your downtown Rochester location who made me screech to a halt and scurry out the door in fear that an armpit hair might fall into my sub. I did find an excellent location in Rochester Hills to fill my empty stomach, so thank heavens there are still some shops abiding by the dress code and cleanliness that I expect a food establishment to abide by.

Then yesterday, on a trip to Lakeside Mall, I encountered "Terry" and now I'm wondering what has happened to my favorite sub destination. I have been a patron of Subway for many years and have never seen such a lack of customer service EVER! With the economy lacking in jobs, one would think that preforming above and beyond would be in one's best interest. I just don't get it!

Here is how it played out...
I walk up to the left side of the counter with my MIL and three daughters, facing the break room. Employee "Terry" is facing me, sitting down, staring blankly at me. I look around and notice the "order here" sign to my right, so I figure she's a stickler for doing things right and I need to stand in the right place to be acknowledged... sorry, my bad. So, I quickly sidestep to the right, girls and MIL in tow, and form a line behind a young lady waiting in line to place her order. Finally, after about a minute or so, "Terry" and a gentleman emerge from the back room and start the lady's order. Mind you, a smile has not even cracked on "Terry's" face once, she does not say hello and there is no enthusiasm at all in working for Subway. You would think they were shoveling manure by the scowls on their faces.

Now it's time to turn to place an order. I ordered the $5 foot long to split with the MIL and two turkey kids meals for the girls (baby is still on the bottle). "Terry" makes my sub just fine (doesn't know what cilantro is when I ask for it, but I dismiss that because I'm from Southern CA and we put cilantro on a lot of things including subs and doesn't have avocado) and then moves on to make my girls turkey subs and asks what I'd like on them. I say, One with cheese, one without and that's it." She says, "That's it?" and I say, "Yes." Then not even a second later, I think, "Tomatoes!" So, I say, "Excuse me." She doesn't hear me and proceeds to wrap the first sandwich. I say,"Excuse me," again and she looks up. I say, "Could I please add tomatoes to those two sandwiches?" She lets out a huge sigh and acts like I'd asking her to fly to California to pick me some fresh cilantro and then proceeds to unwrap the sandwich and slap on some tomatoes. Did I ask too much? HELLO lady, this is your job. If you don't like it, get another job (preferably NOT in customer service) and give your job to a deserving individual who needs and wants to be there.

So, now "Terry" proceeds to wrap up my girls sandwiches in the same manner you would wrap up the contents of an eaten sandwich that you are getting ready to throw away. If I had had my camera, I would have taken a picture of these events taking place and if my camera phone was working, I would have posted this "story" on Whrrl. It was really bad, and I'm not done yet...

We proceed to pay for our order :$16 for one foot long (no drinks, no chips) and two kids meals.(which were missing the apple slices and toy BTW). It seemed kind of pricey since I thought foot longs were suppose to be $5, but oh well. I was starving at this point and was just ready to sit and eat. Well, my MIL was not going to accept, "Oh well," and went back to ask for an itemized receipt. (This option was not offered at checkout. only the credit card receipt was given to us.)

My MIL walks up to the counter and sees the male employee playing "kissy face" with another employee who had just started her shift. WHAT IS THAT? I'm sorry, but I don't think playing "kissy face" is in the job requirements or even condoned. If it is, I'm speechless!

In conclusion, I just want to say that in my entire life, I have never had a problem with Subway and when we moved across the country last year, we ate a lot of Subway sandwiches! My sandwiches from Subway have always been good and fresh, they always get the order correct and the customer service has been top notch, so what is going on that has sparked this latest trend of bad customer service? I think Subway needs to implement some customer service training ASAP and weed out the bad seeds because I have decided to move on and try some of the local sub shops after having a bad Subway experience the last two times I have gone in search of a good sub.

Customer service should always be a companies #1 priority because everything else will fall in place if the customers are happy. Being in retail for 10 years taught me a thing or two about this subject.