Customer Service: A Lost Art

You'd think in this economy people would do everything they can to keep their jobs...of course that would be the logical assumption. I had the unique experience yesterday of being cut off and yelled at by a young employee at a fast food restaurant. I pulled up to the drive through and was greeted with some sort of muffled voice over the intercom-I just assumed she said "welcome to (fast food restaurant) may I take your order please?" I started to order when she loudly and rudely cut me off and literally yelled- "I said, will this be cash or credit?" I sternly responded "excuse me, I did NOT understand what you said." About 2 seconds later someone else took over the intercom and asked me for my order. I was then greeted by an overly friendly woman at the drive through window. I can only assume that the person training this girl overheard our interaction and quickly intervened. I honestly couldn't believe that anyone would ever think it is acceptable to speak to a customer that way...but then again I could absolutely believe it! It's always important to treat a customer with respect, but it honestly blows my mind how anyone could behave that way when there is literally no job security at this time! I'm sure there is a list of college graduates who would be happy to take this teenage girl's job of taking orders at a fast food restaurant! Of course I blame the parents- this girl probably has that same attitude at home, and most likely learned it in the home. If I ever spoke that way to someone, especially one of my dad's customers, not only would I have been slapped, I would have been fired! If you ever work for me and are rude to customers don't let the door hit you on your way out! If you don't like people there are plenty of jobs out there that don't involve human interaction!