Now everyone has heard stories of “The Ugly American.” Some
ignorant Hick goes to some foreign country with absolutely no clue
about the local customs, traditions and laws. He then proceeds to
make a complete and utter Ass out of himself while managing to
insult pretty much everyone he meets. An excellent example of this
is a section of Mark Twain's Innocents Abroad book where he and his
traveling companions drive a poor guide crazy with questions. Read
the book because it is well worth the read.
Course, much like everything else in my rather odd life, my
definition of the Ugly American is slightly different. For as long
as I can remember, I have called it my “Ugly American” routine
every time I had to break out a can of Whup Ass when people and
places do not perform the services that they are supposed to perform.
My Wife hates it because I have no shame in arguing and disputing
people in public when I feel that someone isn't doing their durned
jobs. I have actually been known to yell if the situation warranted
it.
So for the next few days or so, I am going to go over some of the
examples of when I whipped out the UA stick and why I felt it was
justified. Hopefully it will give all of you a rare insight into
exactly how my mind works (or doesn't work depending on your point of
view.) Hope you guys enjoy the ride.
My first example is actually a recent one and is a prime example of
how things can escalate when people don't want to admit their
mistakes or try to correct them. I am a Diabetic and dependent on
Insulin on a daily basis to help balance and manage my Blood Sugar
levels. A few days before this event (2 days to be precise), I had
gone to our new Pharmacy to get the disposable needle tips that fit
on the end of my insulin pens. The Pharmacy misunderstood what I
needed and filled the prescription for the insulin pens themselves.
No big deal, simple mistake and didn't even rate a blip on the
complaint radar (Complaindar?). The cashier rang up the order before
I realized the mistake and gave me a price of $70.00. I told them
the mistake and they corrected it and we moved on. Everything was
both hunky and dorry.
So 2 days later, I go to purchase the actual insulin because my
Wife's payday had arrived and we had the money to buy the insulin.
Barely anyway because our money situation is really tight right now.
I ask the Pharmacist to fill the prescription. Hitch one occurs when
she informs me that I had already had the prescription filled and
that no more refills were left. It turned out that they hadn't taken
the “purchase” from two days before out of the system so it
showed I had already gotten the medications. However, she fixed the
hitch and they proceeded to fill the prescription while I picked up
other much needed supplies.
So along comes Hitch the second. Once I have finished buying our
other supplies, I return to pick up the insulin. When the cashier
rings up the meds, I am told it will be $120.00, almost TWICE the
price I was quoted before. I pointed out that the price was a lot
more than what I was told a mere two days before and that I simply
didn't have the extra cash. Now at this point the UA was still on a
short leash. All I was looking for was an an apology for the mistake
and some way to fix the problem of me being out of insulin. I wasn't
looking for freebies or anything else except perhaps purchasing one
of the three boxes of Pens until such time as we had the cash to buy
the rest.
Instead of offering any apology for their mistake, both the cashier
and the Pharmacist proceeded to essentially tell me that they hadn't
quoted the earlier price and that I was basically lying about it all.
That is when the UA broke loose on them. With strained civility, I
informed them that they had indeed quoted me a price of $70.00 two
days before and they had done it in front of a Witness (My Wife). I
informed them that I was dangerously short on insulin and had to have
the pens to keep my blood sugar under control. I was not so politely
informed once again that I was basically lying and that there was
nothing they could do.
(As an aside here, I want to add that most of the pharmacies I have
done business with in the past were more than willing to sell me a
third of the overall prescription to tide me over till such time as I
had the money for the rest of it. While it would have annoyed me to
pay $40.00 for a third of a prescription that was supposed to cost
$70.00, I would have still paid it, grumbled a little and went on
with my life.)
So I left the store without Insulin feeling extremely grumpy to put
it mildly. When I got home, I fired off a letter to the Store
Website informing them of what had happened AND that my wife and were
contemplating taking both our grocery and pharmacy business
elsewhere. I told them in great detail how rude and accusatory the
employees were and how angry I was. We actually had the insulin
prescription transferred to another store and filled the next day.
Three days later, I received a phone call from the Head Pharmacist of
the store who profusely apologized for the behavior of his employees
and informed me that there had been at least three different ways the
problem could have been handled. He then offered a very kind deal
that will save me a lot of money on my next 6 refills on Insulin, but
he had won me over simply by saying, “We messed up. We should have
handled it better and we apologize.” That was all I had been
looking for when all of this started.
Being a Ugly American isn't about being unnecessarily rude or mean.
It isn't about expecting something for nothing. It is about expecting
people and places to do the jobs given to them. It is about getting,
at the very least, the minimum amount of service from where ever you
are. Somehow, a large number of places seem to have forgotten the
concept that they are there to serve the public. Whether it is
slinging burgers or selling food, they are dependent on the Public
for their lively hood. Despite what a lot of people like to think,
the customer ain't always right. However when they Are right and you
are wrong, you have to step up and admit it.
End of Rant
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