Customer Service?

I think that Sam Walton would be very mad. Once upon a time, he used to say that customer service was the most important thing about his store. Apparently, that doesn't apply anymore. I was recently going in to Walmart to buy my usual groceries. The greeter (you know, that person who sits in the front to say, "Welcome to Walmart" so that everyone feels special as they enter the store?) was talking on her cell phone. A man in front of me started to enter the store carrying his own water bottle that he had brought with him. As per usual, the water bottle needed to be marked with a sticker so that the cashier would know that he didn't need to pay for it. Well, this greeter--talking on her cell phone--waved at the man to make him come over. Then, without getting off of the phone, she hands him a sticker and tries to pantomime to him what he's supposed to do with it. Like she can't be bothered to end her terribly important PERSONAL conversation to actually DO HER JOB!

But this is not a one time occurrence. My sister was recently going in to Walmart to make a return. Anyone who has ever made a return at Walmart will know that the greeter has to mark some stuff down about the return and give you a sticker before you enter the store. Well, here is my sister with her 3 small children in tow, waiting right beside the greeter to get her sticker. But the greeter was carrying on a PERSONAL conversation with another employee, and, again, couldn't be bothered to actually DO HER JOB! So my sister stood right beside this greeter for a full 3 minutes, 3 small children getting very anxious and hard to handle at this point, before the greeter even acknowledged that my sister was standing there.

It's starting to get completely ridiculous! And Walmart is not the only store with this problem. Dillard's used to pride themselves on customer service, but now I go in there and most of the time I can't find a person who actually works there to help me. I could probably list store after store after store that has this same problem. I just wonder, when did it become socially acceptable for store employees to ignore their customers? Are businesses no longer concerned with whether or not customers continue shopping at their company? And when did it become okay for a person to shirk their job duties and still manage to keep that job and get paid? Because, seriously, if that's the case, then maybe I should just stop working so hard to educate my students. "Oh what? You need help on an assignment? Just a minute, I'll help you after I'm done giving myself a pedicure." Hah!