railing = being derailed?

I had a terrible customer service experience Monday night and it really steamed me. I won't say the name of the business (monster-huge, you have one in your town), but the surly clerk left part of my things out of the bag and I had to go back the next day to collect them. In fact, driving away from the store, I called back in and asked if that was left out of my bag and he placed me on hold then came back and said no, it must be with me. The next day, I called in and spoke to the manager and she said "oh yes, it's right here." He then was a rude git again when I came to pick it up. No apologies for his mistake or even for the inconvenience I'd had due to his carelessness.

I thought of complaining to his manager. I thought of writing a blog post naming names and fuming over the shoddy treatment. In fact, I was going to do that last night, but I went to bed and got a very good night of sleep after a day in which I'd gotten a lot done. It felt somehow wrong to go on griping.

I have a job I enjoy very much, and my work is in the service industry, after a fashion. If I had the earning and benefits potential I really need to prepare for retirement, I would never leave this job. However, one must be realistic, and I also think my conscientiousness would make me an incredible nurse. Well, that and the fact that it's nearly impossible to gross me out, but I digress. But whatever I do, and whatever crap is going through my life personally, I check that at the door and bring my attention and energy to performing the task at hand and making sure the customers who pay my salary get the best of my efforts. I would bring that same energy if I were flipping burgers, washing dishes or running a company for a living-- I don't believe in viewing certain tasks or the people who perform them as lowly. All things need to be done, so why be surly? Take care of business.

Again, I thought about writing an eviscerating post on the crap service, as I said, naming guilty parties and all that, but what would be the point? If anything were accomplished in that, it would be blowing out a candle inside a blazing building. We are living in the Snooki-verse now, and slutty/tacky/rude is the norm. Customer service certainly ain't what it used to be, and maybe the only sane course is to shrug it off and be unsurprised by execrable service and not let it ruin your day, and to be pleasantly surprised when you receive superlative service, and to make sure that good service does not go unrecognized.

I've got a lot going on. I'm in school, working full-time, trying to study adequately to earn the high grades I crave, and I'm going to yoga regularly and trying to eat healthier. I have to carve out time to cuddle puppydogs and to go see my folks in Dallas. I really don't have the time to spare on a rude person being rude and giving poor service for which I paid a premium, so why does this bother me so?

*****
grades update: I just made a 100 on a Psych quiz, which makes my average 89.68. If I make a 100 on the assignment I just turned in, my average will be 90. Fingers crossed, but I've not made anything but a 100 on any of my essays thus far.