Why does bad customer service have to be the customer's fault?

AARRGGHH!

We're in full "crunch time" for the move now. I just got back from school (Broadcast Management Course) and the movers hit tomorrow. The advance team from the moving company just left after completing the pre-move survey. Their estimate: 7k for household goods. We'll see how close they are.

So I'm at the Post Exchange yesterday (think post department store), and I'm paying by credit card. Of course, after I swipe the card and hit "okay" the screen goes blank and says "swipe card".

Now I'm about to do exactly that...the entire situation is about to last 3 seconds and be over in a flash. That is, until the smart-aleck clerk decides she just can't let it go. Her exact words?

"You did something wrong, do it again."

Now here's where I wish I had been fast enough to quip, "Well, if I did something wrong, how is doing it again going to help?"

What ensued after that really isn't important. What struck me was how it's automatically the customer's fault. As though those little credit machines that get used thousands of times in a week don't have their quirky moments.

I've been noticing a lot of this lately; maybe just because I'm more tense because of the move. It's our 10th move in roughly 16 years; my 11-year old daughter is making her seventh move. God bless her and her 9-year old sister (her sixth move).

I just returned from school and am trying to settle my travel voucher. I couldn't get a receipt when I checked out of the hotel because the computers were down. What we did before computers, I have no idea.

I called today and can't get a receipt because the rooms are all full? Apparently the computer won't let them generate a receipt until a room shows as "open" in the computer. Then they have to put me in, pull me out, and generate a receipt.

I was SO tempted to just say, "So you can't charge me until I give you my credit card number AGAIN because your computer was down? Okay, see you!"

I'm just ramblin...the movers are almost here, and I have to pack my suitcases. Hey, it beats being shot at, that's for sure. The guys and gals who are deployed are the ones we should keep in our prayers.

Mike