Do you not hear what I am saying?

A while back, I went to a movie over at the Manchester Mall theater, and afterwards, went over to the mall to walk around and window shop a bit.

I stopped in Gottschalks, to look at the shoe department (i am addicted to shoes!) and decided to use the ladies room while I was there.

Upon entering the restroom, I was appaled at the state of it. There was more trash on the floor than in the actual trash bins, the floors were wet and dirty... i could go on from here. I found the cleanest stall available and went about my business. After washing my hands and throwing my paper towel in the proper receptacle, I felt the need to notify a staff member about the state of this restroom.

The customer service/gift wrap area (closest to the restroom I used) had a long line of people waiting. I went back into the store area, and found the nearest register that was staffed.

I waited to be acknowledged, while the two young girls working that register finished their personal conversation. After hearing all about the one girls date the previous night, she asked how she could help me. Here is how the conversation went:

Me - Your ladies room over here (pointing) is in need of service.
Her - What?
Me - Your ladies room needs some cleaning.
Her - Well... there is another one on this floor. (points across the store)
Me - I don't need another restroom, I just wanted you to know this one needs some attention.
Her (obviously perplexed) - But there is one over there.
Me - I don't really care that there is another restroom, I've already used this one. I just wanted someone to know about this.
Her - But there is another one.
Me - Like I said, it doesn't matter that there is another one. This one needs attention.
Her - Ok.

Immediately after saying "ok" she turned and resumed her conversation about her date.

Now, silly me to have a higher expectation of customer service from a nice department store like Gottschalks, than i would of say... K-Mart.

I went and did a bit of poking around and found that Gottschalks prides themselves on their customer service... as seen in this quote from this page of their website...

Gottschalks' vision is to provide customers with quality, brand- name merchandise, a large selection, competitive prices and, above all, the best customer service in the business.

So, apparently this conversation was "the best customer service in the business". Somehow, I doubt that.