"If you're going to stand there and talk, can you move away from the counter so customers can get through?"
These were the words of the old, bald, mustachioed man behind the Kepler's Seafood counter in the West Shore Farmer's Market. It took me off guard, and my first inclination was to apologize, which I did, as I obviously felt like a heel for blocking customers' access to his business' counter. But then something dawned on me: there were no customers! What's more, the counter space is a good 30 feet long. The amount of space I was blocking was 2 feet at best. But let me take a step back...
My girlfriend, daughter and I approached the Kepler's Seafood counter to purchase some calamari and shrimp. I noticed, however, that the calamari bin was empty, so I asked one of the employees if they had any more?
"No." Huh. It was one thing for them to be out of the product, but here's a business savvy thought, Kepler's: apologize for being sold out and, I don't know, maybe suggest something else?! She did neither of the two. Nonetheless, we continued to look for another product to purchase when I felt a tap on my shoulder. My pal and his girlfriend stood before us and we chatted for a few minutes. And then, in the middle of our conversation, we heard the following:
"If you're going to stand there and talk, can you move away from the counter so customers can get through?"
As I mentioned above, THERE WERE NO OTHER CUSTOMERS AT THE COUNTER! No other customers BUT US, that is. Again, we had already inquired about the calamari (which, again, they were out of) and clearly intended to buy something else, meaning, at that time, we were not only customers of Kepler's but ACTIVE customers.
My friends took their leave and we placed an order with one of the younger female employees: scallops (which were tasteless, by the way) and shrimp. I paid for my order, at which time my girlfriend said to the employee, "You should tell that guy that the way he spoke to us was incredibly rude."
Now, most businesses would apologize and make an excuse to appease us, and then talk shit about us after we'd left, which is fine. I'm okay with that. This female employee (with the brown hair pulled back into a ponytail, if you're looking for her) proceeded to argue with my girlfriend. "He's the owner," she said, "and we pay a lot for this space." Keep in mind, we were standing in a public market in front of a business to whom we'd just given money!!!
"As the owner he should no better to talk to people that way," replied my girlfriend. "You didn't even have any customers." The female employee made another combative comment to which my girlfriend responded, "Well, you won't have us as customers any longer," to which we took our leave.
As we walked away, the employee said something the lines of, "That's fine! We have plenty of other customers." With an attitude and this sort of piss-poor customer service, not for long, as I'm all too happy to tell the world about their downright awful attitude, lack of professionalism (in front of my daughter, no less) and flavorless scallops.
I'd been a customer of Kepler's for years; that's over now.
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