I went to return some jump drives that I had gotten as a gift from Office Max today. I got my store credit easy enough, but after that, my OM experience deteriorated quickly.

I was looking to spend my store credit on a PDA, so I visited the few places in the store that I thought the PDA’s might be located. With the MP3 players?? Nope. In the “Organizer” section?? Nope. In the day planner section?? Nope. So at this point I have been wandering around the store for about 15 minutes and I realize that NO ONE has bothered to ask if I need help. And I’m pretty sure I looked lost and confused, since I was lost and confused. And I absolutely cannot stand it when you receiver zero customer service when you are in a store to spend money and help them stay in business. I’m not asking to be treated like a king, but a simple “Can I help you?” would be great.

At this point, I receive a phone call from a friend. WHILE I AM ON THE PHONE, one of the customer service reps comes up and asks if I need help. WHILE I AM ON THE PHONE!!!! They wouldn’t come near me when I was wondering around looking confused, but as soon as I get on the phone they are more than eager to help me. I tell the gentleman that I don’t need help at the moment because I’M ON THE PHONE.

After I hang up, I resume looking lost and confused. I do this for another 5 minutes and I’m treated like a Singapore hooker with sores on her mouth and a case of the clap. No one comes near me. Finally, one of the reps begins approaching me (so I think). I tell him that I have a question. And he continues to walk past me, muttering something about “…need to keep circling.” Since he seemed incapable of stopping for 3 seconds to answer my question, I followed him and asked if they carried PDA’s. He grunted something and pointed to an end cap located near the telephones. Thanks!!!

Well, I walk over to the PDA’s and begin signaling that I need help: stare at product; glance up and look around wildly for someone to help with pleading eyes. After about five minutes of this, someone finally approaches me and is able to inform me that they were out of the particular one I wanted.

In all, I spent 25 minutes in Office Max to find out the thing I wanted was not in stock at the moment. After I learned that I could use my store credit gift card online, my decision on visiting that Office Max again was easy. Not. Gonna. Happen.

I HATE BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE.