DEAR MISS MANNERS: I was being waited on at a copy center. I’m 82 years old. While talking with the clerk about my order, a young 20-something blond walked up next to me and told him she was there to pick up her order. The clerk stopped waiting on me and attended to the young blond.
I was very angry and I told the clerk that I didn’t appreciate being dropped to wait on a line-jumper. His response was that he was multitasking.
I stayed long enough to complete my transaction and let him know that I would no longer do any business there.
GENTLE READER: Please excuse Miss Manners for finding your subplot more interesting than your surface problem:
A nubile blond temptress saunters into a hitherto respectable place of business, whereupon the clerk is overcome with lust to the extent of violating the principles of customer service and respect for age.
Is that about it?
Well, clerks do sometimes get distracted, even for less exciting reasons. Both they -- and customers -- have been known to hold up transactions merely to attend to a telephone. But you might also consider the possibility that your particular clerk actually could multitask by handing a completed order to another customer with minimal disruption to the customer being served.
(Please send your questions to Miss Manners at her website, www.missmanners.com; to her email, dearmissmanners@gmail.com; or through postal mail to Miss Manners, Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.)
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