I have had just about enough of being treated like a second-class citizen, simply because I happen to be that unfairly treated member of society --- a customer. The more I go into shops and hotels, banks and post offices, railway stations, airports and the like, the more I am convinced the things are being run solely to suit the firm, the system, or the union. There seems to be a deceptive (欺骗的) new motto for so-called “service” organizations --- Staff Before Service.
How often, for example, have you queued for what seems like hours at the Post Office or the supermarket because there were not enough staff on duty to man all the service grilles or checkout counters? Surely in these days of high unemployment it must be possible to hire cashiers and counter staff. Yet supermarkets, hinting darkly at higher prices, claim that uncovering all their cash registers at any one time would increase operating costs. And the Post Office says we cannot expect all their service grilles to be occupied “at times when demand is low”.
It is the same with hotels. Because waiters and kitchen staff must finish when it suits them, dining rooms close earlier or menu choice is cut short. As for us guests, we just have to put up with it. There is also the nonsense of so many friendly hotel night porters having been thrown out of their jobs in the interests of “efficiency” and replaced by coin-eating machines which offer everything from lager to laxatives (从贮藏啤酒到通便剂). Not to mention the tea-making kit in your room: a kettle with a mixed collection of tea bags, plastic milk boxes and lump sugar. Who wants to wake up to a raw teabag? I do not, especially when I am paying for “service”.
Can it be stopped, this worsening of service, this growing attitude that the customer is always a bore? I angrily hope so because it is happening, sadly, in all walks of life.
Our only hope is to hammer home our anger whenever and wherever we can and, if all else fails, bring back into practice that other, older slogan --- Take Our Deal Elsewhere.
小题1:The writer feels that nowadays customers __________.
| A．deserve the lowest status in society |
| B．are unworthy of proper consideration |
| C．have received high quality service |
| D．have become victims of modern organizations |
小题2:The writer argues that the quality of service is changing because __________.
| A．customers’ demands have greatly changed |
| B．the staff receive more consideration than customers |
| C．customers’ needs have become more complex |
| D．staff members are less considerate than their employers |
小题3: According to the writer, long queues at counters are caused by __________.
| A．not having enough male staff on duty |
| B．difficulties in hiring more efficient staff |
| C．lack of cooperation between staff members |
| D．not providing enough staff on purpose to reduce budget |
小题4:The writer suggests that a customer __________.
| A．be patient when queuing before checkout counters |
| B．put up with the rude manners of the staff |
| C．try to control his temper when ill-treated |
| D．go to other places where good service is available |