I was waiting in line to pay at the local convenience store this afternoon. Usually I walk down about once a day and buy a bag of chips or a similar snack. It's my daily treat. It should only take a minute, right? After all, it's just a little bag of chips, it comes to $1.48, I'll hand the guy $1.50 and walk out. That's why it's a "convenience store", they should be conveniently located and it should be convenient for me to nip in and out of them post haste. Not any more.
With the introduction of the various types of lottery tickets over the last few years, the wait in the line-up has become longer and longer. Sometimes it can take quite a while for people to decide which tickets to purchase, whether they want this combination or that combination, what numbers to play etc. etc. The absolute worst are those silly little snap and peel tickets where people stand there and open them, oblivious as to who may be waiting behind them. Ooooh, if my eyes were capable of shooting out Lazer beams there would be more than one exploded head in Trenton.
I have noticed the same phenomenon at Tim Horton's. I used to be able to go in and get a coffee in a matter of a couple of minutes. Not any more. With their introduction of soups, sandwiches, chili, and other menu items, the process now takes considerably longer. The ladies behind the counter are always looking flustered because they simply have way too much to do now. Customers also contribute to this by standing in line for five minutes and then deciding on what to eat when they are standing in front of the cashier (and ladies, please have your purse on the ready - did you think you weren't going to have to pay?).
It seems that many places are trying to be everything to everybody. As profit margins for each individual item shrinks, more items are introduced in an attempt to bring more customers in. This doesn't really work very well for people like me who value the convenience of the whole process rather than the quality of the item. Really, if I were interested in a quality soup and salad, I would be going to a restaurant rather than a coffee shop. It makes me long for he days when the coffee truck would pull around and blare its horn. The coffee was lousy, but it was served in a matter of seconds.
Maybe I'll open a store/restaurant called Crap served Fast, I bet there's still a maket for that. I'd charge a lot more than other places too, because for some people, convenience is still what they desire the most at certain times.
