Last Sunday, I was instant messaging with Cat when it was decided that I should head over to the crazyhouse for some movie watching and food. It was raining out, although not very hard. It was also bright and sunny and somewhat warm, which is one of the more odd natural phenomena. I hopped on the bus, listening to my music and generally having a good time keeping to myself.
At the transfer center downtown, I promptly hopped on the bus I had thought would bring me to the crazyhouse and waited patiently for the run to start. Before we departed, I saw a bus pull in displaying the actual route number I wanted. I realized I had previously not confirmed which bus I'd boarded, so I hopped off and asked for confirmation from three drivers who were standing on the platform. Instead of a simple confirmation that I was errantly on the 7 rather than the 4, I was greeted with not just one but three people's wort of continuous comments about whether or not I can read.
By the time of this writing, I do not remember the actual words they said, but at least one asked "Can you read?" and one other asked if I had read the sign. I visually confirmed the sign before asking, but I wanted verbal confirmation because the bus was standing in a spot where the 4 had stood every day for a few years, and there certainly is historic precedent for the destination and route signs to be incorrect.
Instead of offering these protestations, I decided simply to walk in the direction of the correct bus, board, and continue with my day. The event stuck with me for the rest of the day, though. Good customer service doesn't necessarily mean a lot of words, and it certainly doesn't mean implying that your customers are stupid. It does mean providing a good answer, and not belitting the customer. As somebody who is very familiar with customer service, not only was I offended personally by the incident, but apologetic on behalf of others who may have similarly been confused by the reorganization and then made fun of for it. I saw at least one other 4 rider on the 7, I wouldn't be surprised at all if his day was delayed and if he ultimately received similar flack for his lack of knowledge about the platform reorganization.
Fortunately, the transit agency takes its twitter feed seriously. I had this exchange with them, which resulted in at least one employee being aware of the transgression and an at least hypothetical investigation. To be perfectly honest, that's good enough for me.
But really, couldn't the driver just have said "This is the 7," or even "This is the 7, the platforms have been rearranged."