Ting-Ting Gao
Google
Today I had the worst shopping experience I’ve ever had in the United States at Star Market. We purchased a promotional item, and usually we choose the staffed checkout counter for such purchases to avoid mistakes at self-checkout. However, today there were no employees at any staffed registers, so we had no choice but to use self-checkout.
At the register, we did not see the expected discount applied, so we asked an employee working in the self-checkout area (a woman with glasses and curly hair). Her attitude was extremely rude. My partner could not clearly understand what she was saying, but instead of explaining patiently, she spoke to us as if she were holding back anger. Because of her constant rushing, we accidentally missed scanning a bag, and she became visibly angry, telling my partner to “step back” in a harsh tone, without any polite language.
Throughout the entire interaction, both my partner and I remained polite, yet she treated us badly. What made it worse was that when interacting with other customers, her tone was noticeably friendlier. This contrast made us wonder if her behavior toward us was influenced by assumptions about our English ability or background, left us feeling particularly unwelcome.
This was by far the worst customer service experience I have ever had in the U.S., and it left a very negative impression of Star Market.