Sorry about the wait...

Today I took my cats to the vet. My appointment was at 12:15. I wasn't seen until 12:50. A few weeks ago, We went to a restaurant for dinner. We ordered. Forty-five minutes later, we still hadn't received our food. In both cases of blatant shitty customer service, do you wanna know what the one thing I never heard was? The one thing that would've eased my mind a little? The one thing that would've mitigated my anger, and reduced the images of me throat chopping everybody in my head? The one thing I never heard was a simple,  

"Sorry about the wait"

That's all. Look, I get it. Shit happens. Sometimes you're short staffed, and sometimes you're just busy. Or it could be a more complicated problem, like the doctor got his wristwatch stuck in a poodle's ass, or the kitchen staff got too high after the lunch rush. I just don't know why they couldn't have told me there was a problem. 

I don't really need to know the exact circumstances that caused the delay, it would just be nice to be acknowledged. When people get left waiting, their main concern is, wondering if they've been forgotten. If they haven't, let them now. Reassure them that you value their time. Apologize. Just acknowledge that you're slow, and that you're working on rectifying the situation. It's common courtesy, and common courtesy is good enough for 95% of people out there. The other 5%, are the people that cause a scene. They are the people that demand to speak to a manager, and then to that manager's manager, and so on. They basically feel that they're entitled to speak to the CEO of the company because their water glass had a spot on it. The main problem with customer service these days, is management that bends over backwards for the 5%, and completely ignore the 95%. I may not be throwing a tantrum in your establishment,

but that doesn't mean I'm not pissed too. I've worked in retail long enough to know that the phrase, "I need to speak to your manager" basically means, "I have a lot of free time on my hands" Ironically, these Dickbags that receive the most attention from a customer service standpoint, are the same douchenozzels that will constantly demand free shit, yet they're considered more of a priority because they're known to be difficult. As for the rest of us. We have lives. We have more important things to worry about. We're not complete fucktards, and that's precisely why we should be valued more as consumers. We just want good customer service, that's all. And we don't need gift cards, or free desserts. We just need you to tell us one simple thing...

Sorry about the wait. 

See, now was that so hard?