I remember them from my undergrad days in the 80s, but I thought the A/Bs were gone when I came back to Chicago a few years later.
It's an axiom of customer service that perception matters more than reality. Waiting for a train is perceived as more annoying than multiple stops even if the trip takes the same time (or even longer) solely because you're moving. Given Chicago's unheated and sometimes unsavory platforms, its all the more important to get on a train, ever a slower one, ASAP.
This is the same though behind the Downtown Wendy's restaurants which have people who go down the queue writing your orders on a slip of paper and giving it to you for you to hand to the cashier. The actual time savings is negligible, but the customer feels like he's accomplished something while waiting. Of course, McDonald's bypasses all that by being much faster.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
momijizukamori
no subject
Date: 2005-07-15 04:05 pm (UTC)It's an axiom of customer service that perception matters more than reality. Waiting for a train is perceived as more annoying than multiple stops even if the trip takes the same time (or even longer) solely because you're moving. Given Chicago's unheated and sometimes unsavory platforms, its all the more important to get on a train, ever a slower one, ASAP.
This is the same though behind the Downtown Wendy's restaurants which have people who go down the queue writing your orders on a slip of paper and giving it to you for you to hand to the cashier. The actual time savings is negligible, but the customer feels like he's accomplished something while waiting. Of course, McDonald's bypasses all that by being much faster.