In a bid to maintain a competitive advantage in the travel industry, Greyhound has attempted to lure customers into the fold with perks like free Wi-Fi (the service is faulty and persistently malfunctions, by the way), special promotions (to destination cities few are interested in realistically pursuing), fare incentives for booking online (reduced rates which amount to a paltry few bucks), and what-have-you.
Unfortunately, Greyhound’s bold-faced efforts to nab a bigger corner on the travel market are thwarted by the rude and insulting conduct of low-life ill-mannered employees who man the company’s stations, a fleet of uncomfortable run-down buses, rip-off storage lockers, acts of racism, and an overall bad attitude (and lousy work ethic) among Managers which ultimately hurts the Greyhound image.
Their motto should be:
"We're Greyhound. We don't have to care!"
For example, whenever travelers need to store a piece of luggage for a few hours in-between travel destinations, they are forced to use “smartecarte” - a locker service that not only physically malfunctions daily (the doors often jam and deny access to the renter) – but also routinely overcharges the customer.
At this juncture, the customer is forced to approach the staff at the Greyhound station for a resolution of the problem, usually with disastrous (and insulting) never-racking results.
For example, one tourist complained that when he approached an employee about a locker which falsely alleged that a payment of $28.00 was due, he was trotted over to a snotty supervisor on duty who proceeded to belittle him for no good reason.
“Sir, you’ll have to wait over there. I’ll get to you,” she barked out in a demeaning fashion.
When the unattractive 300-pounder (with scraggly greasy hair and a ghastly makeup job) finally waddled over at her own pace, she proceeded to give the disgruntled customer a hard time (in spite of the fact he had done no wrong).
“You have to call smartcarte. We have nothing to do with their storage lockers,” she growled at the man, who was understandably taken aback by her gruff behavior.
“I’d like to talk to your superior, then,” he responded politely, once it was evident that the woman lacked any people skills, or even an ounce of the kind of intelligence required to handle the sticky complaint issue.
At first, the impolite woman alleged that she was the only one on duty with the authority to handle the problem.
You know the type!
The woman – “Christina” was her name – was trying to avoid a potential slap on the wrist from her superior in the event the Greyhound "boss" got wind of her inappropriate unprofessional conduct.
In fact, it wasn’t until the customer insisted on speaking to a manager that Christina finally acknowledged that there was a “higher-up” on duty to deal with the issues.
Instead of promptly responding to the customer’s request, though, the combative employee continued with her mean-spirited reprehensible conduct.
“Don’t expect me to jump when you tell me to jump,” she snapped back.
The customer was flabbergasted by her bad manners, but not surprised, no Sir.
After all, you only had to look at the woman to figure out what her problem was.
Fat. Lazy. Uneducated. Racist.
Uh-huh!
“Christina” was a black woman - and the man complaining about the locker glitch - was a middle-aged white male.
It's important to note that when the “manager” finally arrived on the scene, another "black" individual tried to butt in to protect Christina's fat ass.
"I was standing nearby. She wasn't rude at all," he insisted, with a smug look on his face.
Of course, his statement was a total falsehood, hatched up to discredit the "Caucasian" male's account of things.
To add insult to injury, the "manager" jumped on the band-wagon, too.
“Sir, we have nothing to do with those lockers. You have to call smartcarte to sort it out.”
Of course, you know what that meant.
The hapless individual would probably have to deal with endless tape-recorded messages that spewed out on a toll-free 800 line, be put on hold for hours on end, or find himself arguing with another loser (probably worse than “Christina”) with sh** for brains).
Personally, I think the Manager’s excuses – and her reluctance to initially resolve the problem right-off-the-bat without question – were way off-base.
If Greyhound is going to allow smartcarte on the premises to provide a locker service, they have a legal and moral obligation to their customers to help resolve any problems when they arise at a Greyhound station.
Especially when it comes to the retrieval of baggage, the resolution of payments due, etc.
After all, tourists may have connecting flights to catch!
In a worst-case scenario, a customer may have medicine in their bags to down on a schedule - or a wallet inside - which they desperately need for their travel expenses.
The folks at Greyhound are either clueless to the obvious or just don't give a damn.
I say, avoid this company like the plague, folks!
You'd have to be a masochist to travel Greyhound in the final analysis.
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