Hell hath no fury like a woman's ....

Eleanor Roosevelt once said that no one can make you feel inferior without your consent. Nothing was further from the truth late one Friday afternoon... Zoom Zoom Zoom ...

I was really looking forward to test driving the new Mazda 3 after having done some research on it. Off I went to the closest Mazda showroom and since it was nearly closing time on a Friday afternoon, I had expected some old fashioned customer service and had imagined someone greeting me and taking me through the various models prior to offering me the test drive.

Boy... was I in for a rude shock... firstly, everyone seemed very busy at their respective desks. I stood there for a while probably close to 5 minutes before someone came up to see if I had been attended to. I then advised him that I would like a test drive. The sales person asked if I had made an appointment (and, of course... I had not as it was an impromptu visit). He then said that he will check to see who is available and came back to say that they are all very busy since it's Friday and people are picking up their cars. Suggested that it is best I come back over the weekend. I didn't realise that one had to make an appointment for a test drive these days!! A lot of car buying protocols must have changed over the past 5 years.

Humph... talk about a lack of customer service. Not to mention that they must be defying the global financial crisis as they were so busy with their sales...!

I really felt like Julia Roberts in the scene from Pretty Woman where she went in to the shops in Rodeo Drive hoping to buy some clothes but did not get any service and was looked down and frowned upon.

Could it be that being a woman, I am seen as being incapable of making my own decisions about buying a car, hence the lack of interest or .... the shortfall in the customer service in this particular showroom was due to their brisk trade? Or...???

Whatever it was, I thought I'd give them another go and decided to take my chance at a test drive a few days later. The sales person took me round the block and had the gall to ask if the test drive was long enough, to which I answered that it was too short. He then offered for me to go another block but said that I can't go far as the car was low on petrol... arrghh!!

I am in the customer service industry and to be honest, in times like these, I would have thought that customer service would be more pertinent than before but alas, this was not the case.

Downcasted but not defeated, I'd like to go back to this particular showroom and tell them..."BIG MISTAKE!!"... but ... in going through the motions... will I be made to feel inferior again???