Subway

This Subway has been consistently disappointing. Today, I decided to run by Subway to grab subs for my coworker and I, as I had to quickly get back to work. I came in around 11:45AM. They were super friendly and efficient… Until it came time to pay. I paid for one sub in cash and the other was to be credit. Sadly, their credit card machine wasn’t connecting to the server. I stood their for 10 minutes of them trying to get the machine to work. Nothing. Then, they finally decided to call the manager who advised them to keep trying the machine and if it doesn’t work then tell them that it’s cash only and said she was on her way. They kept trying and by this time there was quite a line in the store running back all the way to the door. The lady next to me was waiting to pay, too, with an annoyed look on her face. She then asked me, «So, does this mean it’s cash only?» I gave a questioning look to the cashier who said nothing, so I replied to her saying, «I guess so.» The lady shook her head angrily and walked out leaving her sandwich there. I then asked if there was an ATM nearby and the cashier — poor guy was really struggling to remain positive — apologized and said he wasn’t familiar with the area. I then asked them to hold on to my sub while I ran to get some cash. (On my way to the car, I saw the other angry customer going into Crazy Bowls & Wraps next door.) I found an ATM at the hotel across the street and then came back. By this time, there was a much heavier line with lots of agitated faces. I had to wait by the cashier for 3 other customers to come and go and finally asked her if I could pay for my sub now and pointed to the sub sitting in the corner. She said, «Oh, yeah. Okay, what did you get?» I ended up paying for the sub in cash and as I turned and left, the manager was finally walking in the door. This whole experience took me nearly 45 minutes! The entire purpose of me going to Subway was to make a QUICK stop to grab lunch and take it back to work. So much for that theory. While I understand that things happen that are out of anyone’s control, the sad thing here is that there was no attempt at recovery. The manager did not offer an apology to anyone. There was no offer to compensate for the negative experience in any way, shape, or form. The cashier and line worker were really nice and seemed pretty frustrated by this whole thing and I don’t blame them. I blame the manager who not only did not advise her employees to save the transaction and customer experience, but also clearly does not see the point of attempting to compensate and have a returning customer rather than saying, «Cash only now. Too bad, so sad. Figure it out and pay.» Would it have been so difficult to offer an apology and maybe a free drink or cookie or coupon for future visit?