Is customer service a thing of the past?

My parents brought me up properly. I was taught to respect my elders, be polite at all times, say "yes sir, yes ma'am," and always work hard.

I'm happy to say my husband and I have brought our son up the same way. He works in customer service and I constantly run into people who have met up with him in a local store, and they always have glowing things to say about his smile, his polite greeting and his eagerness to assist them.

Why then is it so hard to find good customer service anymore? Most of us baby boomers were raised by parents from the same generation and we were brought up better.

Not only have I experienced this in a business setting, but also with people on the street, who don't respect their elders, feel it's OK to be rude and impolite and easily put their faux pas out of their mind.

It's as if we live in a "me" generation. Customer service is spotty in many businesses and rudeness is the norm everywhere.

Last Saturday, my husband and I drove 45 miles into the city to look for some patio furniture for our new sunroom. We knew it was the end of the season, and pickings might be slim, but we were hoping for a good deal.

First stop was Lowe's, where we prefer to shop and where we've spent thousands this year alone in the renovation of my sister's home. We found several lovely sets, but no employees anywhere to help us. After spending 30 minutes in the department, we moved on to the other departments on our list. We went to paint, flooring and lighting. Only in lighting could we find someone to help us – same guy as the last time and always helpful. Painting had two people on duty and about a dozen waiting to be helped ... a busy Saturday with only two people on duty. That is another problem – businesses cutting back so their bottom line grows larger, employees worked harder and customers left hanging.

We learned a long time ago never to go to Lowe's on a Sunday – it's a skeleton crew at best.

It's as if our time doesn't matter. And don't get me started on the waiting time at a doctor's office ...

We left Lowe's armed with some brochures to study since we couldn't get an employee to help us and headed to Sears where we thought we might find the patio set we wanted.

Sears did have a beautiful set, which was on sale, and very comfortable too. It was located right next to the cash register with about three-to-four salesmen wandering around close by.

I had to ask for assistance. All of the salesmen avoided eye contact with me, and my husband, disgusted and probably fearing my explosion toward the salesmen, headed over to look at tools.

The sign on the display offered "free delivery" – just what we needed. I finally had to ask for help and the salesman went out back to see if they had the set in stock. When he returned, the answer was no. He started to walk away and I asked about the floor model and would they knock a little off the sales price since the cushions were dirty.

"Yes," he said. "I'll give you an additional 10 percent off, but it can't be delivered."

"Why," I asked. "The sign says 'free delivery,' in fact, the signs on all the patio displays say 'free delivery." I must assert that I never exploded, was never rude myself and spoke in a normal voice.

The man informed me that the one I wanted was a floor model only, not in a box and therefore didn't qualify for delivery. When I inquired about the other sets, he said they couldn't be delivered either because they were end of season items, no longer being made and not eligible for delivery. He refused to address the fact that all were signed with a free delivery promise.

We left the store rather disgusted. This was the second time this year we'd had bad service in the same area of the store, however, we had purchased a mattress in April and received fabulous service from our salesman that time.

We came home, searched the Internet, called Lowe's this time, and after nearly an hour of trying to find the set I wanted, the wonderful sales person was unable to help – but he bent over backwards trying to assist me. In the end, we found a decent set through Walmart and were able to get it delivered.

After 24 hours of deliberating on this, I googled the Sears board of directors and was rewarded with not only the list of directors, but their email addresses too. I sent a lengthy email to the second in command and was astounded to receive a quick reply this morning.

My case was assigned to someone lower on the totem pole, which was fine of course – and this man handled my complaint with courtesy and professionalism. Now the rude, ignorant salesmen will have to answer to their store director, district manager and regional manager as the poor service in the store is addressed.

Do I want someone fired? Absolutely not. All of those men were well into their 30s and 40s and probably had families to support. I just want better customer service for myself and the next customer in line.

So, why were they so rude?

It seems to be the norm today.

Think of how it is when you are in the checkout line at the supermarket? I spent well over 20 years in management in the grocery industry. What I endure today would never have been permitted back in the '80s and '90s.

Cashiers and baggers are forever chatting about the latest party they have going on; they don't greet you, they frankly could care less that you are the reason they have a job. They just want to ring up or bag all the orders they can until their shift is over.

We have a chain out here in Missouri called "HyVee" that has very good service and I tend to shop there just to get that good service. I rarely shop at the small town supermarket where I live – the employees there don't smile, don't greet you and worse – won't even look at you. Their worse offense? They won't tell you what you owe, you have to look at the screen to determine what to pay.

In this day and age when supermarkets, big box stores and Internet retail outlets are a dime a dozen, it behooves any business to offer superb customer service. After all, the customer can simply walk away, never file a complaint and tell all their friends not to shop at the errant establishment. This goes for all services, from local roofers and electricians to big name services.

Lost business can cause a store to fail.

We've run the gamut this year from hiring local professionals to work on our home to hiring the big pros. Neither trumped the other, but I have to say that our roofer was the best of the lot. He was here early every day, never left the premises, even for lunch, and stuck with his original estimate. His work was top notch and that's why he does most of the roofs in our town. I'd never hire anyone else.

Our electrician's ability to show up when promised and complete work as promised was so disappointing that after four years of using him, we have to look elsewhere for a good electrical man. A single father who owns his own business, I can't wrap my head around the fact that he is so unreliable. How does he make ends meet?

With prices high, gasoline costs climbing, and our time quite valuable, we deserve good customer service. We deserve to be treated like our parents taught us, "to do unto others as we would have them do unto you."

Don't hesitate to take your business elsewhere and don't hesitate to file a complaint.

Over the years, my strategy of doing an Internet search for upper management at assorted corporations to file a complaint has worked every time – from credit card companies, to big box stores to mobile phone carriers, I always get results and I am always polite.

I'm not after freebies, I'm after better service and for a company to honor what they advertise.

It is after all, only common courtesy.