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[Zen_Arcade]

So someone who calls in their appointment, which takes 15 seconds, should get priority over someone who's waited for 45? Okay. Real considerate.

It's not the businesses fault that you would rather wait in a 45 minute line instead of making a 15 second call.

The guy who called in the order not only placed, but probably paid for his order before you even walked into the store. Of course he has priority over you.

A logical person would probably go "Oh man, I could just place my order online next time and not have to deal with it." You on the other hand decided to use the internet to complain about an easily solved problem that would make your life even easier if you took advantage of it.

 

[Leunam]

https://order.chipotle.com/

There you go, OP. Just leveled the playing field for you.

I think I'll order online today and just get in and out at Chipotle.

OP, I hope we don't work near each other.

Go to Chipotle online. You don't pay online; you pay at the register you cut into.

Pretty sure I've paid online before. All I need to do is show the card, if that.

 

[hey_it's_that_dog]

So someone who calls in their appointment, which takes 15 seconds, should get priority over someone who's waited for 45? Okay. Real considerate.

Learn to use a phone, dude. There's an arms race going on and you're losing because of your staunch, senseless dedication to standing around like an asshole. If there's a way to get served faster and on a schedule, it's better for everyone. Use it.

 

[Sophia]

Looking forward to seeing this trend continuing in other businesses. "Hey, look, we don't have to stand in line to get on that roller coaster, we'll just call in ahead and walk to the front!"

This "trend" has been around for 20 years or more. Those who are considerate of business are actually more valuable customers. They haven't wasted everyone's time.

 

[bagandscalpel]

I have found the answer to OP's problem. It is a time machine.

With it, he will be able to travel to the future to enter establishments right before other people's reservations.

Or he could simply go to wherever he needs to be right at opening time- guaranteed no reservations then.

 

[TasTokyo]

Because as someone in the customer-service industry, you have a sense of obligation to the customers that have been diligently waiting for your service; to the customers that have invested their precious time to put money into your pocket. They take priority if you have any sense of consideration.

The customer who phones in is putting money in your pocket. Not only that but they have been more considerate to you. They have taken the time to phone ahead and let you know when you will have business. They have also been waiting, just instead of waiting in your establishment they are doing something else.

I honestly don't believe you worked in customer service. As your idea would mean a shop makes an agreement to an appointment with a customer. Then knowingly breaks that appointment because someone else walked in a few minutes earlier. You would 100% lose the customer who phoned in and it would be dreadful customer service.

Whereas the customer who randomly walks in you just explain to them that they can make a convenient and time saving appointment in the future.

 

[Nemesis_]

This sounds like a setup to a Seinfeld episode where George gets pissed that he has to wait.

Hearing all of these pitches for modern Seinfeld episodes makes me so sad

 

[cyberheater]

FastPass is free.

Not in Legoland it's not.

 

[Tathanen]

Looking forward to seeing this trend continuing in other businesses. "Hey, look, we don't have to stand in line to get on that roller coaster, we'll just call in ahead and walk to the front!"

Are you 80 years old? This is not a "trend," this is how the world has functioned for a very long time. It is pretty bizarre to me that you are apparently only now interacting with it.

 

[BertramCooper]

People have been getting appointments for haircuts for decades, if not centuries. In fact, walk-in salons/barbershops are arguably a much more recent trend.

If you want the same person cutting your hair every time, as I do, you get an appointment. Otherwise there's a good chance they're not going to be there when you randomly show up.

 

[shanshan310]

In the case of Barbershops and Beauty salons here, most of them actually specify out right if they're first come first serve or not. The one I go to is, but another one specifically isn't.

lol, mine has a 2 - 6 week wait. It's insanely popular. I'd love to see someone walk in and try to cut in line in front of the people who called up and waited for 6 weeks.

 

[The Horror the horror]

I understand preferring this for aesthetic reasons or whatever, but you understand that what you're advocating is ridiculously inefficient, right? The ability to queue up virtually, without having to drop everything else and stand around for 30 minutes, avoids wasting 30 minutes of someone's time. If everyone who called in had instead just arrived at the barbershop 45 minutes before they would otherwise have set their appointment for, everyone would be waiting 45 minutes instead of just you. Some people would be waiting even longer because appointments allow people to avoid high-density times.

I understand, but in the case of hair cut appointments, it isn't often that the appointee arrives on time, so there's the issue of dead time to consider. For a busy babershop, how is cash-flow being marginalized when you eliminate appointments altogether? It's not, because you still have a steady stream of customers waiting for you.

 

[Fudgepuppy]

So someone who calls in their appointment, which takes 15 seconds, should get priority over someone who's waited for 45? Okay. Real considerate.

It is like that so more people start making appointments, which is a much more effective use of time for everybody.

 

[Zen_Arcade]

People have been getting appointments for haircuts for decades, if not centuries. In fact, walk-in salons/barbershops are arguably a much more recent trend.

If you want the same person cutting your hair every time, as I do, you get an appointment. Otherwise there's a good chance they're not going to be there when you randomly show up.

I think the only time I've ever done a walk in haircut is when my previous shop closed down and I had to look for a new one.

 

[Sophia]

lol, mine has a 2 - 6 week wait. It's insanely popular. I'd love to see someone walk in and try to cut in line in front of the people who called up and waited for 6 weeks.

Mine doesn't have that long of a wait (it's a local town of 10,000 people), but you will be at the mercy of a 30 minute wait, and you may be turned away at the door if they're too busy to serve you.

I understand, but in the case of hair cut appointments, it isn't often that the appointee arrives on time, so there's the issue of dead time to consider. For a busy babershop, how is cash-flow being marginalized when you eliminate appointments altogether? It's not, because you still have a steady stream of customers waiting for you.

Most appointees arrive on time because they understand they could lose their appointment if they don't. =p

 

[hey_it's_that_dog]

I understand, but in the case of hair cut appointments, it isn't often that the appointee arrives on time, so there's the issue of dead time to consider. For a busy babershop, how is cash-flow being marginalized when you eliminate appointments altogether? It's not, because you still have a steady stream of customers waiting for you.

Says who? The empirical data on this question is crucial to your point about optimization and you can't just make assertions about it from your ass.

 

[Simplet]

So someone who calls in their appointment, which takes 15 seconds, should get priority over someone who's waited for 45? Okay. Real considerate.

I think the real question here is who the fuck is dumb enough to wait 45 minutes for something he knows he could get instantly if he took 15 seconds to call beforehand?

 

[ElFly]

It's first COME, first SERVE. You're not coming and you're not there, why should you cut in front of someone who is?

They ordered first. Period.

Why would people who order online have to come to the store, pay, and only then have their meal be prepared. That's inefficient.

 

[Leunam]

I think the real question here is who the fuck is dumb enough to wait 45 minutes for something he knows he could get instantly if he took 15 seconds to call beforehand?

People who don't value their time.

 

[iammeiam]

Barber or stylist loyalty is a huge aspect of the hair cutting industry that is absent in most other customer service industries. People often make appointments not just because they want their hair cut, but because they want it cut by a specific person and will book time in advance to make sure they get that person. The relationship benefits the stylist or barber, and the owner, by promoting personal loyalty and increasing the likelihood of a repeat customer vs John Doe off the street who doesn't really care who cuts his hair. John Doe may hop from shop to shop based on coupons.

A lot of barber shops and haircutting places obsess over customer retention numbers, and will grade stylists based on their individual retention numbers. Promoting the personal relationship via appointments is a pretty key part of the business model.

 

[hey_it's_that_dog]

As far as the Chipotle example goes, I would certainly agree that running the online orders in parallel with the in-store orders would be more efficient. If they are interrupting the flow of in-person service, then that's not an ideal implementation of the system.

In other words, people picking up online stuff should go to a different part of the counter and be served by a dedicated employee handling those orders. Maybe online orders haven't reached a critical mass to allow that sort of dedicated position and that's why it is the way it is. I dunno.

 

[storybook77]

I get more upset at the people who walk in to places like Subway, Chiptotle, etc, with a list of orders for all of their coworkers and paying them all separately.

Those are the people who SHOULD be calling in their orders.

 

[Blearth]

The worst are people who expect to cut in line because they're double-parked.

Why should you get to cut ahead just because you were too lazy to find a spot?

 

[Fudgepuppy]

I think the real question here is who the fuck is dumb enough to wait 45 minutes for something he knows he could get instantly if he took 15 seconds to call beforehand?

Fucking nailed it.

 

[Dysun]

The joy of going to one of those expensive theme park. Waiting over a hour in a queue to get on a ride and having a family who have paid stupid amounts of money for a fast queuing system waltz straight to the top of the line.

Man that is fun.

I wont even go without the pass. Not interested in spending half my time standing in lines

 

[AdventureRacing]

Looking forward to seeing this trend continuing in other businesses. "Hey, look, we don't have to stand in line to get on that roller coaster, we'll just call in ahead and walk to the front!"

That's a completely different situation which is much harder to prepare for ahead of time (although apparently that's changing as well).

What benefit is their to what your proposing? Being able to book ahead of time stops the customer from waiting for huge amounts of time and allows the business to be more organised.

Perhaps you should stop being so stubborn and just make an appointment instead of wasting 45 minutes of your time.

 

[ultron87]

I've got some bad news for you.

I fully support Fastpass, but I do find the thing that other theme parks have started doing where you can just pay extra to skip lines all day to be pretty gross.

 

[BertramCooper]

I understand, but in the case of hair cut appointments, it isn't often that the appointee arrives on time, so there's the issue of dead time to consider. For a busy babershop, how is cash-flow being marginalized when you eliminate appointments altogether? It's not, because you still have a steady stream of customers waiting for you.

Your approach only works if every single person treats a haircut as a commodity, with no value to be found in establishing a consistent style and a good relationship with a barber or stylist.

Luckily, there are plenty of places that cater to such people. I suggest you find one.

 

[PogiJones]

Barber or stylist loyalty is a huge aspect of the hair cutting industry that is absent in most other customer service industries. People often make appointments not just because they want their hair cut, but because they want it cut by a specific person and will book time in advance to make sure they get that person. The relationship benefits the stylist or barber, and the owner, by promoting personal loyalty and increasing the likelihood of a repeat customer vs John Doe off the street who doesn't really care who cuts his hair. John Doe may hop from shop to shop based on coupons.

A lot of barber shops and haircutting places obsess over customer retention numbers, and will grade stylists based on their individual retention numbers. Promoting the personal relationship via appointments is a pretty key part of the business model.

Just reading the first sentence, I totally thought this was going to be a "shot themselves in the foot... (I'm an expert)" parody post. I'm a bit disappointed.

 

[NaturalHigh]

The joy of going to one of those expensive theme park. Waiting over a hour in a queue to get on a ride and having a family who have paid stupid amounts of money for a fast queuing system waltz straight to the top of the line.

Man that is fun.

this.

pisses me off to no end.

 

[thecouncil]

I don't understand the barber complaint. You're suggesting that a person walks in and sits there waiting for what could be hours instead of setting an appointment? Just because you didn't feel like setting an appointment? Time is worth something, you know.

edit: You really need to start calling ahead to places, OP.

 

[NekoFever]

First come, first served.

 

[The Horror the horror]

Says who? The empirical data on this question is crucial to your point about optimization and you can't just make assertions about it from your ass.

Exact time, not some 15 minute time window.

So Appointee A makes an appointment for 4:00 P.M.

Customers are waiting in chairs to have their hair cut.

It is now 4:05 P.M., still well inside the appointee's reservation window.

Customers are waiting in chairs to have their hair cut.

4:10 PM, the appointee finally arrives.

In that ONE example, 10 minutes were lost. Stretch this trend through the course of the day and with multiple appointments of a day, and you get a lot dead time. Dead time that wouldn't exist if you just go through one waiting customer to the next waiting customer to the next waiting customer.

 

[Adam Scott Aukerman]

Seriously don't understand why someone needing a quick haircut wouldn't call ahead. That's the whole point of it, we all know the score.

In that ONE example, 10 minutes were lost. Stretch this trend through the course of the day and with multiple appointments of a day, and you get a lot dead time. Dead time that wouldn't exist if you just go through one waiting customer to the next waiting customer to the next waiting customer.

And if they stopped reservations, how many customers do you think they'd lose to rival businesses who still take them? Clearly the reservation system is good business for them, that's why everyone does it.

 

[Sophia]

Exact time, not some 15 minute time window.

So Appointee A makes an appointment for 4:00 P.M.

Customers are waiting in chairs to have their hair cut.

It is now 4:05 P.M., still well inside the appointee's reservation window.

Customers are waiting in chairs to have their hair cut.

4:10 PM, the appointee finally arrives.

In that ONE example, 10 minutes were lost. Stretch this trend through the course of the day and with multiple appointments of a day, and you get a lot dead time. Dead time that wouldn't exist if you just go through one waiting customer to the next waiting customer to the next waiting customer.

That's not how appointments at barbershops actually work. In reality the appointee needs to be there by 4:00 PM. Customers in the chair would only be sitting about five minutes before being served, which is not unreasonable for busy hours.

 

[Jest Chillin]

As far as the Chipotle example goes, I would certainly agree that running the online orders in parallel with the in-store orders would be more efficient. If they are interrupting the flow of in-person service, then that's not an ideal implementation of the system.

In other words, people picking up online stuff should go to a different part of the counter and be served by a dedicated employee handling those orders. Maybe online orders haven't reached a critical mass to allow that sort of dedicated position and that's why it is the way it is. I dunno.

I don't think I've ever seen a food business that has a separate kitchen/food prep line for online orders. One can make a case for a seperate register, but in Chipotle, you choose your food first and pay after, making a second register unnecessary since the payment has to wait for the food to be prepped first.

What Chipotle and many places like it are doing is treating the Online orders the same way that Fast Food restaurants treat Drive Thru. The Online/Drive Thru orders take priority because the customer is presumed to be in more of a hurry than the walk in customer.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

I think the real question here is who the fuck is dumb enough to wait 45 minutes for something he knows he could get instantly if he took 15 seconds to call beforehand?

OP just got served and he didnt have to wait 45 minutes for it.

 

[The Horror the horror]

That's not how appointments at barbershops actually work. In reality the appointee needs to be there by 4:00 PM. Customers in the chair would only be sitting about five minutes before being served, which is not unreasonable for busy hours.

5 minutes isn't acceptable, either. Businesses like these don't need appointments. I can understand how it's applicable and even necessary for other business models, but for those where you get a steady stream of in-house customers, customers who've actually waited, it's BS.

 

[hey_it's_that_dog]

Exact time, not some 15 minute time window.

So Appointee A makes an appointment for 4:00 P.M.

Customers are waiting in chairs to have their hair cut.

It is now 4:05 P.M., still well inside the appointee's reservation window.

Customers are waiting in chairs to have their hair cut.

4:10 PM, the appointee finally arrives.

In that ONE example, 10 minutes were lost. Stretch this trend through the course of the day and with multiple appointments of a day, and you get a lot dead time. Dead time that wouldn't exist if you just go through one waiting customer to the next waiting customer to the next waiting customer.

Yes, if we take the number you made up and extrapolate, the theoretical losses are astronomical! In reality, every person with an appointment will be late or early by varying amounts. The management/employees will need to use their best judgement as to whether they have an intolerable amount of dead time, and whether the cost of that dead time exceeds the cost of NOT using appointments.

If you're proposing that the superior alternative is to eliminate appointments from barbershops entirely, many posts have already been made soundly refuting that idea.

 

[Zen_Arcade]

5 minutes isn't acceptable, either. Businesses like these don't need appointments. I can understand how it's applicable and even necessary for other business models, but for those where you get a steady stream of in-house customers, it's BS.

Oh man. You know how you could completely avoid having to wait around for 5 minutes if it's so important to you?

Spoiler

By calling ahead and making an appointment.

 

[Iksenpets]

Dude... What? I, like, don't understand how anyone could think this. Some people are busy and need to carefully schedule their haircuts or whatever with all the other shit they have going on. Other times, your whole Saturday opens up and you might as well go in and get that haircut you've been needing, and you don't mind waiting because you're just doing this on the spur of the moment because you have the time. The options are there for both, you just seen committed to choosing the wrong option for you.

 

[King326]

Next time you be that online/phone in person.

 

[ultron87]

5 minutes isn't acceptable, either. Businesses like these don't need appointments. I can understand how it's applicable and even necessary for other business models, but for those where you get a steady stream of in-house customers, customers who've actually waited, it's BS.

People will stop going to the "everyone has to wait 25 minutes" Barbershop because they can call ahead and not wait at a different one.

 

[BHZ Mayor]

The Online/Drive Thru orders take priority because the customer is presumed to be in more of a hurry than the walk in customer.

Funny thing about drive thru is that in my experience, a lot of times going in is faster than the drive thru. Mainly because so many people choose the drive thru over going in.

 

[Sophia]

5 minutes isn't acceptable, either. Businesses like these don't need appointments. I can understand how it's applicable and even necessary for other business models, but for those where you get a steady stream of in-house customers, it's BS.

Uh, I hate to break it to you, but hair styling isn't exactly a short deal. Some customers are in there for 20, 30 minutes or more. Quite a few of those customers have preferences for who does the styling because of the relationships between the customer and the stylist.

What you are asking for would destroy the business just to accommodate your short-sightedness. That is simply unacceptable.

Do you go to restaurants with parties of eight or more and not reserve a table beforehand too?

 

[SneakyStephan]

It's first COME, first SERVE. You're not coming and you're not there, why should you cut in front of someone who is?

Reservations are so barbershops/restuarants etc can manage staff/prepare and be efficient, it's not a new concept.

If everyone called ahead to see when they could fit in then noone would have to wait at the barbershop, amazing, init.

 

[okno]

This kind of stuff used to bother me all the time. Now I speak up for myself and am assertive when anything like the barbershop incident happens. The line cutting thing is still iffy; I understand how it works, but it's still kind of shitty. However, it's really only a problem if you yourself don't ever use it. I use it all the time, and love it, but I still grumble under my breath if I'm "that guy" standing in line. Living in NYC hardens you to this kind of stuff very, very quickly.

 

[hey_it's_that_dog]

Funny thing about drive thru is that in my experience, a lot of times going in is faster than the drive thru. Mainly because so many people choose the drive thru over going in.

For sure. A long enough line at the drive through is not going to be faster than counter service, even if each individual transaction is prioritized.

 

[BertramCooper]

5 minutes isn't acceptable, either. Businesses like these don't need appointments. I can understand how it's applicable and even necessary for other business models, but for those where you get a steady stream of in-house customers, customers who've actually waited, it's BS.

As I stated earlier, there are plenty of shitty hair places that cater to people like you. So go to one of them and stop bitching.

 

[AnotherNils]

Order from your phone the second you set foot in Chipotles. Now you're combined both experiences.