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When I open up my own photo lab, I am NOT providing passport photos. I don't care how profitable they are; passport customers are by far the rudest, most impatient people on the face of the earth.
When I went to get my ID picture taken for my ATF permit, I devoted an entire afternoon to the process. It only took an hour (back then), so I had plenty of time left over to get the rest of my stuff taken care of.
Compare that to today's passport photo customer, who apparently doesn't realize that he needs a photo until he shows up 5 minutes before his appointment at the consulate, and so he needs his photo *NOW* or else he'll need to reschedule (my favorite saying is now, "A lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part").
I got a customer the other day who needed his passport photo five minutes ago. You know the type. He kept demanding to know when it would be finished, looking over my shoulder (or at least as well as he could from all the way over at the counter), reminding me that he was in a hurry, etc.
Now, normally I'm pretty good about getting passport photos done in 5 minutes or less -- when there are no other orders and the place is relatively quiet. On a busy Tuesday -- when we have no mid-shift, so it's me alone in the lab from 7 AM till around 2 PM, and during that time I take in and finish 80-100 orders -- 15 minutes is a pretty optimistic estimate.
I think you get the idea. This guy's being a real jerk, and I'm not particularly happy to help him. But the kicker comes when I sell him the finished pictures. He gives me a look and says, "I just want you to know that I had made plans around this, and you have ruined my day."
And all I could think was, "Hey, thanks! That actually makes me feel a little better!" Sometimes, customers know exactly what to say
Unfortunately, that's where the fun ended. He then complained to a manager that he had to wait 15 minutes for a passport photo (which is what it says on our sign, dumb@$$!), but you know how managers are. Especially at the store I'm working at now. We get an insane amount of business, and about 40-60% of it is tourists that we'll never see ever again. Yet the managers here are too afraid to stand up to customers.
When I went to get my ID picture taken for my ATF permit, I devoted an entire afternoon to the process. It only took an hour (back then), so I had plenty of time left over to get the rest of my stuff taken care of.
Compare that to today's passport photo customer, who apparently doesn't realize that he needs a photo until he shows up 5 minutes before his appointment at the consulate, and so he needs his photo *NOW* or else he'll need to reschedule (my favorite saying is now, "A lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part").
I got a customer the other day who needed his passport photo five minutes ago. You know the type. He kept demanding to know when it would be finished, looking over my shoulder (or at least as well as he could from all the way over at the counter), reminding me that he was in a hurry, etc.
Now, normally I'm pretty good about getting passport photos done in 5 minutes or less -- when there are no other orders and the place is relatively quiet. On a busy Tuesday -- when we have no mid-shift, so it's me alone in the lab from 7 AM till around 2 PM, and during that time I take in and finish 80-100 orders -- 15 minutes is a pretty optimistic estimate.
I think you get the idea. This guy's being a real jerk, and I'm not particularly happy to help him. But the kicker comes when I sell him the finished pictures. He gives me a look and says, "I just want you to know that I had made plans around this, and you have ruined my day."
And all I could think was, "Hey, thanks! That actually makes me feel a little better!" Sometimes, customers know exactly what to say
Unfortunately, that's where the fun ended. He then complained to a manager that he had to wait 15 minutes for a passport photo (which is what it says on our sign, dumb@$$!), but you know how managers are. Especially at the store I'm working at now. We get an insane amount of business, and about 40-60% of it is tourists that we'll never see ever again. Yet the managers here are too afraid to stand up to customers.
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