Just be patient already!

Everyone wants to phone it in...or fax it or email it. With all the ways we have to ask for stuff, look for stuff, and order stuff, the actual walk-in customer is becoming a treasured thing. This person made time in their day, drove around for five to fifteen minutes for parking which they had to pay for, locked everything up and walked in our door. Not the five other doors to furniture stores on the block, but our door. It is my retail duty, yes duty, to give them my full and undivided attention. They've earned it. They are here, and obviously want to buy something. Our phone system sends calls to voicemail when a staff member isn't available. Call my extension, get my voicemail=I'm with someone. You can dial 0 and get to the reception phone, but guess what? More than two customers in the store? You get voicemail again--we're with someone! Yesterday, when I was balancing two someones, the reception phone rang and rang and rang and rang and rang. I excused myself from both customers, and answered the phone, hoping someone had died. "Did you get my email I sent a few minutes ago?"