Taco Bell: You May Have Lost My Business

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It's almost like some businesses are trying very hard to entirely ruin the customer experience and throw customer service right out with the bath water on purpose, and it really makes no sense to me. From a business perspective, it should make no sense to the businesses either. While my wife and I were tooling around running errands with my mom along with us, we decided to make a quick pit stop for lunch at Taco Bell. We ordered from the kiosk, because Taco Bell no longer takes your order in person. You walk in, order from the kiosk and the order is sent to the back to prepare your food. We were there chatting a bit and finally a girl approached the counter and asked, "Can we help you with something?" "No," I said. "We're just waiting for our order." She had this perplexed look. "What order?" she asked, literally asking. "The one I put in through the kiosk." A continued perplexed stare. "What name did you put it under?" "Jim B," told her. "Oh, you didn't pay," she said. I had put my order in on the kiosk and indicated I wanted to pay the bill with cash. "Well no," I said. "I thought you'd bring the food and we'd pay then." But apparently that is not how it works if you order through the kiosk and pay cash. Your order is not sent through. Instead, if you are paying with cash, you must call someone in the back to come forward to let them know you have ordered something and want to pay in cash. Then what's the point of the kiosk and how am I supposed to know this is how it works? I told her I thought the kiosk sent our order back, we'd get our food and settle up. "No," she said flippantly. "That's not how it works. If you don't tell us you ordered something we don't know the order is there if you are paying cash." That's when my demeanor changed. "That's why you have people at the counter taking orders, then there's no question I have ordered something. What's the point of the kiosk if I then have to find someone to tell them I want food? Beyond that, how am I supposed to know this is how it is done?" She pointed to a lit TV board above the counter that said, "If you want to pay with cash, no problem. Just let us know and we'll get your order started." I pointed out that the board that provides this information is above the counter where we no longer can place our orders. "It should be on the kiosk screen." Needless to say, her attitude was extremely rude, and she didn't appreciate my complaint. I was no longer being treated like a paying customer doing business with them. I was being treated like a nobody simply not following the rules they have set as conditions for me to transact business with them. Wwwhhhaaattt??? I am sorry, but this is not how you earn my business and make me feel appreciated. I may be only one guy, but I can tell you this, I won't be eating at Taco Bell again any time soon. This is not how you run a business and certainly not how to treat customers. Whatever happened to a smiling face greeting you at the counter? "Hi, welcome to Taco Bell. What can I get for you?" Now you have a completely sterile environment where I must communicate with an automated process that I still must inform you I have used? This makes no sense.