I observed some of the worst service I've seen in a grocery store in quite some time in the Sparks SWY tonight. Mid evening and one checkstand open plus self check. That one checkstand steadily had a line of 3-4 customers with no additional help called. Self check was not being monitored. Whenever a self check lane needed approval, the courtesy clerk was running over and clearing whatever the issue was at the monitor station and then running back to the open checkstand to get back to bagging.

If it was a problem the courtesy clerk could not handle, the issue was handled in this manner: courtesy clerk knocked on the office window. The office clerk then came out of the office and handled whatever the issue was.

What kind of mickey mouse operation is this? I expect better out of Safeway. This is the type of service I expect to see at Save Mart. Oh wait, Save Mart was my next stop.. and they actually had someone watching their self checkouts...