Is customer service getting worse due to COVID or is it just getting worse?

I do have empathy for those in business. Practically everything is up and operating. A lot of places are not operating at full staff as some staff did not want to come back after being shut down. Some did not come back because they are receiving enough aid that they do not want to work. It cannot be easy with the restrictions.

Three occasions in the past week when I went out to a pub I found the the food was excellent. The wait staff were another matter. Service is slow and orders have been wrong or mixed up or billed incorrectly. I recently waited fifteen minutes for a bill after asking to pay. Stuff happens and I overlook a lot of stuff. No tip though.

There are some places that are worse and seem to be using the COVID situation to not give you any customer service. If I have to do anything at my bank they want be to check in by scanning a code with my cell phone and giving them my phone number and name. I refuse. They do not need all of this for me to stand in line. The standing in line thing is ridiculous as the last few times I have done it at my bank there have been three tellers on, each serving a customer, with no one else in the bank yet we are forced to wait outside.

My cell phone company is not making my day. I want to make a change to my cell plan. I tried to do it at the store that is exclusive to my phone company. I get there and the door is locked. I have to phone the number posted on the door to tell them I am there. Which I grudgingly do. The sign on the door says only two people allowed in the store at one time. At this time there was only one. They will not let me in, they say I can phone my provider an have them do it or change it on the internet. I said I do not want to do it that way, I came here for you to do it. I was again directed to use the internet or call my cell phone provider and do it over the phone. I hung up on them.

If I call my cell phone carrier I get a very user unfriendly menu that tries to get me to do everything via menu options. I want a live person. Every time I annoy the voice menu enough times to get transferred to a real person I am told the hold time is over an hour. Unless of course I give them the option of phoning me when they are free. This time I opted for that. When someone bothered to phone me back I got someone who I could not understand. So I hung up.

 With time I am hoping things will get better.