Does Anyone Still Care About Customer Service?

Something about leaving the house at 5:30 AM on a SUNDAY to travel for WORK turns me into a great big crabby-pants, so I found even more things to be irritated about during my travels today. Since I was flying out of LAX and stuck on American again, it really wasn't a challenge. But by the end of my travels to Tampa, FL today, the biggest thing that stuck out to me was the complete lack of customer service I encountered at every turn.

• LAX - You are probably the most inefficient airport in the known universe. Let's put the Disney folks to be in charge of this place for a while and you might learn how to move people. And if you're going to have 3 or 4 entrances to security along the same aisle, make sure the people directing traffic are polite and clear in what they are communicating. Don't subject me to growling rent-a-cops at 6 AM because you told me to go the wrong way.

• American Airlines - Why did it cost me $5 more to check the same bag at LAX I checked in Burbank 2 weeks ago? Same airline, different price...really! And why are you folks incapable of getting a plane to leave a Los Angeles area airport on time? We were 30 minutes late taking off again, which meant another sprint through DFW to a flight that WAS leaving on time. In the future, I would recommend you people DO NOT sell a westbound connection through DFW any shorter than 90 minutes. That way, if you maintain your 30 minute late pattern of behavior, your passenger can still comfortably make their connection AND grab lunch.

• Starbucks, I love you, but why must you refuse to stock the peppermint syrup I need in my mocha at airport locations? As a fan of the Starbucks brand, I think I should be able to order the same drink anywhere in the Starbucks universe, damnit! And where is my reduced fat turkey bacon breakfast sandwich? And while I know tax and facilities issues at airports are more complex than normal retail, but how does a grande mocha + a turkey sandwich = $13.91. Just saying....

• Hertz - You have a lot full of new vehicles and you rent me another one with damage! Then there are still no lot attendants to be found, so I have to go back to the customer counter to get a signature on the vehicle condition form so I won't be treated like a criminal when I bring the car back. This has happened on every trip I've made to Tampa this year! Clearly my Hertz Gold Club status means nothing, and your entire company has given up the idea of making anything easy. Either that or you've flagged my name in your computer and approach every interaction with the goal of pissing me off as completely as possible.

• Crowne Plaza Hotel - No working treadmills, only 1 of 2 exercise bikes working, and the oldest elliptical machine on earth leave me Stairmaster as my only cardio choice? You call this a gym? And none of the direct line buttons for room service or the front desk worked on my phone, which led to a wild goose chase through the hotel guide and in-room dining menu to find the CORRECT room service extension (since there are two different numbers listed).

If I didn't have so much of my personal time and energy expended on this nonsense, I'd probably write letters to the CEO' s of every one of these companies. Then again, I've pretty much convinced myself none of them care about their customers. Why should I care about them?