Bad Customer Service To The Max

[sooth]

I dropped into my local Safeway this afternoon for a few things and witnessed one of the worst examples of bad customer service ever, so I just had to share.
Ahead of me was an elderly gentleman,he put his shopping on the moving belt and waited to be served.
The girl at the register was talking with another male staff member who I assumed was waiting for her shift to end and his to begin.
They chatted away as if no one was around and no one else mattered. She scanned the elderly gentleman's items without barely looking at him and then asked him to swipe his card, which he did and then put it away. She then abruptly told him he had to leave the card in the machine because it was a credit card. The card was then declined because it had been removed which the customer tried to explain, but all she did , in between continuing her conversation with her work colleague, was call out that the card was declined. He quietly took out another card and preceded to pay.
By this time I was getting quite annoyed with her rude attitude and gave her a piece of my mind.
I told her that I was disgusted at her treatment of this customer and that she should have more respect for her elders. I included the male staff member as well. She quickly took off and left her colleague with us. The lady next to me agreed and also gave the Safeway staff her disappointment at their shocking exhibition of bad customer service and told them that it wasn't the first time she had witnessed something similar in their store.
The elderly gentleman was very grateful for us speaking out and I helped him put his bags into his trolley and wished him a Merry Christmas .
I told the male staff member that he should have had the courtesy to have helped him with his bags and he had the nerve to say that its not possible to have one person serving and another helping with the bags.
It took me one minute to help an elderly gentleman who obviously needed assistance and was very appreciative , and I doubt it would have taken Safeway staff any longer than that and it certainly wouldn't have been too difficult to smile and show some understanding and respect for our elderly...