I hate waiting in line, especially in fast food restaurants. But that is where I found myself Thursday.

As the lunch hour approached, I and other customers piled into one of the small eateries on U.S. 61 North. It took little time for the audible sighs of frustration to surface.

As the line grew to more than 15 customers, one lone employee worked valiantly taking orders from the ever-growing crowd of diners. Other co-workers scheduled to work failed to show.

As a result customers were left tapping their feet and scowling. My wait for a value meal ended up lasting 30 minutes. Halfway through my stay, I almost jumped ship to another restaurant. Having lunched at most of Natchez’s establishments, I knew the odds were great that I would experience the same delays elsewhere.

Other customers stormed out of the eatery muttering threats to never step in the restaurant again.

Let’s face it. The days of good customer service are over. They have been long over.

It wasn’t always this way. Just two decades ago, good customer service was the norm. A smiling face, a helpful hand even a personal relationship was not just appreciated. It was expected.

Now, customer service is a surprise in most cases — especially when it comes to fast food and discount shopping.

We can blame employers who refuse to respect their employees by paying them fair wages and by refusing to offer insurance benefits, vacation time and sick days.

We can blame employees who don’t show up to work on time, refuse to talk to customers and just really don’t care.

But ultimately the blame for this epidemic of bad customer service lies squarely on the shoulders of you and me, the customer.

Yes. You heard me right. When it comes to bad customer service the customer is ultimately to blame.

You don’t have to go much further than the dollar menu boards of the nation’s most popular fast-food establishments to see this problem.

Customers are cutthroats when it comes to paying for their hamburgers and french fries.

When Wendy’s was the first to introduce a 99-cent value menu in 1989, customers clamored to buy bacon cheeseburgers and Frosties. Realizing the popularity, Taco Bell, Burger King and McDonald’s all responded by offering their versions of great “value” meals.

These menus have long been the staple of fast food establishments. In recent years, rising gas and food prices have put pressure on chains to raise their prices. Fearing a backlash from customers, chains have refused, cutting wherever they can. Just this week, McDonald’s yanked one of the two slices of cheese in the double cheeseburger instead of raising the price above a dollar.

Franchisees complain they have cut on the quality of food as much as they can. Many have been forced to cut in the only place left — their workforce. As a result, fewer workers are now available to help, leaving customers to wait in longer lines with little recourse.

Amazingly, customers have accepted this decline in customer service all in the name of low prices.

Unfortunately this trend is not isolated to fast food. It has since spread into the big box stores and other national retailers.

Sadly, a 2007 Harvard study found that owners only raised the bar of customer service as high as customers would tolerate. Instead of shooting for impeccable service, owners have settled for service they can get away with.

That’s sad. For most of us, it leaves us waiting in line.

Ben Hillyer is the Web editor for The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3540 or by e-mail at ben.hillyer@natchezdemocrat.com.