Ettiquette: who should get priority?

Condolences from here as well, Nancy.  Never had to settle estates yet.

On the phone versus the person there:

I'm at the counter of a Japanese sushi take-out place. I'm a regular customer because the food is fantastic.

They had a phone at the cash register to take orders, but there is always someone calling in asking three dozen questions while the line is backing up. While Japanese in general have a good politeness level, some take advantage of that to keep the cashier on hold while  they are organizing their order like it's a real estate transaction.

Finally the sushi bar put up a notice suspending further calls.

I can see your point Cactus.  But how can they know how much my business is worth if they stick me on hold and never talk to me?  I could be John D. Rockerfeller's wealthy great grandaughter.  Businesses should be giving good customer service to all their customers.

It's not my bank.  It's my deceased mother's bank.  Right now I'm trying to get information for probate court and have a meaningful dialogue with the bank so I can get things done. So far not so good.   If they continue to be a problem, I'll have my probate lawyer send them a nasty gram.

I never had this much trouble when I settled my dad's estate.  Everyone was super cooperative.

Nancy

pziecina  wrote
 
Simple answer in both situations, if it is me I get priority 

  "Ego Primo" (me first) .

"First come, first served" seems sensible to me too.  Except in an emergency.   My last doctor's visit which usually takes 15 minutes took 2-1/2 hours because a crisis case came in behind me.   Nothing you can do about that.

jane-e  wrote Ideally, they have enough staff for both!

We can dream.  Unless they have a dedicated phone staff,  it's usually one person trying to juggle walk-ins with phones and doing poorly at both.

I wonder what Miss Manners would say.

Nancy