Customer service obituary??!!

People, it's freezing today. Snow due in tomorrow. Joyous. NOT.
As you all know, we work extremely hard to provide you with the highest level of customer service. Why? Because you deserve it and, well, we've seen how we are treated in other businesses (non-J) and, quite frankly, we cannot stand it!
So, though we know it's not dead HERE, is customer service dead out there in the big world?
I submit to you it is, sadly, dead.
I say this because, once again, I patronized a certain 'branded' gas station which I can currently see from my seat. I used to work for this Company and I have continued to patronize their locations. Many people do not like this Company as it is the largest Company on the planet but, I love them. Usually. And at most locations...just not the one I can SEE from my desk. I know better than to go there but, well, I was in a hurry today!
Why the frustration? Well, once again I pulled in to fill my behometh of an SUV (we balance it in our family with Mr. P&P's very economical Honda Civic coupe) with gas. A storm is coming (see first line of this post) and I like to have a full tank of gas. (It truly goes back to the living in MT days...) So, I swipe my speedpass and choose my grade of gas, the pump starts, pumps $3 and stops. (My tank was half empty so, trust me, $3 is not going to fill it!) I try it again, same thing. I lock my vehicle and go into the station...I ask the cashier if there's a problem with that pump and the grade of gas I'm buying. He says, "Well, yes, you can't pump that grade gas off those 2 pumps unless someone else is already pumping it." Uh, what? (NO signage to this affect...whateva. Apparently, 'everyone' knows this (according to him) except me! So, I move my car to another pump on the other side of the station. I swipe my speedpass and it says "Your transaction cancelled, see cashier." I do it again. Same result. I try my actual debit card. Same thing. I then go into the station again and question said cashier AGAIN. He says, "Uh, I don't know." Excuse me, it says see the cashier are YOU the cashier? "Yes." Then why isn't it working? "Uh, I don't know what to tell you. It doesn't say that in here." Really. (Insert any number of expletives here...) I go BACK out and swipe my debit card yet again and it finally works and pumps the entire amount of gas I need.
AFTER 15 MINUTES OF THIS BS. This kind of crap has happened, oh, the last 3 times I've tried to get gas there. No the exact same issue but similar ones. Will I never learn??!!!
For real.
Here's my point...(I know you were waiting for it, right?) if you're going to work somewhere and are 'the person' there to answer customer questions then FIGURE IT OUT. We tell our class managers...never tell a customer "I don't know." You can say, "I'm not sure but I'll find out." We are there to answer questions, assist or find out answers we don't yet have. In other words, we are here to SERVE our customers.
What could Mr. "I don't know" Gas attendant have done? Well, he could have said, "Try it again and see if it works." Or, "Let me come out and see what it says out there." Or, "Sorry, not sure why it's doing that, we've been having some trouble today." Or, PRACTICALLY ANYTHING other than "Duh, I dunno."
Seriously. Is it me? I think not. It seems everywhere ones goes nowadays the employees have no clue about anything. Except here, of course.
Here at the J you will have your questions answered with a smile and a "How are you?" when you come in...we'll use your ACTUAL name, not call you Ma'am and be genuinely as helpful as we can be. Thank God because, 'out there', things really s*ck!