What Happened to the ‘Service’ in “Customer Service”

Picture this: you drive up to the “drive thru” at your local Wendy’s on your way home from work. All you need is a little snack to tie you over till you make it home. The attendant asks you over the intercom if she can help you and you proceed to give her your order which includes an order of small fries. You pull up to the window and discover that the attendant mistakenly put you down for a small sprite instead of small fries. No biggie, it happens right? You simply point out her mistake and asked if she could make the correction. Without warning you are greeted with her bad attitude as she raises her voice at you and insists that you had requested a small sprite not fries. So after the 15-second shock subsides, you calmly respond, “I didn't ask for a sprite, I asked for small fries.” She then tells you, as she cranes her neck like she is about to have a seizure, that it will take about five minutes before the fries would be ready. Knowing you don’t want to spend another minute waiting for some fries you request a refund to which the attendant informs you that it will take three days for the funds to be credited back to your card as she turns her back on you. But not before you overhear her telling someone inside, “Them people need to learn how to talk. Ain't my fault if they can’t talk properly.”  When she comes back to the window you ask why it is going to take so long for you to get your refund and are told that she does not know, "that’s just the way it is". So you ask to speak to her supervisor, who it turns out, is no more friendly or informative than the attendant. By the time you drive off you wish to yourself that you had not made that stop especially since it left you feeling like your blood pressure has been elevated and your semi-good mood is anything but good.

The scenario above was relayed to me by a family member who is fed up with the service she receives from public venues across the city. Unfortunately she is not the only one, she was just resonating the complaints I am hearing all too often lately. From bad customer service at drive thru windows at fast food restaurants to grumpy/unfriendly  receptionists at the doctor’s office it seems like nobody is providing good customer service anymore. I know the state of the economy has affected all of us in some way and to various degrees. I also understand that things are rough all over, but is that a viable excuse to treat people - for lack of a better word – “mean”? What I've found is that there are a lot of people who lost their jobs in their preferred field and are now doing mundane work – jobs that are not their first choice – in order to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. As a result they may not be feeling the whole “customer service” thing. The thing is, when some people are depressed or going through some things, the last thing they want to be is cordial or social. Think about it, when you are not at your best, you tend to become irritable and agitated much more easily than when you are feeling at full form.  While that is no excuse for being rude or for providing substandard service, it at least sheds some light on what is quickly becoming an epidemic across the city.

While I sympathize with their dilemma and understand that the job they are doing is not their first choice, it is never okay to not do a good job. Regardless of what it is they do, they should take pride in the fact that it is an honest day’s work and oh yeah, they are getting paid to do it. People expect and deserve to be treated with some level of respect when they go into an establishment, not only because their business supports and funds the employee’s pay check, but because they chose to patronize that particular establishment. Truth is people have choices and the more they get alienated and treated badly the less likely that they will continue to patronize a place that does not offer good customer service. 

What workers need to understand, and management too, is that they hold the power to make the customer’s experience the best ever. A smile and some consideration goes a long way to smooth out any issues that may arise when dealing with a customer. Offering to help and finding ways to ease the situation can also go a long way to ensuring the customer walks away feeling satisfied. So if it turns out that she ordered fries instead of a sprite, then just apologize for the mix up and make the correction. Whatever opinion may be generated about the customer should never be verbalized and surely not within earshot. The issue with most people is that they never learned how to cope with their personal problems and as a result they bring their unresolved issues to the work place where it undoubtedly affects their judgment and spills over onto their work. 

As a result the simplest thing will set them off, especially if they are dealing with an influx of customers throughout the day with no time to compose themselves in between customers. The chances of them transferring one customer issue onto another customer is very likely and at times unavoidable if they have not learned how to control their emotions.   A lot of customer service issues can just as easily be avoided, if people would remember to treat each other with dignity and respect. The prosperity of that establishment depends on it.  I’m just saying – I got issues. What about you?)i(



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