By Jim Whitt
To add a little more to Sondra’s post on Common Sense Customer Service…we’re shocked at how clueless store clerks and personnel in restaurants can be about basic common sense and courtesy. Simple things like saying please, thank you, yes sir, no ma’am and one of my all time major irritants is when you ask your waiter for something or thank them for something and the response is, “No problem.” Of course its not a problem…it’s your job! How about responding with, “It’s my pleasure,” or “You’re welcome.”
So, our idea is a Common Sense Customer Service skills course so businesses can send their newly hired teenagers (or anyone else) for one hour to teach them to say please and thank you, to make eye contact and smile and to act like they like the customer. After all, customers are the reason they receive a paycheck. So, what do you think?
PS: While I’m on a roll, my all time major irritant is when you ask how the clerk is and they respond, “I’ll be a lot better when I get off work.”
I like your new way of doing things, so modern.
Customer Service is something I look for in experiences whether shopping or on an airplane, etc. I was having dinner with friends last Saturday in Dallas. We wandered in to this quaint Winery/restaurant/bar. The bar tender was cold and uninviting, okay downright rude. He was so abrupt taking our drink order that when it came my turn he said “and you?” I stared in to his eyes for a very long moment and began to laugh. I am sure my facial expression showed “are you for real?” He finally realized he was being a jerk and sort of laughed, then said what may I get for you? I said, “that’s better” and ordered my martini.
What we’re seeing with poor customer service is a result of minimum wage laws. Employers can’t afford to train young people and are forced to scrape the bottom of the workforce barrel to find help. High school kids used to do a lot of these jobs to get started in the workforce and learned how to deal with people. We have noticed it carries through all sorts of retail businesses. Many employees don’t know anything about the products that they are selling. As always, we gravitate back to the business where we get the best service and the price becomes secondary.
Since your comment focused on customer service, I have to relay an experience of my own. In fact, I was very surprised at how they handled this situation. I have a credit card, as almost everyone does these days, and was ordering some merchandise on-line from a vendor in the U.S. (I am employed in Iraq and have been for the past five years). I placed my order and the next day I received an email from their sales department telling me my credit card had been declined. Well I knew it was not an issue of the balance on my card or not paying off the balance. So I thought since I had ordered several items from several different vendors in a two day period that maybe it was just that; too much activitity. So I sent the email back and asked them to run my card again but it got the same result; declined. I finally called the card company this evening and found out they have put a “hold” on my card because a $76.00 charge had been made at a Taco Mayo in Edmond, OK. The person I was dealing with from the card company asked me about this charge and I told her that it was possible but not likely that my wife would have made a charge at Taco Mayo for $76. She then asked me if I wanted to go ahead and “approve” the charge and I told her “No” as I wanted to check with my wife first. I called my wife and sure enough, she had made a large purchase for 10 fifteen year old boys. I called the card company back and told them it was a valid charge and to please “turn my card back on”, which they did. I did tell them I really appreciated them watching out for things of this nature especially in the world of cyberspace. I thought here is a company that really watches out for its customers. The woman I was talking to sounded like she was “shocked” to have someone tell her “thank you” for a job well done. I am sure all she usually hears is people yelling at her because a charge is denied. By the way, this was a Visa card held by Chase Bank. I was impressed!