Customer Service...Where Did It Go?
Recently, I have run into several situations where, as a customer, I am baffled and perplexed by the behavior of people working in today's society.
I started working in high school, so I remember learning about customer service and how important it is. I do not believe this same message is being portrayed to our current generation. However, wake up call: Most of this extreme behavior is being done by people my age (the 30 group) and older.
In the last year: I have been ignored at registers, passed from one worker to another, made to feel like my business was not important, that I was a disturbance to someones cell phone conversation/colleague conversation, not greeted (even after I did the greeting or asked them how they were doing), chastised for asking a question...the list goes on and on.
I even had an employee tell me that she preferred real candles and wouldn't help me when I asked a question about their stores fake candles...Not sure how the creator of that store chain would have felt if he/she heard that conversation.
So-what am I going to do to change it?
I am going to do what I do best, and that is to teach.
People treat you the way you teach them to treat you.
I am passing on a quote by Mahatma Ghandi on "The Customer":
======================================
A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption on our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He is a part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so.
- Mahatma Gandhi
======================================
It is my hope that there are many of you out there who can spread this amongst your friends. Customer Service should not be a dying art. It blows my mind how people can't even say "hello" to a guest before they ring them up or assist them. Those of you who know me know that I have had every job under the sun. I liked experiencing different tasks and atmospheres.
I think everyone should have a job in customer service, at least once, to understand the magnitude of it all. I also think everyone should have a job where tips are either all, or, a portion of their income to appreciate the magnitude of tipping. I also believe that if your customer service is extremely poor, not receiving a tip should not come as a surprise.
MIX, my new studio location, will have Mahatma Ghandi's quote posted...I still believe in customer service.
Educate!
Lesa
http://www.lmgdanceandfitness.com/
