Business Articles, Front Page
Where Has Customer Service gone?
February 27, 2009 by Stephanie · 2 Comments
Stephanie was born into a military family in Tachikawa, Tokyo, Japan. She learned to love traveling at a young age and has spent a lot of her life wondering where the next move will take her. She spent 2 years traveling the US as a publicist for an extreme sports promoter, writing and photographing stories of the events for nationwide periodicals with each of her trips. She now writes out of Jesup, GA. A beautiful little city not too far from historic Savannah. She is the proud mother of 5 children, married to the man of her dreams, and can’t say there is a thing in her life she has to complain about, well at least for not more than a few minutes. Click here to visit Steph's Site 
The idea of “Service With a Smile” has always enchanted me. I can see it now, upon entrance of a fast food establishment I am greeted as if we are old friends, “Mrs. Bell, what can I get for you ? We have some great specials today, but you probably wouldn’t be interested you are already special enough.” We both giggle and sigh, just thrilled to be a part of our fellow man’s day. I know, far fetched right? I am lucky if the cashier offers me a drink and a sneer. So where has customer service gone? Why does it seem that instead of sales associates, cashiers, operators, and so on wanting to serve you, so that you may benefit their place of work, they instead begrudgingly assist you with even the occasional brush off or eye roll, and most importantly, what can YOU do about it? Case in point: I went to Smart Styles to get my 18 month old daughter her first haircut. I was excited to see how she would look and how such a simple thing as a trim would change her appearance from baby to toddler. I approached the sign in sheet and the stylist turned to me, no smile, no warmth and with an almost annoyed tone asked “What do you need?” I immediately found myself on the defensive, and let me tell you, without you knowing the first thing about me, I am one of the most happy and congenial people you will ever meet. “Just a haircut please.” She rolled her eyes and turned the hairdryer back on. OH NO SHE DI’INT! (I say to myself, snap my finger and do the side to side head roll all inside )
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I completely agree with you that customer service at times seems as if it is a foreign concept for most companies. I was watching the Jay Leno show the other day and he was telling Meridthe Viera from the today show how he told a cashier thank you and she did not even acknowledge that he has said thank you. Jay Leno a little annoyed said “Well do not say thank you or anything.” He said the cashier looked up and said “It’s on the reciept sir”! I can not believe this cashier actually felt she had no obligation to say thank you because a short thank you message had been printed on the reciept. In the slow economy and many people looking for jobs I would imagine it would be easier for companies to find people who were truly customer service oriented. I mean wouldnt you be happy if someone was shopping at the store you worked at? it is truly amazing.
This post is actually unfinished. I saved here where I should have edited there and got half of an article that would mean so much more if it were whole. I plan on completing it with the details on how to actually turn customer service around in your favor. Should be up in the next day or two
Thanks for the comment Ms. Lovell!