Can we talk about the dying institute of customer service in the retail setting? I mean, it really shouldn't be an issue, but sadly it is. I hate to be one of those people, truly, I do. I remember the way I hated to hear a customer gripe and complain about trivial stuff. But I certainly never let them know how I was feeling about it. Having worked my way through high school and college while standing behind a cash register at a big box retail store, I was programmed to remember to treat the customer in front of me as though they were the only person within a 500 mile radius of where I stood. I was expected to greet each one with a smile, say hello, make some sort of small talk with them, and simultaneously and efficiently scan each item and place it, not toss it, into a bag for them. I lived my teenage years under the threat of immediate termination from that job if I was caught failing to meet those standards. Talking to my friend at the register next to me? No way! That was one of the cardinal sins of retail! And using four-lettered words while on the sales floor, especially in front of a customer? Are you kidding me? Out of the question. And honestly, I don't think that it is too much to ask from the person behind the register, who happens to be my last encounter with an establishment, to be decent and respectful. That last encounter leaves the most lasting impression, after all.
Somewhere along the line, between my teenage years and my oh-my-god-I'm-almost-fourty! years, the customer service standard has broken down. No, let me revise that, it has crashed and burned beyond recognition. Oh, sure, you can find it here and there, most likely in a small, independent type shop. Those aren't always available, and besides, that doesn't negate the expectation of the retail market, the big boxes, the grocery store in the middle of downtown to meet at least a minimal customer service standard.
I have heard cashiers discuss their drinking exploits from the night before. I have heard a cashier talk about which cashier at the other end of the store he had "tapped." I've heard one telling another to "check out the fat a** over there in the crippled line", while I bagged my own groceries because the two employees in front of me were too busy with thier sidebar conversation. The other day, my cashier stopped talking to their neighboring cashier about how much they hated another coworker just long enough to say, "Are you (f-word) kidding me?", when the receipt paper got jammed in the register. I mean, don't get me wrong, I use that exact same expression all the time. I said it in my head right after my cashier said it aloud. But that's the thing. I know when to think it versus when to say it. It doesn't offend me to hear those words. Beleive me, I am not that delicate. But in a setting where I am your customer and your business depends on whether or not I choose to shop at your store, I expect there to be a better standard of behavior.
Once, after that "crippled line" incidnet, I got so frustrated with the lack of customer service and outright rudeness coupled with a total lack of human decency that upon arriving home, I called the store and asked for the manager. After explaining my dissastifaction and disgust with the appaling behavior, the person who identified himself as the manager said to me, after a huge sigh, "Okay." That may be okay to you, but it is certainly not okay with me. So I called that store's home office, left a message, and received no resonse. About two weeks later, I called again, left another message, and still received no response. So I emailed that store's home office customer service department and cc'd their VP. Finally, a response, but only a simple apology and a "we are looking into the matter." I expected an emphatic apology and something along the lines of "We do not tolerate this kind of behavior." But no. The same cashier is still spewing off four lettered words while dealing with customers at the same store.
Maybe it is because I was held to a higher standard that this new atmosphere of anything goes when dealing with customers is so bothersome to me. Maybe it's because, at least in my opinion, it is a direct result of a failure to instill common decency, respect for others, and at least a median level of basic manners into today's youth.
How did we, as a society, come to accept this type of behavior? How did we become the kind of people or raise the kind of people who behave in that manner? And what can we do to revitalize that dying institution of customer service that I miss so much?
It doesn't appear so: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0774473.html Regardless, minimum wage is worth significantly more than it was 10 years ago. Cause meets effect.
just playing devil's advocate here; if the phrase "When I was growing up" bothers you, what about the concept of "History"? "When I was growing up" has every relevance in light of the concept of "History".
"unskilled work that requires not much out of the worker than a smile and polite attitude" Honey, if all I had to do was smile and have a polite attitude, I'd have become a mannequin in a window a long time ago. What does "unskilled" worker really mean? My parents couldn't afford it. I had to get a job to help out with the bills we already had after my dad fell ill (hello heart trouble). So I didn't get the opportunity to attend college. No degree that says I jumped through thier magical hoops, but I have much experience in many fields. I'm not unskilled by any means. I'll do serious car work, do needed repairs around the house (electric, too), tend the garden and cook and preserve from it, and still get to work. I alway hear all this crap about people being equal, especially when they are in the womb, but once they're out, all bets are off? If you're "unskilled", you don't deserve to make enough money to pay your bills? The same bills everyone has. Water bill. Electric/heat/gas bill. Rent. Covering the cost of food, even if it's ramen with some shredded carrot. Thankfully I don't have to pay to breathe the air, but I'm assuming they'll figure that one out, too. Have a car you'll have to not only maintain it, but pay insurance on it and fill up the tank. Not to mention when crap hits the fan and medical care is needed. Unskilled. Almost as dirty a word as "normal".
I wouldn't call Acme or Giant Eagle a small business. "Like many, I just worked hard and was deteremined" Besides the typo, you were also, LUCKY. Many people work hard and are determined but still aren't able to scrape their way out of the red. Ever spend your days digging holes to plant trees for a tiny nursery trying to assert itself in the big world? It's hard. Not many are willing to do it. It's unskilled. It doesn't pay well. And it's unforgiving. Bloody blisters on your hands? Suck it up or lose your job. Unskilled = unforgiving. Although I did pick up a fair bit of Spanish.
Bad service is having your groceries crushed, bags ripping from the bottom, or someone spitting in your food. Bad service doesn't = not smiling or pretending to be your friend.
I have to apologize if this seems out of place, for some reason I can't seem to reply to a reply. If you want to give me a history lesson, I'm all for learning from the past. Perhaps I should of been more descriptive in my statement about the relevance of personal experiences. It's perfectly relevant if you are giving an objective opinion, the comments that annoy me are simply laced with an air of subjective arrogance. People make it sound like there is something wrong with young adults today. Which I fundamentally disagree with. Young adults today were in fact raised by the older generation, who were raised by another older generation. So the blame game in that regard gets us nowhere.
There is simple causality at play here. I think that is the main point some of us are trying to drive home.
"Bottom line: A dollar is worth significantly less then it was 10 years ago." Unless you're trying to bury the facts with an outrageous story like usual. You don't even know what you're trying to say. Maybe you should concentrate on that before failing to correct others.
Mediocre service counts as good these days. Seems you agree. As long as they're not stepping on puppies, you're good with that. "Good service" used to mean so much more.
Most kids these days feel they're owed before they do anything. Somehow they got it in their heads that they're supposed to be given *first* and return what they feel is necessary in terms of customer service, respect, or whatever else, Of course, it's not just kids anymore. Many adults act this way, too.
by definition, personal experience is objective history, IT Happened and is true. How is that truth arrogance?
you am right in all particalurs. Boobs rule the formula of life. My kids were fortunate to have a mom that agreed with you.
Objectivity - objectivity means the state or quality of being true even outside of a subject's individual feelings, imaginings, or interpretations. I think you have your definitions mixed up. The whole point is one persons experience of how they were taught to be the bulwark of customer service excellence is not a statement independent of their own mind and beliefs. You can't assume because you were taught such things, that everyone was also taught that. It's a huge logical fallacy, and people know better. I don't care what generation we are talking about, there were always miserable a-holes who hated their job and treated customers like dirt.
History. What happened and to whom it happened.
Of course, that's not hard. And, when outed with incorrect "facts" the only thing you have left is changing the subject, ignoring what you said in the first place, and hoping that no one will notice. Like the name-calling. Where is that, exactly? It doesn't exist. Too bad words and logic aren't in your wheelhouse.
11:49 am on Monday, March 18, 2013 "Bottom line: A dollar is worth significantly less then it was 10 years ago." As stated before, you can't even stand behind your own statements. Speak to the above, not something else when you find yourself trapped in a corner by your own BS remarks. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Murphy-Solon 8:08 am on Tuesday, March 19, 2013 "When your argument falls apart you resort to name calling." Again, speak to the above. You haven't shown any name calling on my part. Where is it? (Psst...it's just made-up BS you're hoping no one calls you on. Heh.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Murphy-Solon 8:08 am on Tuesday, March 19, 2013 "That might work on others but it fails in my case. Stick to the statistics, refute the statistics pal." You can't stay on topic for the statements *YOU* made. The statistics posted (by me) show that you're wrong about your 10 year "fact."
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001519.html#.UUmhuFpAMhQ.mailto
Some people just can't comprehend things...typical for you, though.