Where has customer service gone?
Sounds like an easy enough question, right? Think about it, when is the last time you had excellent customer service? Go to the doctor, the movies, go out to eat, go buy a TV, go to the store – go anywhere you want and pay attention to the “service” you receive.
Somewhere along the way, we as a society accepted the fact that we were a bother to the 18 year old at the cash register because we wanted to check-out in a timely manner. “Sure, I can wait for you to finish your conversation with your BFF! After all, discussing the “Real World – San Francisco” cannot wait one more second. I’ll just wait patiently here with my screaming children who want every bag of chips and piece of candy they see and are at the very brink of a bathroom emergency of epic proportions. I am terribly sorry to interrupt. Just start scanning when you can.”
Why is it that I have to accommodate the cable company for an appointment? I thought I was buying THEIR service. It turns out I am providing all the convenience – the service! What if you told your Boss that you would be into work sometime between 7:00 am and 11:00 am? “Listen – I have a lot going on. I know you have set business hours, but those just won’t work for me. I’ll give you a window of time that works for me.” Can you spell U-N-E-M-P-L-O-Y-M-E-N-T?
Am I the only one who thinks I am paying for my doctor’s services? Why do we just accept the fact that getting called into the office at 4:15 is okay when our appointment was scheduled for 2:30? “Hey Doc, no problem…I only had to take the entire afternoon off work. No big deal – I gave my boss a “window” of when I would return.”
I digress; I have found a place where customer service is very much alive. It is taught, promoted, and yes – even required! This is a place where a smile from an employee is not forced, but very much a natural occurrence, a place where employees are actually concerned about the welfare, happiness and comfort of their guests, or as some companies refer to them as – customers, a place where my sliced cheese is hand separated by a loyal and conscientious employee with wax paper so I can easily use it when I get home after a long day at other stores, waiting on the cable guy and a long visit at the doctor’s office. To me, this company is an oasis of customer service in the desert of the apathetic and disgruntled “customer service” industry.
Where is this oasis? Where has customer service gone? PUBLIX, that’s right – PUBLIX Grocery stores! Their employees equipped with dark pants and green aprons have never once disappointed me in the few short years since they moved to my area. Can I find the things I need cheaper at other places? Yes. However, I am willing to pay for good service. I might pay 5 cents more per pound for Land O Lakes American cheese than I would at another chain store, but guess what? I can actually get every piece of cheese onto my sandwich in one slice, as opposed to 600 fractions of cheese crumbs because it has become attached to the slices above and below. That is worth a nickel to me!
I make it a point to ask at least one PUBLIX employee how they like working for PUBLIX each time I visit. Everybody I have ever talked to says they absolutely love it. “Oh, they’re just saying that because you’re a customer.” Well then why do they then go into specific examples of why they respect the company they work for? Why are they proud of the fact that their company offers excellent wages – even to part-timers? Why do they automatically offer to bring your cart to your car for you, and when you offer a tip, it is refused?
I know where customer service has gone. All I can say to the rest of the companies out there that must interact with the public to generate revenue now and in the future is, “Go to PUBLIX and get some good old-fashioned customer service for you and all your employees!”
Oh, and they’ll even help you back out to the car.
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