Is Customer Service Dead?
Once upon a time it seemed that customer service was a businesses main priority. Back then business owner's realized that the only thing that really separated them from their competition was the way they treated their customers.
Customer service used to be king. Every job I have ever held in the corporate world placed an emphasis on Customer service. Even the jobs I performed as a teen insisted that I treat the customer well, so well that they would always be motivated to come back again.
These days it would appear that the notion of customer service no longer exist. It used to be a rare occasion when I went into an establishment or business to be treated rudely and as if I was an inconvenience, but now it is the norm. I often find myself puzzled when I go into a service oriented business and the employees are offended when it comes time to serve.
Recently my family and I visited one of our local Walmarts. Knowing that we had a busy day ahead of us, we decided to get something to eat at the Subway Restaurant located inside Walmart. It seemed like a pretty good idea, there were only a few people in line, so we could get our food quickly and then finish shopping and running the rest of our errands. Unfortunately that's not what happened.
When it came time to place our order, my wife went first. She ordered a Turkey Wrap, something she has ordered several times before. We watched in amazement as the young lady who was preparing the Turkey Wrap gathered the ingredients she needed. She picked up each item one at a time in slow motion, then she began to assemble them, and as interesting as that was it wasn't the best part...that came when she attempted to wrap the ingredients.
Instead of folding the ends and then wrapping the ingredients, she attempted an obviously new process, she began rolling it up like a big fat joint, my wife and I were trying to contain our laughter, as the young lady looked at the wrap and realized that it didn't look right.
The young lady realized that there was something wrong with the way that the wrap looked, however before we could breathe a sigh of relief, the young lady grabbed the wrap, folded it halfway from the middle and then tried to roll it even smaller and tighter that before.
By the time she was done, it was no longer a turkey wrap, but more like a fat meat roll. After all of her hard work she realized that she couldn't let the thing go or it would just un-roll itself, so she kept one hand on it and managed to get it wrapped up in paper and then taped the paper closed to contain her Frankenstein creation.
Most sane people would have just called it quits and left, but my curiosity got the better of me so I stayed and watched the show as she tried to prepare my Foot Long Grilled Turkey Sub. It was hilarious, and by the time she was done I basically had a salad sandwich.
My son stood next to me laughing and elbowing me as the young lady prepared my sandwich, but his laughing stopped when it was his turn, as the young ladies creativity really reached it's peak. It was amazing to watch!
By the time she was done my entire family had been thoroughly entertained, if you are wondering yes I did pay for the sandwiches, I figured that the show was worth the price of admission and I knew that in the future I would be writing about it. I received tons of material from that experience.
I have not eaten at Subway since then. Shortly after that my family and I were watching T.V. when we saw a commercial for KFC, they were introducing a new special, where you could get three different styles of Chicken, a something for everybody type deal, we had just been debating about what to get for dinner and that seemed like a good ideal.
So I hopped in the truck and made my way to the local KFC. Already tasting those 3 different types of chicken, I smiled and walked up to the counter to place my order. I was waiting to hear a response like "Your total is____ and that will be ready in just a few minutes..." but that is not what I heard I heard this "I'm sorry sir, I can not sell you that item at this time."
Thinking that the young lady was trying to play a trick on me I smiled and asked what my total was, and again she said "I'm sorry sir I can not sell you that item at this time." which led to the following conversation;
me: Why Not?
her: Cause we don't have the dividers that go inside the bucket to separate the chicken.
me: What you ran out of them?
her: Naw they never sent them to us.
me: I'm not picky you can just throw them all in the bucket, I don't mind if the different chicken types touch each other.
her: I can't do that
me: why not?
her: Cause...the special shows the chicken in the bucket with the divider and I can't put them in a regular bucket.
me: Well can you charge me for the special and then put the chicken in different containers?
her: No Sir I can not do that.
me: So let me get this straight, you have the three different types of chicken in the special...
her: yes sir
me: ...and you have the ability to ring up the special on your cash register...
her:...yes sir
me: but you wont ring up the special for me because of a missing piece of cardboard?
her: that is correct sir.
me: *speechless*
Ironically during that whole conversation, the young lady behind the counter was looking at me like I was the stupid one. I turned and walked away, waiting for that Kutcher kid to jump out from behind something and tell me that I was getting punked...but that didn't happen, so I drove down the street and got Sonic Burgers for everyone.
Fortunately we were all able to laugh at the lack of customer service in those cases, but most of the times the lack of customer service leaves you feeling irritated, and wondering why individuals who do not like working with or serving people always seem to find jobs where that is what they have to do.
I wish I had my camera ready for each time I was walking toward the entrance of an establishment, and the workers were standing there looking toward the door like please don't come in here, please don't ask us any questions. I even wish sometimes that I had my voice recorder ready to capture the tone and the attitude some of these employees have when they talk to you.
In any case, one thing is clear to me...Customer Service is on Life Support and breathing it's last breath. Say bye bye to custom orders because if it doesn't have a picture to match it on the register then it's not gonna happen, and I won't even go there about phone Customer Service...
What about you...are you receiving good customer service these days?
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