I’ve been noticing a trend lately that I think is quite frightening- good customer service (or any at all) seems to be hard to find. People no longer feel the need to give you a smile in a check out lane or small talk anymore. And, they certainly don’t seem to care what you think or consider the consequences of whether you’ll be back (this can probably be attributed to the fact that they are just an employee and whether you return or not doesn’t impact their paycheck).
Commercialization has killed customer service. I remember the days when you’d go in Wal Mart and you’d be greeted with a big smile and feel right at home (now the guy just sneers at you and moans about having to sit further in the store). The big box giant is so huge that while they preach customer service, their overworked (and possibly underpaid workers) don’t always deliver. And, they can’t be baby sat all the time.
This is not unique. It happens at Target, the grocery store, restaurants and sometimes even local shops. Wherever I am, I always do my best to ask how the salesperson or server’s day is going. The answer nine times out of ten: “It will be better in three hours when I’m out of here.” Guess, what? Not the answer I want to hear. At least lie to me since I made the effort.
However, if you want to get just treated terribly (or just want to test it out for kicks and giggles) pick up the phone and call a customer service number (or as I like to call them- sit and wait to be treated like shit line). If you’re lucky you’ll at least get one in the States (We own wine glasses with our last name spelled incorrectly because I got tired a few years ago of fighting with a guy in India over whether there should be an “s” at the end. Yes, I know it’s crazy that we kept them but can you imagine how fun returning them would’ve been?), and after sitting in a queue for an indeterminate number of minutes (you know the B.S. of “we are experiencing heavier than normal traffic”), you’ll get someone that really can’t solve or doesn’t care about your problem. And, they’ll be more than happy to tell you so or hand you to someone else. It sucks.
But here’s the biggest problem- these are CUSTOMER SERVICE jobs. They’re supposed to HELP us. And, they went into their position knowing they’d have to deal with people. So suck it up, put a smile on your face and do your job. Or quit. And to all the people who oversee the crabby checker or the guy that leaves you in the aisle for a half hour because he got distracted trying to find a dolly and had to talk to his buddy about the big game- MAN UP and manage. There have to be lots of people out there who could put a smile on their face and serve others. Rant over.
What’s the worst customer service you’ve ever had?
Renee says
It’s not plural, It’s possessive, meaning it belongs to the chateau, I suppose. As in the Buckert’s chateau…. Still hard to understand why…. Yes, customer service has gone to the dogs…
debcb says
Yep, I caught that and made fun of myself on my Facebook page. Joked that I needed to take an English class. Needless to say, if you pick up a french wine bottle and check it out, the last name never has an apostrophe s.
nunya bizness says
and this is because you customers who call in and call me unneccessary foul names in the very beginning of the phone call deserve death and then you americans wonder why your identity is stolen? because you deserve it
Tammy says
I don’t have the finger strength to type out the customer woes I have been through. Namely with Directv. One if the main problems is overseas service who reads from a notebook with no experience or customer service jobs from home base offices. I only see it getting worse with more and more companies giving out more and more part time jobs with not much training.
On the good side though I have to really brag about Publix. I have never had a bad experience with them at all. My fav place to shop.
debcb says
We don’t have Publix here, but we have HyVee (based out of Iowa). They are the same. Excellent service.
Renee says
the worst service I ever had was in Barnes and Noble when I had spent an hour picking out books, left them on the counter where the check out lady said, would be fine…only to come back after a bit and they had all been reshelved! The girl who worked there was evil….so, not surprising…lol